Page 46 of Love Beyond Time (Morna’s Legacy #1)

Tension laced every inch of the dining hall as Ramsay made his way to seat himself on Eoin’s right hand side.

I sat on his left, and as we positioned ourselves at the table, I could see in Ramsay’s eyes that perhaps he was more suspicious of this impromptu and poorly timed meal than Eoin had thought.

Ramsay’s dark, blood-shot eyes, consistently glazed from too much drink, made my skin crawl as he glared at me across the table. I’d angered him earlier, and he was not one to forget someone crossing him.

I met his gaze head on, determined not to flinch from his sight. Finally, he tore his eyes away from my own and turned to speak to Eoin.

“I see no much has changed under Conall Castle’s new laird. Ye have yet to learn that meals should be shared in the company of men.”

Eoin’s face was hard, no longer concerned with placating him for the sake of maintaining him as an ally. “It is ye, Ramsay, that have yet to learn that the company of women makes everything more pleasant.”

He reached over to squeeze my hand, and it immediately released some of my tension, if only momentarily.

“Aye? If that be the case, why doona ye have my daughter join us as well?” Ramsay gestured with his hand at the other empty chairs at the table.

I could see by the way he glanced around the room that Ramsay knew something was off. His hand rested uneasily to his side, giving himself quick access to some sort of weapon concealed from my sight.

“She wasn’t feeling well. I had Mary take food to her bedchamber.”

Ramsay ignored me, offended that a woman dare speak in his presence. “Yer wife speaks verra strange, Eoin. I dinna notice it before when ye came to visit me.”

Eoin was finished putting off the confrontation; I could tell by the way he shifted in his seat, leaning forward so that he could leap into action at a moment’s notice.

“Ramsay, before I tell ye what I have to say, I’d like to remind ye that our two clans have been allies for generations long before us.

We have both come to the other’s aide, and I know my father considered ye a friend.

It would be a shame for that alliance to come to an end, aye? ”

Ramsay had an unsettling ability that made the words coming out of his mouth drip with sincerity while his eyes oozed poison. “Aye, lad, that it would. Good thing we have come together to fight our shared enemy.”

“I doona know if that is so, Ramsay. I have reason to believe that it is ye who plan to attack us—that perhaps Laird MacLyrron is no on his way here at all.”

Ramsay stood quite suddenly, throwing his fist violently down on the table. I could hear shuffling outside the dining hall doors, and I knew the action had been his signal to his men. Outside these doors, the sound of battle was already ensuing.

“Do ye now? And why would I do that?”

Each door to the dining hall swung open as both our own men collided with Ramsay’s in a horrific dance of death. Metal clashed around us as I stood watching the interaction between Ramsay and Eoin, neither of whom had yet to draw a sword.

“I doona know, Ramsay. Perhaps, ye could explain it to me. Surely there’s no reason for bloodshed.”

“Ye are wrong, Eoin. There is a need for bloodshed, and there will be plenty of it this night. Ye are a damned fool, just like yer father. He knew that it was expected that ye wed Edana. Instead, he married ye to this ignorant whore! Our clans would have been made stronger by such an arrangement. Without it, I’ve no desire to stay allies.

Instead, I shall claim the Conall clan and castle as me own. ”

Eoin didn’t have a chance to respond as I screamed at the sight of a sword swinging in his direction. Eoin unsheathed his own just in time and, as he sliced the man across the middle, there was no doubt that battle had begun.

I knew my life was in danger, but every swing of a sword and every horrifying sound of a man groaning as he met his death seemed to slow down in my mind as I kept careful watch on Ramsay.

I could see Arran making his way toward me out of the corner of my eye, but he was delayed as he worked to cut down two of Ramsay’s men. I’d expected Laird Kinnaird to head straight in Eoin’s direction, but instead I watched as he snuck away from the crowd.

I knew he could be headed in only one direction.