Awaiting the Wolf Killer Highlander by Alisa Adams

17

Malcolm’s first errand went quite well indeed, though it took him far out of his way in achieving the second, causing him to push his poor horse nearly to its breaking point in trying to reach Castle Fraser in a timely fashion.

As it was, the sun had long since set when his horse came within its sights, and he left the animal behind, carefully closing the rest of the distance on foot and unseen.

He knew he would be turned away at the gate, even with his face covered as it had been before. Nathan would have no desire to grant him an audience. He might even be unmasked, his identity revealed, and his long-deferred punishment served to him at last.

Which meant he would simply have to arrange a private meeting with Nathan on his own terms.

Malcolm knew that the changing of the guard would be the easiest time to slip past the sentries, and he knew precisely where to pass through a narrow burrow-hole in the outer wall, just as he and his brother had so many times as boys. Likewise, it was easy for him to cross the courtyard under the cover of darkness.

Moving through the castle undetected was far trickier.

There were secret passages and bolt-holes aplenty, but Malcolm had to be careful in ensuring that no servants were in any of the rooms before he appeared through a hidden portal in a wall or hearth. He had to stand with his ear to the inner walls numerous times, listening for footsteps and voices, praying his hearing was acute enough for him to escape detection.

Mercifully, it was, and he found himself in the hidden chamber behind his brother’s wall within the hour. He was about to press his ear to the soot-covered surface once more before he heard Nathan’s voice: “Oh, do come in, Corncrake, for heaven’s sake! Do you not remember that I know the secrets of this place even better than you do?”

Malcolm pressed his thumb against the stone, which triggered the wall’s counterweight, allowing it to swivel and present him to Nathan.

“Well, then.” The young laird produced a pair of wine glasses and a bottle, poured each of them a drink, and handed one to Malcolm. “As you are well aware, you are surrounded by over a hundred servants and guards—all of whom would lunge for your throat were I to sound the alarm. I can only imagine that you have urgent business with me indeed, eh? Regarding Lady Sorcha, no doubt? I’d have thought that you might have overcome her captors and spirited her away to some sort of happy ending by now.”

“She is imprisoned by her own clan,” Malcolm responded flatly. “As are members of her family. Her position is untenable because you betrayed her.”

“I merely received a better offer,” Nathan countered, draining his wine in a single gulp.

“Then honor means so little to you? What, then, of the sacrifice I made for you all those years ago? I forfeited my life among civilized company. I lived among barbarians and beasts for a lifetime to cover your crime!”

“Yes, yes, and I am grateful,” his brother mumbled, pouring himself another drink.

“Then show me your gratitude!” Malcolm insisted. “Help Sorcha to regain control of her clan, Nathan, I beg of you! Prove to me that you are the same good person I once knew before that terrible night!”

“I had been drinking, damn it.” Nathan bared his teeth, drinking his second glass of wine and immediately pouring a third. His hand was trembling slightly. “I was a mere boy, I had never had a drop to drink before, and my good sense was bewitched by a heathen holiday! It was not my fault!”

“I know that full well!” Malcolm hissed. “But it was not my fault either, and still, I paid for it dearly! Nathan, all I ask now is for you to honor your arrangement with Sorcha—no more, no less. You swore you would join your clan with hers and that you would defend her and her siblings against this McKenna blackguard.”

The laird rubbed his temples, wincing. “To drag my clan into a potential war? You ask too much of me, Corncrake.”

Malcolm took Nathan’s wrists in his hands and lowered them, staring into his eyes intently. “Aye, Bonxie. And you did not have to ask me to take the blame for the poor boy you ran down with your horse. I simply did it for you because I loved you, as one brother loves another. Please, do this for me now.”

Nathan laughed humorlessly. “Even presuming that I consented to such a thing—and mind you, I never will, as no sane person would—what course of action would you propose to see it through, hmm?”

Malcolm paused for the briefest of moments. This man had betrayed Sorcha once. Was it not likely that he would do so again? Malcolm did not wish to believe such a thing, but he understood that it was because he still saw Nathan as the boy who was once his brother, not the man he had become.

“Before I tell you,” he said slowly, “tell me this, please, Nathan: Why did you abandon your promise to Sorcha?”

His brother hung his head with a sigh. “For the same reason I was so unpleasant to you during your visit, I suppose. Being confronted by people like you and Sorcha made me realize that I had been unworthy of the sacrifice you made all those years ago. I have not been a good laird to our clan. I know that. I see it every day when I look out upon the people who starve and suffer because they were foolish enough to trust in my leadership. Do you not think I have pondered daily what might have happened if I had taken the blame and left instead of you?”

“I was not of your bloodline,” Malcolm pointed out. “I would not have ruled in your stead.”

“Oh, of course you would have!” Nathan waved him away impatiently. “Foundling or no, you were the only other one who might have ruled after our father’s death, as we had no other siblings. Tell me truly, Malcolm, I beg of you, for I have obsessed over it so these many days and nights: Would you have done a better job? Would you have resisted our uncle’s poor advice rather than allowing him to lead you astray?”

Malcolm searched within himself and found no answer there. “In truth, Bonxie, I do not know. It seems we will never know. All there is left to know is right here, now, between us. Will you do what is right, Brother? Now, when it matters most?”

Nathan thought it over for a few moments. “I will. But before I agree to do so, I require something from you in return.”

“Oh? And what is that, pray tell?”

He gave his brother a wry smile. “Something only you can give me: Peace of mind, at last.”