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Ewan stared hard at Caelen but Caelen stared back, his expression stubborn and unyielding.
“I think,” Ewan said slowly, “that ’tis a reasonable solution so long as all parties agree.”
“I don’t agree!” Laird McDonald shouted.
“Father, sit down,” Rionna said in a voice that sounded like the crack of a sword against a shield. She pushed forward and walked toward the center of the room where Alaric and Caelen stood before Ewan and the king.
“Your conditions?” she asked Caelen in a cool voice.
“Smart lass,” Caelen murmured. “Aye, there are conditions. Your father leaves McCabe keep immediately and is never to return so long as Keeley McCabe resides here. When we return to McDonald land after our marriage, your father steps down as laird immediately and cedes power to me.”
“This is an outrage!” Laird McDonald bellowed.
Several other of the McDonalds voiced their displeasure and soon the hall vibrated with angry shouts.
To Alaric’s surprise, Rionna said nothing during the arguing. She stood completely still, studying Caelen.
“Your conditions do seem unreasonable,” the king said.
Caelen shrugged. “They are mine. Unreasonable or not.”
“I am not willing to give up the position of laird yet,” Laird McDonald bellowed. “ ’Twas the plan to cede power to Alaric after the birth of Rionna’s firstborn child.”
Caelen offered a lazy smile. “I can assure you that your daughter will be delivered of a child within nine months of our marriage. What does nine more months buy you?”
Rionna flushed and Laird McDonald nearly exploded with rage.
Caelen then turned to the king. “I gave my word that I would not relate an event that happened some days past. But the reason for not telling is no longer an issue and I would want you and the other clans to know the kind of man Laird McDonald is and why it is my condition that he step down the moment I marry his daughter.”
The king frowned. “Speak then. I give you leave to break this promise.”
“When Keeley was a young girl, she was a McDonald. Cousin to Rionna and niece to Laird McDonald. He caught her in her chamber and tried to rape her. A girl barely on the cusp of womanhood. When his wife found them, she cried Keeley whore and cast her out of the keep. She was forced to live on her own and provide for herself as no young girl should have to do. She was without protection. It’s a wonder she survived.”
“That’s crazy talk,” Laird McDonald sputtered. “ ’Tis as my lady wife said. The lass tried to seduce me.”
Rionna whirled and pinned her father with a glare that made him pale and take his seat once again.
“That’s not the whole of it,” Caelen said softly. “Upon the laird’s arrival here, when he found out that Keeley was staying here in the McCabe keep, he waited for her to pass his chamber. He pulled her into his room, locked the door, and tried to rape her again.”
Alaric lunged across the table and slammed into Laird McDonald. The force sent them both over the back of the laird’s chair and they hit the floor with a resounding thump that echoed throughout the keep.
“You son of a bitch,” Alaric snarled. “You dared to touch her again? I’ll kill you for this!”
He yanked the laird to his feet and smashed his fist into his face, satisfied when the laird promptly spewed blood and two teeth from his mouth. Alaric reared back to hit him again when Caelen caught his fist.
“ ’Tis enough,” he said quietly. “I let you get in one, but now the laird is my problem, and I’ll deal with him accordingly.”
“You’re the one who found her, weren’t you?” Alaric said hoarsely. “And you didn’t tell me. She was mine to defend. It should have been me to have repaid his insult.”
Caelen smiled. “Your lass did a fine enough job on her own. She busted his nose and fair cracked his cods open. I merely finished the job for her.”
The king rose, his expression dark as he stared at the goings-on. “Is this true, Laird McDonald? Did you try to rape a child under your own care and protection? And you attacked her once again under Laird McCabe’s roof?”
The laird remained silent as he nursed his bloodied mouth.
“Aye, he did,” Rionna said quietly. “I was there.”
“Disloyal bitch!” the laird spat.
Caelen rounded on the laird again. “ ’Tis my future wife you insult. I would suggest you strongly reconsider any words you have to say to her in the future.”
The king rubbed his fingers wearily over the bridge of his nose. “What think you of this, Ewan? Can we still salvage this alliance and will the others join with us in our cause?”
Ewan lifted a brow and then surveyed the occupants of the hall, most of whom had remained silent as they observed what had transpired between the McDonalds and the McCabes.
“Why don’t you ask them?”
The king chuckled. “A sound idea indeed, Ewan.”
He raised his hands for quiet and then addressed the crowded room. “What say you, Lairds? If Caelen McCabe marries Rionna McDonald and seals Neamh Álainn to the McCabe lands here via the alliance with the McDonalds, will you join with us in our fight against Duncan Cameron and Malcolm?”
One by one, the lairds stepped forward, the only sound, their boots scraping against the floor.
“I refuse to ally myself with a coward who preys on children,” one laird called out. “If Caelen McCabe becomes laird upon his marriage to Rionna McDonald, then aye, I’ll join and swear my allegiance to Your Majesty and to the McCabes.”
