Pledged to a Highlander (Highland Promise Trilogy 1)

“So Burnell met with this troop secretly,” Royden said.

“That was the strange part,” she said and held out her hand for Royden to help her off the chair. Instead he slipped his arm around her waist once more and lifted her off the chair. A ripple of pleasure trickled through her and she was reminded again how much she missed his touch. “I stopped at Burnell’s room thinking if he had yet to join the group I could find out who it was that arrived so mysteriously in the night. I found him sound asleep in bed and the next morning there was no sign that the group had ever been here.”

“That is strange,” he agreed. “Could Burnell have simply supplied the mercenaries a central gathering place to operate from in return for leaving him unscathed? Or had he surrendered to them to begin with since his clan had little chance against them? Whatever the reason, we now know that Learmonth most probably was the place it all began.”

Their return ride home was far different and far more pleasurable than the ride there. This time she and Royden talked.

“Did Burnell ever speak with you about any worry for the future of the Clan Learmonth once he was gone?” Royden asked, his eyes on his wife while also paying heed to everything around him. It was a skill he had learned quickly, surprise attacks all too common while with the mercenaries.

“One night when the howling wind seemed to penetrate the stone walls, he mentioned to me that even if this keep fell, the Clan Learmonth would never fall. That a Learmonth had been on this land long before a keep had ever been built and a Learmonth would remain here forever.”

“It seems that he didn’t worry if you didn’t bear him an heir, so he had to have known there was someone who would lead the clan and carry on the name.”

“It is an old name here in these parts,” Oria said. “I remember my da talking about how his da was in a battle that ended with Learmonth land being divided among other clans.”

“I would think that that might have something to do with this, but it was a good many years ago, and lands are lost and gained, through marriage and battles. It’s just the way of things. Why now at such an advanced age would he decide to seek revenge? It would seem more likely that he was trying to protect what he had by bargaining with the mercenaries and keeping his small clan safe.”

“That would mean that Burnell was nothing more than a minor piece to this puzzle,” Oria said.

“I wouldn’t say minor, more significant since his land provided a place to build up troops and launch their attacks. What puzzles me is why the attacks stopped after the Clan MacKinnon was attacked and nothing more happened for five years. Our area may be remote but news does travel. Why didn’t the King do anything? Surely he heard what happened. Yet nothing was done.”

Oria offered a sensible reason. “Raven and Purity couldn’t be found and forced to wed, leaving Purity’s da safe and your land unable to be rightfully claimed.”

“Unless the King stepped in and he didn’t. Why? And it still puzzles me why Burnell wed you when you could have been wed to another and your land and clan secured.” Royden turned wide eyes on her when a thought struck him. “Burnell wasn’t meant to wed you, was he?”

“I gave my word to my da and Burnell I would never tell anyone,” she said.

“You once trusted me, Oria, trust me now when I say I will never reveal what you tell me to anyone. Besides, your da and Burnell are gone, does it really matter any longer.”

“My word is my word, Royden. I dishonor myself if I betray my word.”

“I don’t think your da would mind you telling me.”

Oria recalled her da’s words as he lay dying. Royden needs to know. Had he meant that she should tell him if she ever got to see him again?

She followed her instincts. “I was taken home after the attack. Burnell was there with his healer and a cleric. My da told me I was to wed Burnell. It made no sense to me and I was in too much pain to object. I wed Burnell without question. Much later I discovered that my da and Burnell had made a pact that if you were killed in an attack or taken captive that Burnell would wed me to keep me from having to wed a stranger and my da from losing his land.”

Her da had taken no chances. He had made arrangements for Oria’s safety in case something happened to the man she was supposed to wed. Royden had never given thought to such a possibility. He had believed he’d be able to keep Oria safe when he should have considered what might happen to her if he’d been unable to. Royden was glad her da had been wiser than him.