*
By the time we arrived, the sun was just beginning to rise, casting beautiful shades of pink and yellow across the shimmering water that gently trickled down the valley, slicing beautiful curves into the green landscape.
The ceremony was short and simple, rather unlike the pathways it took to get us here. Adelle cried loudly throughout, garnering multiple looks of horror from me father. But at the ceremony’s completion as we sealed our vows with a kiss, I dinna miss the small trickle that fell from Father’s eyes as well.
Arran pulled me in close, running his fingers deep into me hair as he placed a trail of tiny kisses leading up to me ear. “I dinna think I would ever be able to call ye wife, but in me heart I always thought of ye as such.”
I pulled his mouth away from me ear and brought his lips toward mine once more. Quickly saying our farewells, we left Father and Adelle to make their way back to MacChristy Castle alone. Mounting Arran’s horse together, we set off down the valley, no knowing what direction we sought, and no caring as long as we were headed there together.
…And alone.
Chapter 40
Tormod waited until the group had split in two and each had departed, Arran and Blaire off toward the north and Laird MacChristy and some lass he knew not back toward MacChristy Castle. Only then did he crawl from his hiding space and walk far off to the west where he’d tied his horse.
Immediately after Edana’s death, Tormod had gone into the village to spend time in the ale house in hopes that he would be able to spread suspicion of how Edana had met her death among the townspeople. His efforts had been fruitless.
All that he spoke to had lived under the miserable leadership of Ramsay Kinnaird and as a result were not as sympathetic as he’d hoped toward Edana and her untimely fate. They were also suspicious of him. Bastard or no, they still knew that Ramsay’s blood pumped through him and were unlikely to trust him unless given real reason.
The people saw Arran and all of the Conalls as saviors who had finally delivered them from the all-powerful hold of his uncle. It had only taken him upsetting a small handful of villagers before he’d been run out of the ale house. They would not allow him to speak ill of their new laird or suggest that he’d done something so heinous.
He hadn’t, of course, but the truth of Edana’s death could never be known if he was to one day soon take over as laird. Tormod had left the ale house angry and defeated. He spent the next few days sulking until he saw Arran ride from their territory in the direction of Conall Castle.
It didn’t take him long to guess where or to whom Arran was riding. Tormod knew he was travelling to see his whore, anxious to fall into her arms now that he was rid of his wife. Not that he could blame him. He’d seen every inch of the lass the night he’d watched them make love in the barn, and there was no denying what a great beauty the lass was.
He knew not how Arran’s new marriage to Blaire could contribute to his downfall, but he was sure that once he told his sister, she could figure out a way to turn it to their favor. He rode quickly, anxious to arrive home so that a plan could be made and a trap set before Arran and his new bride returned to their stolen castle.
*
“Ye are certain they are married? He dinna just go to take her to his bed?”
Tormod ground his teeth in frustration at his sister. She was smarter than he was he knew, but he was no fool. She often spoke to him as if he were a small child, not the man who would soon serve as her laird. “Aye, I wouldna have ridden so fast to ye if I wasna absolutely certain. I saw it with me own two eyes.”
“Aye, good. Ye shall use his whore to turn the people against him.”
“How? The people doona wish to hear talk against him, especially if it should come from either of us.”
“Aye, ’twas foolish of ye to try and sway anyone yerself to begin with. All we need is to pay someone else to do our bidding as we did before. The people are too loyal to Arran and the Conalls, but they havena had as much interaction with the MacChristys. It will be easier for them to believe ill of Blaire if the news comes from someone that lives among them and they accept as part of the village. We are outsiders ye and I. Go and gather the midwife who confirmed Edana’s lie to Arran. If she isna willing to help us, take her children.”
*
Tormod reared back to kick in the door to Gara’s home with as much force as he could muster. The small wooden shack was dark, and he hoped to scare them out of their beds. Surely when the lass saw him with his lit torch, ready to set her home ablaze, she would come with him willingly, and he would not be forced to take her beastly children.