“Foolish girl, are you blind to evil when you meet it?”
“I dinna know his true intent any more than you do, Father, but he saved me from certain death on the way here.”
Her father turned to Jared. “What is she talking about?”
“There were those who sought to kill Asilinn to prevent this alliance. They attacked us on the trail but we escaped.”
“Father, Jared fought off seven of them to save me,” Asilinn added. Why was she defending him? Asilinn could not fathom her own behavior.
“Oh, 'tis Jared now, is it? You're so intimate with the MacLean you call him by his given name.” Her father waved his hand in the air. “I know the laird's prowess on the battlefield. My men have scars to prove it. It must also be true what they say about his way with women if he can turn my own sweet daughter against me.”
“Father,” Asilinn choked. “I am not against you.”
“I'm finished with this ridiculous meeting." Angus shoved his food to the floor with a sweep of his arm.
Jared was on his feet going after the older man, but Asilinn grabbed his arm. “No Jared! He is my father. Let me talk to him alone,” she pleaded. “You promised me.”
Eyes blazing Jared looked down at her and then turned his attention to Angus who had stopped in his tracks and stood staring at Asilinn. “I will not allow anyone to abuse my wife, not even her father,” he warned.
“I would not hurt her,” Angus said tersely. “You accuse me of much when it is you who created this situation. I want to talk to my daughter alone. Will you permit it?”
“Asilinn may speak with you if she wishes. If you were not angry, you would see the benefits of this union. We have a chance to change the history of our people. We can fight for our freedom instead of fighting each other. Would you deny us this possibility because of the method I have used to try to achieve it?”
“Leave us, Laird of Dunbocan. This matter is too important to be decided in one day. I'll speak to my daughter alone and then we'll take our leave. I'll consider your plan and we'll speak again later.”
Jared nodded. “Aye, so, I will not eavesdrop on your conversation but if Asilinn needs my assistance I'll be outside the door.”
As Jared was closing the door, he caught a brief flurry on the balcony. Someone had been observing his meeting. “Liam, wait here in case Asilinn needs your assistance with her father,” Jared ordered.
Receiving Liam's affirming nod he turned and ran up the steps. The first hallway was empty. He hurried toward the south wing of the castle. A door was closing when he entered the hall. Running he jerked it open and stared into the stark, pale face of Glenna.
“Laird Jared!” she gasped.
“Where have you been?”
“Do you have need of my services, Laird?” She pressed close to his chest. “I've missed you sorely.” Her hand moved to rest intimately on his crotch. He shoved it away in irritation.
“Must I be specific? What were you doing before you came in here?”
Her eyes looked around the room as if in search of some plausible answer. Jared grabbed her shoulders and shook her to attention. “Tell me now and make it the truth!”
“Ivy told me you wanted me to move to the cottage. I came to get my remaining belongings from my old room,” she said. “I heard someone coming so I ducked in here to hide. I feared punishment if I was caught wanderin' about during your meeting.” She met his eyes with a sincere expression. Jared didn't know whether or not to believe her.
“Did you see anyone else?”
“As I entered the hall someone was goin' up the east staircase.”
“Who?”
“I dinna know. I only heard their steps. I never saw them. What's wrong, Laird?”
“Get what you came for and go back to your cottage.”
“Aye, Milord. If you should change your mind I will gladly come back.” She looked at him hopefully.
“'Tis finished between us. Dinna approach me again.”
“I'm sorry to hear that.” She turned abruptly and hurried off to get her things.
Jared went up the east staircase and looked around. Even if Glenna was telling the truth, the person she heard had plenty of time to escape by now. He let out a disgusted sigh and went back to wait by the door for Asilinn. His cousin looked up in askance when he approached.
“Liam, check outside,” Jared ordered.
***
Glenna reached her cottage with an armload of belongings. She shoved open the door dropping most of her load in the center of the floor. A dark shadow in the corner sprung to life and approached her.
“Well?” the dark lord asked.
“Laird Innes is going to think over the peace plan and talk with Laird Jared again in a few days. Laird Innes was very angry over Lady Asilinn. Mayhaps he wilna agree to the peace.”
“I dinna pay you to think, Glenna!” her benefactor snapped angrily. “An attack on Laird Innes and his son should nix the peace process.”
“But… Laird Innes has two hundred men at his encampment.”
“Aye, but he and his son must get to their camp from Dunbocan. Go to the men and tell them to meet me at Burnum Woods. Laird Innes and his son will have to pass that way to go back. An attack on them should end any speculation about Laird Jared's sincerity. You must get me some personal item of his to drop along the trail, something to cast the blame his way.”
Glenna walked over to a small chest in the corner and got out a small pin with the MacLean crest on it. “This should do nicely.” Her lips curled in a satisfied smile. “When you are Laird of Dunbocan, I trust your lordship wilna cast me aside like Laird Jared did.”
“Dinna fear, Glenna, you are too good at what you do to be cast out by me. I'll be back after the raid. Your story, should you be asked, will be I was here all night.”
“Aye, Milord,” she whispered.
Chapter Eight
Asilinn flew to her father's welcoming arms the moment Jared disappeared from view. “Dinna worry lass,” he told her. “Ian and I only came to check the layout of the castle. You must tell me where to find you when we sneak back tonight. I'd like to see the look on his face when I steal you from him like he stole you from me.”
Pushing away from his embrace, Asilinn looked into his angry eyes. “Father, if you do all I've sacrificed to make peace between our people has been for naught.”
“If you mean sleeping with the hoary beast, I dinna fault you. The man is wise beyond your years. He has seduced you with his honeyed tongue.”
Her mind flew to a vivid picture of Jared MacLean letting her wobbly legs slide off his shoulders while he used his magical tongue to create a firestorm of desire. Her father had no idea the truth of his words. The very thought started a tingling between her thighs. “I… I…,” she stammered.
“'Tis all lies child. He means to use you against us. I just dinna know how.” Asilinn’s jaw grew taut under her father's scrutiny. “What troubles you?”
“The Bruce seems to trust him.” She paused licking her lips with the little spit she had left. “I have given all for the cause.”
“Dinna waste our precious time with this. I dinna blame you for your ruined state. If his seed grows within you we have but another weapon to use against him.”
“I know what happened to mother hardened your heart. Is my body now little more than a tool to be used against your enemy?” Asilinn paced across the chamber and turned to face her father again. “I am your seer, your secret weapon with a gift to see into the future. Is that all I am to you? I dinna think you care beyond this mad vengeance. You will look at me and see me in your mind’s eye entwined with your enemy. I will be forever impure because he has taken me.”
Angus arched his bushy eyebrows. “This is nonsense girl. A toss in the sheets means much to women but little to men. I told you I dinna fault you for going to his bed.”
“Our king ordered me to wed him and bed him or have you forgotten?”
“Or so the
dragon lord told you. And you believed him? How do we know Robert the Bruce approved the Dragon of Dunbocan’s mission? This may all be some foul plot of the MacLean’s own making.”
“Robert was here when I arrived. He bade me do my duty in this marriage to unite the clans of Scotland.”
Her father looked startled. “Robert was here?”
“Aye, so, he attended the ceremony. It was he who led me to the dragon and handed me over with instructions to submit.” Asilinn burst into tears. “I dinna want to do it, Father. I swear.”
Her father came close and pulled her into his arms. She sobbed into his shoulder. “Was the scoundrel was rough with you?”
“No,” Asilinn gasped. “He made my own body betray me and I couldna deny him whatever he wished.”
“Bloody hell, dinna give me any more confessions. I canna bear to hear you say you enjoyed it.” Her father took her by the shoulders and held her away so he could look in her eyes. “What you say is true, Asilinn. I have not been the loving father you knew as a child, not since your mother…. But how can you lay with our enemy and tell me you dinna find it repulsive?”
Asilinn swallowed hard. “I have given all. I must believe he wants peace or I shall surely perish from the shame of what I have done.”
“He and his killed your mother and brothers!” Her father paced the floor in front of her.
“Our king has asked us to make peace. Will you deny the Bruce with your refusal to entertain the possibility Laird Jared is sincere?”
Her father's face clouded with a dark scowl. “Women know nothing of politics. Is this the payment I get for all these years of loving you? You turn on me after less than a week with the Dragon Lord of Dunbocan Castle. I canna fathom it.” His eyes narrowed. “Is it because of your gift? Have you had a vision proclaiming the truth of his words?”
Asilinn shook her head. “I had only one vision of Jared and it proved to be fact. God has not granted me another peek into the future.” There was no use to tell her father of her other morbid dream. It would only make him worry more.
“Does Laird Jared know of your gift?”
“No, I havena told him.”
“Dinna confide in him, Asilinn. I've heard rumors among the people of black magic and witchcraft. Some say secret ceremonies are held in Burnum Woods. If any knew you had dreams that foretell the future they might accuse you of these foul acts.”
“I think I am safe enough under Laird Jared’s protection.”
Her father snorted. “Dinna be fooled by him. Laird Jared MacLean did not come to be one of the most powerful men in the Highlands at such a young age by being soft. He is a ruthless man and he uses you for his own dark purpose.”
“What think you, Ian?” Asilinn looked at her brother.
Ian came close and gave her a warm hug. “I dinna know, Asilinn, but be assured I hold you no less dear because of what you were forced to do. You had no choice. I know that as does father whether he admits it or not. I believe the MacLean has had the power to defeat us for several years now but has failed to deal the final blow. I think we should test his resolve somehow.”
Angus hit the table with his fist. “I'll test his resolve when I steal my daughter back!”
“Father, if there is the possibility Asilinn carries his child he'll never let her go,” Ian said. “If you steal her from him he'll surely hunt us down and kill us all.”
“And you would have your sister stay in his clutches for fear of what he will do if we take her?”
“No. I am just telling you how it will be. But how can we free her? This castle is an impenetrable fortress. It has twice the fortifications of Cairngorm.”
Angus sank wearily into one of the chairs. “Few things have confounded me more in my entire life than the problem facing me now.” He reached out and grabbed Asilinn's hand. “We canna storm these walls to free you. Is there a way out from the inside?”
“Possibly….” Could she find Skye and learn the way out through the passage—unlikely, but was she brave enough to try it alone? “I fear it would make the situation worse.”
“What do you wish me to do? How can I ride off and leave you here? It could take months to convince the council to give up the war and I dinna know if that's what I wish to do. If you dinna come with us now, it could be a long time before another opportunity presents itself. The MacLean’s men will not allow us to ride to his door as they did today. Let us come back for you tonight.”
“Even you have said there is no easy way in.” She drew a deep breath. “I dinna wish to stay, but if I am to be free I must find a way out myself. Stay at your encampment for three days. If I can, I’ll come to you. If not at the end of three days you must return to Cairngorm and try to make the peace the MacLean has thrust upon us.”
“It is too dangerous. Let us look for a chink in his armor.”
“No, if I canna get out myself you must leave me here.”
“He’ll punish you if he catches you trying to escape,” Ian warned.
“No more than he punished me this morning when I told him I had fulfilled my vows by allowing him one night with me.”
“What did he do?”
“He took me again to prove I was his.”
“Bloody bastard,” Ian muttered.
Her father’s brow furrowed. “I thought you said he dinna rape you.”
“He did not.” Her lip was trembling and she bit it hard to fight back the tears.
Her father’s face darkened like the sky before an approaching thunderstorm. “You let him take you at will?”
“I will not risk my mother’s fate. When I cooperate, he doesna harm me.”
“You cooperate to escape rape? What did you see girl? You were just a child.”
Asilinn faced her father. “Dinna speak of it!" She crossed herself. “Let mother's memory rest in peace.”
Her father looked ashen. It was a long time before he spoke then he nodded his ascent. “Have a care, Asilinn. I dinna want you dead. You may underestimate the MacLean’s wrath if he catches you at this.”
Perhaps she thought but she would try to escape the dragon—the dragon with roving hands of fire that took her body out of her control and bent it to his will. “Three days. Give me three days. Leave without me if I canna come.”
“You’re sure?”
“I dinna think Jared will do anything to me he has not already done. Robert the Bruce would not approve.”
“You think our king will protect you in some perverse way, though this whole mess was partly his making.”
“Aye, so, three days,” she whispered. Asilinn took Ian’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
“I'll take my leave.” Her father stood abruptly and looked at her, disappointment evident in his face. “Ian and I should come to rescue you. I should not be letting you attempt this alone.”
“If I am caught he will not harm me. If you are caught trying to take me, you may both die. I will not have your blood on my hands.” Asilinn wished she was as sure as she pretended to be about the consequences of her possible capture, but one thing was sure. The Dragon Lord of Dunbocan would kill her father or her brother if they came into his castle after her and she could not permit that.
Letting out a sigh of resignation, her father grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Three days. Tell your husband I have agreed to leave in peace and speak with the High Council about his peace plan. In the meantime, do not reveal your gift to the Laird of Dunbocan."
“I will try, but he sometimes seems to know my deepest thoughts—I cannot fathom how.”
“Do you know why they call him the Dragon Lord of Dunbocan Castle?” her father interrupted.
Asilinn took a deep breath and shook her head.
“He has all the strength and shrewd powers of the legendary dragons of old.”
Asilinn did not doubt it but she put on a brave front for her father and brother. “That is a myth made up in fear.”
“Regardless, he is a much more dangerous man than yo
u think, fierce in battle, and able to manipulate many to his will. Keep your gift a secret until we are sure of his motives.”
An uncomfortable knot formed in Asilinn's stomach. “I'll do as you ask.”
“There is something else you must do. This second request will be much more difficult but perhaps it will make Laird Jared show his true color. Tell your husband you dinna wish to make a child with him until this issue is resolved. Find him a whore to appease his lust until the peace is set.”
“It could be too late.” Asilinn clutched her flat stomach.
“Mayhaps, but 'tis unlikely you conceived so soon.”
Asilinn flushed. How many times did it take for a man’s seed to take root? The vivid memories assailed her now with a new guilt attached. Twice she had given herself over to him. And God help her she took pleasure in it. She was reckless and wanton—she was surely a fallen woman. Her father's voice continued in a drone around her ears.
“Would you chance bearing his offspring in the midst of warring clans? The child would belong to neither side each hating him for the part of him that was the other. Is that what you wish for your child? It is not what I want for my grandchild. If Laird Jared's desire for peace is strong enough, he'll agree. I've offered much by deciding to leave in peace and talk to the council.”
“He thinks our child would unite the clans.”
“Test him with this request. The day the peace is set you can join with him with my blessing. In spite of what has transpired, I admire the man. Indeed, I may have chosen him for you myself were he not a MacLean.” Her father kissed her softly on the cheek.
“Our encampment is over the bridge and just beyond the woods. One of our men will be watching the bridge at all times waiting to assist you. You need only get that far alone.” Her father stroked her tear-stained cheek with his hand. “I am truly sorry, Asilinn, for all the times I have failed you. Dinna risk your life to come back to us. If you canna break free, I'll return within a month. Tell that to your Dragon Lord of Dunbocan.”
Ian gave her a brief hug and kiss. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked to the door. When he let go of Asilinn, a shiver went straight to her heart. Would she ever see either of them again?
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