Mark of the Highlander (The MacLomain Series: Next Generation, Book 1) (20 page)

Not bothering to look at Colin but at Malcolm instead, she sighed when he nodded.

“Fine then.” She looked toward the window, out at the dismal sky. “I have an older brother. He’s in line to take the position of chieftain when ‘tis time. Or at least he was.” Her dark gaze then settled on Colin. “But like you, he abandoned his clan years ago. As you all might have guessed, his name is Colin MacLeod.”

Less than an hour later, all but Malcolm and Nessa sat down in the great hall. The celebrations had lasted far into the wee hours, so very few were meandering about and those that were didn’t seem at their best. As he stood before the fire, hands clasped behind his back, Colin stared up at the faces in the mantle and tried to assimilate all he’d learned.

The most daunting by far was that a Colin MacLeod really
did
exist.

Then there was McKayla’s exchange with his sister, Torra.

If all that was not enough, what his wife said Torra changed into kept him frowning.

“You never told her we had a sister?” Bradon asked quietly so that McKayla and Ilisa would not overhear.

“Nay, I’d not had the chance.”

“You’ve had nothing but chances,” Bradon said. “But for some reason you kept her a secret.”

Colin frowned. “McKayla had enough to deal with.”

“Or
you
had enough to deal with.”

“Or I had enough to deal with,” he conceded with a sigh. “What do you make of all this?”

“Many things. Some good. Some bad.”

They received goblets of mead from a passing servant, and Colin took a long swallow before he said, “Nothing good can come of a Colin MacLeod existing. Especially since Mckayla wrote about him. I think ‘tis good that Torra allowed McKayla to get near her. But what do you make of what she said our sister became?”

Colin watched his brother’s face closely and saw what he expected, secrets.

“I think she saw our sister as a beast only because she was pinned beneath a spell, one of MacLeod’s making. As to there being another Colin out there, ‘tis something worth paying attention to. I dinnae like how he parallels your circumstances,” Bradon said. “What are the odds that both you and he would abandon your clan? And both of you tied together through marriage?”

“‘Tis a strange coincidence and I dinnae believe much in those,” Colin said. “I did notice one strange thing though and I’ve not the heart to tell McKayla how becoming I find it.”

Bradon’s unwavering eyes met his. “Aye?”

“Aye, did you not notice?”

Guileless, Bradon shrugged. “She’s as bonnie as ever, brother.
That
I noticed.”

Colin sipped his mead, amused and ever more curious. “The white streak in her hair was not there hours ago. ‘Twas not there until she awoke on my floor screaming.”

Bradon, much of his old charm and mischief surfacing, grinned. “Must have been a bloody good night of rollicking.”

“Better than ever,” he acknowledged easily. “But that’s not my point and well you know it.”

“Do I?” Bradon shrugged. “A lass can age quickly when met with enough stress.”

Colin eyed his hair. “As you so obviously did.”

A look of relief was evident on Bradon’s face when Ilisa and McKayla joined them.

With a tepid glance upward, Ilisa said, “Nessa knows more about all this than she’s saying.” She put a hand over her chest and issued a mock gasp. “I have a brother named Colin MacLeod and it’s just occurred to me to mention him!”

Bradon chuckled. Colin and McKayla did not.

“I never did ken what Malcolm saw in her,” Ilisa said.

“Something he saw the moment she arrived,” Bradon reminded.

Colin frowned. What was he talking about?

“What, you didnae know?” Ilisa asked, her eyes cutting.

“Nay, it seems not,” Bradon said.

Apparently even McKayla would not let this topic rest. “What am I missing?”

Colin looked at his brother. “Pray tell?”

Bradon’s brows lowered. “You didnae know Malcolm loved Nessa the minute he laid eyes on her?” Now he frowned, but the expression bespoke deviousness. “Even I could see it and God knows I dinnae often notice such things.”

The very idea that his cousin loved his betrothed upon first sight nearly made him laugh. Were they serious? “Impossible.”

Ilisa shook her head. “Just like a lad not to see what was right in front of him.”

McKayla looked at Colin. “He does seem pretty into her. Any chance you missed that?”

Her question made him feel stupid. Besides, how could Malcolm possibly have felt that way after everything he’d told him? “I dinnae miss much so I’d have to say no. Nessa is contriving. Could she have reeled Malcolm in without him ever having seen it coming? Aye.”

“Reeled him in?” Ilisa guffawed. “Nay. She didnae have to try in the least with our lad. She had him long before you even left. Not physically but certainly mentally. Are you so daft that you truly didnae see it?”

“Clearly.” Bradon’s eyes narrowed on his brother. “But those were troubling times for you, were they not?”

“I left her at the altar and abandoned my clan,” he replied dryly. “So, aye, they were
clearly
troubling times.”

“Well, she recovered soon enough after you left and everyone is with who they want to be with,” Ilisa said. “So why dinnae we skip the old news and get to what really weighs on my mind.”

“Because what weighs on your mind matters most,” Bradon offered.

“Exactly.” Ilisa looked at Colin. “What will the clan’s next move be?”

“Oh no,” McKayla said softly. “While that might certainly weigh on your mind it’s not what’s weighing on mine.”

Colin wasn’t sure he wanted to continue with either conversation.

“You have a sister. When did you plan on telling me that?”

Even as he cleared his throat she shook her head and continued. “I want to meet her. Please.”

“Oh, nay,” Bradon said. “‘Tis impossible. Torra will see none of us. Not since Colin left.”

“Why not?” She looked at them all. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it. Has to be. Aren’t any of you worried about her especially after what happened to me last night?”

“As Bradon said, she willnae let us see her,” Ilisa said. “But aye, we will always worry about her.”

“What if she’s up there fried by fire as seemed the case?” McKayla crossed her arms over her chest. “I think you’re all nuts for not running up there right now.” Wide eyed, she looked at Colin. “For not running up there the minute I told you!”

“We dinnae disrespect her,” Bradon said, sterner than he’d ever heard him.

“Disrespect her?” Unconvinced, McKayla looked at Ilisa. “Really? And you agree with this?”

Ilisa’s lashes might’ve issued an uncharacteristic flutter but her direct brown eyes and the unyielding reserve in them didn’t. “You dinnae ken the way of the MacLomains. We dinnae question the actions of our kin. We trust them.” Her eyes went to Colin then back to McKayla. “That should be clear by now.”

While he would have been surprised by her actions a scant forty-eight hours earlier, Colin wasn’t now. His wife spun on her heels and proceeded to walk up the stairs. He swigged down the last of his drink and watched her go.

“Where’s she going?” Ilisa asked. “Off to have a temper tantrum?”

Colin shook his head and opted for a mug of ale. “Nay, she’s off to find Torra.”

Just as he suspected, Ilisa and Bradon went wide eyed then scrambled after her. Good. If he couldn’t learn from their words, he fully intended to learn from their actions. He followed them up the stairs. McKayla had barely made it down the first hallway before they caught up.

Bradon on one side, Ilisa on the other, they tried to stop her first with words.

“‘Tis never good to disturb her,” Bradon said.

“She is ill, lass. For some time now,” Ilisa added.

McKayla shook her head and plowed on, head held high. “She’s afraid and alone.” She glanced at them both. “And way too overprotected.”

Though both might’ve slowed a bit in response neither let up when she reached the stairs leading to Torra’s chamber. Bradon barred her progress with an arm against the wall, a solid gate keeping her from going up. “I willnae allow it.”

“Nor I,” Ilisa agreed, leaning against the wall on the opposite side. “You dinnae have the right.”

“Yes I do,” McKayla said firmly, looking between them. “Am I not a MacLomain now?”

Colin leaned against the wall, crossed his arms over his chest and watched.

“‘Tis not as simple as that,” Bradon argued.

“He has the right of it,” Ilisa assured. “‘Tis complicated really.”

“Apparently nothing about this is simple,” McKayla said, then slipped beneath Bradon’s arm and ran up the stairs.

They stumbled like fools after her, nearly tripping over one another.

McKayla arrived seconds before them. The door gave no resistance when she raced into the room. Everyone froze.

“She’s not here,” Bradon said. “Where is she?”

The worry in his voice did not go unnoticed.

“Fools.”

They turned to find Arianna on the landing below. Hands on her hips, his mother looked at them, expression damning. Eyes narrowed and voice barely tolerant, she said, “These walls have ears. Did you think for a moment I would let my daughter be subjected to any of you?”

Colin couldn’t help himself. “But I thought she would see no one.”

“Then you thought wrong,” Arianna spat. “We gave her no choice. With the four of you behaving such as you are, we had no option but to protect her.” His mother huffed as she walked away, voice trailing down the hall. “From her own kin no less!”

There was no point chasing down his Ma when she was in a foul mood. But what had they done wrong? There had to be more to the story. What was really happening with his sister? That was a mystery he intended to solve. But first he’d have to deal with Mckayla. Colin stepped aside when Bradon and Ilisa passed, apparently off to brood.

But when McKayla tried to pass, he blocked her path.

Wide, gray eyes stared at him. “Don’t think for one second that I’m happy with you.”

“I won’t.” he replied, not put off in the least. 

“You deceived me yet again.”

“Aye but ‘twas not with ill intention. My sister has always been different and I’ve always protected her. Am I sorry I didnae tell you about her? Aye. But not so much that I’ll grovel now. There was no way to know she would reach out to you as she did.”

“No, I suppose not,” she said, a bit too compliant as her eyes held his. “You let me down again, Colin. I knew you had secrets and I know you still have more.” McKayla stood up straighter. “I guess I just keep hoping that you’ll share them with me.” She shook her head. “Isn’t that the whole point? To close the gap between us?”

When she pushed forward he let her go.

There was nothing easy about letting this era unravel for her. Right down to his ill sister. While he tried to break her in slowly it seemed everything was determined to do otherwise. He’d no sooner slumped down on the stairs, head in hands, when the last person he wanted to talk to seemed to come out of nowhere.

“Where is she then?”

Not bothering to look up at Malcolm, he said, “Wherever Ma put her.”

“Does Arianna know about Colin MacLeod?” Malcolm asked.

Not really wanting to have this conversation but aware he didn’t have a choice because Malcolm wasn’t budging, Colin raised his head. “Better yet, did you?”

His cousin’s steely eyes looked down. “It doesnae matter whether I did or not. All of this is on you, Colin.”

“Mayhap some but not all.” He shook his head and turned the conversation to what he felt mattered most. “Did you love Nessa right from the start?”

Taken aback, his cousin’s gaze went from the hallway back to him. “Would it have mattered? You had so many opinions. All was figured out in your eyes.”

Baffled, Colin said, “I told you what I knew of her. How was I to know you felt so strongly?”

Malcolm peered down as though he’d been waiting a millennium to do so and replied, “It never surprised me that you didnae see my desire for her. So caught up were you with the need for freedom from all this.” He made a gesture that while small encompassed the castle. “We were not good enough for you.
She
was not good enough. I’d loved her always and you saw her as nothing. All of us as nothing.”

Colin was quick to reply but his cousin was quicker.

With a sharp shake of his head, Malcolm said, “This clan, our kin, might be quick to forgive you but never think for a moment I will. You are harmful to those you love. If even now they have not figured it out then may the gods watch over them evermore.” He paused, as if to gather his thoughts. “No matter this revelation about Colin MacLeod, I will stand by Nessa. Dinnae think otherwise.”

Before Colin could reply Malcolm was gone.

He closed his eyes and lowered his head. Never once had he realized that Malcolm desired Nessa. What had it been like for him to see them together that summer? Because though not yet married they’d been amorous and open with their affection.

Until the night he realized what she was.

Or better yet what she wasn’t.

Faithful, amongst other things.