Page 56

If he thought such a thing were odd, that Kieran had not spoken to his parents about such a serious matter, the chief did not remark upon it. He turned to his sister, who nodded.

“He is a McKinlay. Our clans are tied tighter than ever before, brother.”

Ewan McKinlay did not seem to care about any ties between their clans. In fact, he somehow appeared even angrier than he was before.

“We are not bound together, Lina. We are enemies. And always will be.”

“Only if you make it so,” Kieran interjected. “The sins of our fathers and grandfathers need not be ours.”

“Sins of the Duncraig,” he spat back. “We nearly lost our entire clan. And now, slowly over the years, everyone seems to forget. Thinks to forgive.”

It was his eyes that gave him away to Kieran. They were not the eyes of a man who simply hated, but were of one nearly mad with that hate. He was not just angry with his sister for thinking to move past their feud, but with anyone who thought to do so.

How could he have not seen it before?

“I was a fool.”

Ewan’s eyes narrowed. Before he tossed out an accusation that would likely get him thrown from the keep, Kieran asked one final question.

“Do you know anything more of Abele beyond that she moved to Rosewood with her new husband?”

At first, he did not think Ewan would answer. But he did. “I do not.”

Very well.

Kieran watched the other man’s eyes carefully. “It was you who led those cattle to graze on Duncraig’s land.”

It did not matter what came from his mouth next. The truth of it was in Ewan’s eyes, something Kieran’s father had taught him to decipher.

Father.

How many lessons had he taught him? It was so difficult to reconcile that man with the one who’d lied to him his entire life.

“I willnae accept such lies in my very home.” MacKinlay seethed with anger. But it was too late. Lina, who at first did nothing but stare at Kieran as if he had, indeed gone mad, turned to her brother.

“It was you.” She knew it as surely as Kieran did, and though her brother was attempting to convince them otherwise with his outrage, Lina would not allow it.

“You can sputter all you would like, brother, but it makes sense. You’ve not hidden your displeasure any time a MacKinlay clansman even hints at ending our feud.

You insisted on accompanying Niall and Kieran on the search and vowed to continue it on your own to no avail. ”

“Lina,” he said in a way Kieran had never heard him speak to his sister before. “Stop. Talking.”

But she would not, and as she stepped forward, Kieran did so as well, placing himself just slightly in front of her, between them.

The gesture did not go unnoticed. And with it, something seemed to have snapped in Lina’s brother. Eyes wide, he took a step backward, his chest heaving as if it were an effort for him to breathe. Where his eyes were almost wild before, now they appeared worried.

“I would not dare hurt you, Lina,” he said, seemingly appalled that Kieran had stepped between them.

“I know you would not,” she replied. “But Kieran was right to defend me. You are not yourself, brother. The hate you’ve harbored for so long has begun to consume you.

” Her voice lowered as she reached out her hand and took her brother’s, continuing to speak to him.

“I love you, Ewan. You’ve done something wrong.

Very wrong. But none were hurt because of it.

In fact, I met my husband because of those cattle. ”

She spoke to him as if it were a certainty that it had, indeed, been him who led those cattle to their land.

“Ironic, is it not? Instead of driving the wedge necessary to ensure no MacKinlay falls prey to Duncraig deceit, I brought the two of you together instead.”

It was him, as Kieran thought.

“Not ironic,” she said, taking his other hand. “The universe righting a wrong.”

MacKinlay dropped his sister’s hands and looked at Kieran. “I will learn where your aunt has gone for certain so that you may find her.”

It was the first time since they’d met that the clan chief spoke to him in a tone that held no malice.

“If you can send word to the Red Stag Inn north of Aberdale?”

MacKinlay took a deep breath. “You are welcome to await word here.”

At that, Lina burst into tears. Tossing her arms around her brother, she cried on his shoulder. They were the tears of a sister who had just regained a brother. Which, of course, made Kieran think of Niall.

And his parents.

When we met, you were wroth with your brother until you spoke to him. You must do the same with your parents.

“Thank you for the offer,” he said. “But I have reason to return to the inn. I will meet you in the courtyard,” he said to Lina, who wiped her face with a handkerchief her brother had given her.

“Nay, in the hall,” her brother said. “If you willnae stay the night, at least take a meal before you leave. You are, after all, a MacKinlay.”

He may have been so at birth, but no longer. “I am a Duncraig,” he said, certain of it. “But an ally to your clan given the circumstances of my birth. And because of Lina.”

Sniffling, her nose red, his sister-in-law seemed incapable of speaking, but she did manage a smile at him.

Taking his leave, Kieran thought of everything that just happened. When he rejoined the others, Niall asking him if they’d learned anything, he simply laughed. “Aye, brother. We learned much, though I am unsure where to begin.”