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Chapter Two – Colin

“Do ye think that was the laird’s eldest daughter?” Connor asked beside me.

I dragged my attention from the shadowy passageway the lass had stalked down and glared at my younger brother. He shifted from foot to foot; a sure sign Connor already realized he’d made a grave error by almost revealing who we were. Despite my telling him more times than I could recall to think before he spoke, he continued to allow his temper to rule his tongue. “Aye, I do, ye clot-heid,” I grumbled and glanced back down the passageway once more.

“She lied,” Connor said, half-snarling.

“Aye. It runs in her family.” The lass had perfectly fit the description of Freya MacLeod that Katherine had gathered in her time with Bran. Just saying the man’s name enraged me. This clan had cost me all I was willing to pay, and yet my da’s words as he lay dying in my arms rang in my head now. Try for peace until ye see for certain there is nae another option. War means lives lost. Ye will be laird. Yer duty is to protect our clan. Save their lives. This was my last attempt. Too many that I loved had been lost to this war.

“Well, I did nae think the day would come I’d agree with anything a MacLeod would say, but Katherine told us the MacLeod warriors described Freya MacLeod as having the most compelling eyes of any lass,” Connor said, “and they were right. ”

He stared at me, waiting I assumed for me to agree. “I could nae tell ye what her eyes looked like,” I offered with a shrug.

“Liar,” Connor responded. “Ye’re one of the most observant men I know.”

“I do nae care about the lass’s eyes. She’s a means to peace. ’Tis all.” Freya MacLeod’s eyes were a strange combination of brown, gold, and light green. I did not like that I could recall that, and I cleared my throat, trying to rid myself of the heavy guilt.

“Ye ken Magy would have laughed at ye for feeling as if agreeing a lass had lovely eyes made ye disloyal to her.”

I nodded, while staring at the flash of pity in my brother’s eyes. The knot in my throat was immediate and familiar. I got it every time I talked of Magy, but that was better than the consuming rage that had nearly destroyed me. I still had the rage, but it had become a weapon I wielded against others, not myself. “I ken it,” I finally answered, when I was certain my voice would not reveal a hint of the sadness that was my constant companion. “She did nae have a jealous bone in her body,” I added, even as her face danced before my vision. She’d been dead for three summers, another casualty of the war with the MacLeods, but her image in my mind was still clear, though not as bright as it had been, and that worried me. Was I forgetting little details about her when I’d vowed at her grave that I’d never forget a thing about her, never replace her, never love another?

“We should have just snatched the lass and been done with it.”

I scowled at Connor until he shifted once more. “I want to annihilate all the MacLeods as much as ye, brother. More so, but I must try for peace one more time. ”

“Why?” he demanded, the word bit out.

“Because I am laird. Because we have lost Da, Mama, Magy, and so many others to this war. And war brings death. Because I promised Da I would try every avenue I could think of for peace until I’m certain there’s nae another way.”

“Mark me, brother,” Connor said. “There’s nae another way. Do ye honestly think Laird MacLeod will join in another alliance with ye when they broke the first one?” No, no I didn’t, and I opened my mouth to say as much, but Connor spoke before I could. “I think they made that alliance keening they would break it.”

“I’m nae sure.” I had thought about this a great deal. “And unless I am certain, I have to try for peace and make the offer.”

Connor’s nostrils flared. “Do nae tell me Laird MacLeod did nae ken his stepson was going to attack Dunscaith.”

“I did nae tell ye that,” I said. “I havenae once uttered that in the dozens of times we’ve discussed it since our stronghold was attacked and half burned. I told ye I am nae certain, but I lean toward the fact that Bran did nae ever intend to keep the alliance. I believe he intended to gain a foothold in Eilean Donnan by pretending he would honor the alliance. Whether Laird MacLeod kenned of his stepson’s intentions is another matter. If I enter an alliance again, I will be the one who resides in Eilean Donnan, and nae the MacLeods, so we will be the ones who have the warriors to control the channel there. That will have to be part of the alliance, and I will be watchful and careful.”

Connor shoved a hand through his hair even as he glanced around. His attention came slowly back to me. “I’m sorry, brother. Being amidst our enemies makes me tense.”

“I understand,” I said .

“Ye do nae fear someone will recognize us?”

“Nay.” I motioned Connor to follow me up the stairs where the guard below had told us we could find MacLeod’s solar.

“Their smugness prevents them from believing we’re bold enough to walk into their stronghold, just as I told ye it would. Besides that, our faces are stained, and we have on the cloaks, and we will stick to the plan of pretending to be envoys from the laird of our clan.”

“Ye.”

I nodded. “Aye. Me.”

“And when MacLeod rejects the offer?”

“Simple,” I replied. “We snatch the lass Freya. I will use her as a means to end this war. If he wants his beloved daughter returned, he’ll need to confess to his and his stepson attacking Dunscaith, so the king will support us. And allow us to rule the channel on our own.”

“We should just snatch her,” Connor said, shaking his head. “This other way, this offer of marriage for peace, is too much trouble. Ye do nae even want to wed again!”

“If I could think of another way to gain an alliance without gaining a wife, I would.” I didn’t want any woman but Magy, and she was beyond my reach forever. “And I will try the honorable way first.”

“Honor be damned,” Connor growled. “MacLeod is nae honorable.”

“I must be able to live with what I’ve done, brother, and know I tried for peace in all ways, before I snatch a lass and use her.”

Connor paused at the top of the stairs and faced me. “What if he does nae agree to the terms of the confession?”

“What da would nae do all he could to save his daughter? ”

“Ye will nae kill her,” Connor said. “Ye’re nae a murderer.”

“Nay, I’m nae like the MacLeods,” I said, thinking once more of Magy. “I do nae kill innocent women. But I will keep her at our stronghold.”

“You would keep a lass against her will forever?”

“I do nae imagine the lass will wish to return home to a da who refused to give the confession to get her back.”

Connor snorted. “I do nae imagine that spitfire lass we just met will believe ye.”

“I do nae imagine I care.”

“Do ye think her pleasing to the eye?”

The abrupt change in topic didn’t surprise me. Connor had a habit of jumping around from topic to topic with no warning.

“I did nae take note.”

Amusement trickled across his features. “Liar.”

I was lying. The lass was pleasing. More than pleasing. Some might say bonny with the long fiery hair and the light, interesting color eyes. And she was quick-witted.

“Well, if by some strange gift of the gods MacLeod does agree to another alliance and to wedding his daughter to ye, at least she will be pleasing to bed.”

“It would be a duty, done once, to consummate our union. Nae anything more.”

Connor shook his head. “Ye do nae make sense to me.”

“That’s because ye have nae ever felt for a woman as I did Magy.”

“I loved Magy as a sister,” Connor protested. “Ye ken I did.”

“’Tis nae the same, but I ken.”

Connor got a thoughtful expression for a moment. “I can nae imagine being with one woman, bedding only one woman, the rest of my days.”

I chuckled. “And that, brother, is why ye should nae ever take a wife,” I said as we reached the top of the stairs.

“We are in agreement,” he said. “Now, let us go waste our breaths and time, John .” He winked.

“Trying for peace one last time before snatching a lass is not a waste of anything, Doughall ,” I said, using his fake name I’d given him.

A hard knock later, and a bellow to enter from within, found Connor and me standing in front of Laird MacLeod—the man who had led the battles that killed my mother, my father, and my wife. My blood roared instantly in my ears, and I had to struggle against curling my hands into fists. It was a good thing the guards had taken our swords for the meeting with MacLeod. I feared if I’d had mine upon me now, I would have plunged it into his heart.

I forced myself to bow, as an emissary would, though the gesture cramped my stomach with distaste. Connor followed suit as MacLeod watched us with narrowed eyes. He did not offer us a seat, and the upturned slight snarl of his lips told me there would be no peace this day. But I would see it through. “What is it that yer laird wants? Has he come to his senses and decided to surrender the castle?”

I clenched and unclenched my teeth until I felt I had control of my temper. “Nay. He wishes for peace, and he extends an offer of another alliance through a marriage of himself and yer eldest daughter. Ye say it was nae yer warriors who attacked Dunscaith, so ye should want peace as well.”

“Nae with a man who broke the treaty.”

“He believed ye to have broken it first.” They had. I knew they had, given what Katherine had overheard. If only there was a way to prove it .

“Well, he was wrong. Ye can relay to yer laird,” MacLeod said, sneering the word laird, “that Eilean Donnan will nae be his holding once my daughter weds Donald MacKinnon, and we take the castle and lands together. Then we will rule the channel, and I will wipe his name, yer clan, from history.” I was positive that had been the man’s intentions all along.

That was ill news about the impending wedding of Freya MacLeod and Donald Mackinnon. That would align the two most powerful clans in the Highlands against me. I could wed another, but then we were back to war, with two more clans dragged into it. I had to stop the alliance. I knew no other way than to snatch the lass as I had planned. There were no avenues for peace left. What I had to do filled my mouth with sour distaste. I considered myself honorable, and kidnapping a lass was a dishonorable action. But I was cornered with enemies closing in, and I was unwilling to lose another person I loved, another person I was responsible for, to this war.