An older council member said, “There are ways a woman may be influenced.” He shot a stare sharp as a dagger at Farlan.
That made Moira straighten. “If I find anyone has raised a hand to Farlan again, there will be an answer, swift and hard. D’ye hear me?”
They heard, and they did not like it. Nor did Farlan, if Rhian could judge by the sudden flash in his eyes. It could not be easy for him to stand by while his lover defended him. Very little of what Farlan had done lately, so Rhian had to acknowledge, could have been easy.
The council members filed out of the hall, their faces like stone. Only the three sisters, Farlan, and Alasdair remained.
Moira broke the silence by turning to Alasdair. “So I am forbidden from marrying him, am I? I am to live in sin?”
“Nay.” Alasdair’s gaze, when it rested on Moira, became enigmatic. “Nay. Ye might gi’ up sleeping wi’ him.”
Moira bit down hard on what she wanted to say in reply.
“They are right,” Alasdair told her. “It is an abomination having him”—he jerked his head at Farlan—“standing at the head o’ the clan when we are fighting his own folk for survival.”
Tears came to Moira’s eyes.
Farlan said quietly, “My loyalty is all Moira’s now.”
“Aye, well.” A grimace twisted Alasdair’s lips. “I might believe ye. Try convincing the rest o’ them.”
Chapter Nine
“Mistress Rhian, Iwould like to see your patient, Leith MacLeod.”
Rhian stared at Farlan in consternation. Alasdair had stepped out, leaving MacBeith’s three sisters and Farlan alone in the hall.
She met Farlan’s steady brown gaze, wondering despite herself how he managed to keep his composure while being spat upon by some of the men who had taken part recently in beating him senseless. If it was indeed the power of love that sustained him, then he made a wondrous testimony to it.
“The man is sorely injured,” she told him.
“So I do understand. Blinded, so Moira says.”
“Aye. I do no’ ken that he will survive his wound.”
Sorrow twisted Farlan’s features. “All the more reason I need to see him. We were the closest of friends, once.”
But no longer, since he’d defected? Rhian could but ask herself.
“Why do we no’ give it a day and a night to see whether he lives?”
Moira stepped up into the conversation. “Ye are holding him under guard, sister?”
“He is in no’ condition to escape us.”
“I’m thinking for his protection.”
“Aye, there be guards.” Of course, those guards could themselves decide to enter the pen and kill Leith. His life did not hang by much. “I mean to go soon and check on him.”
“Let us come,” Moira requested.
Rhian faced her. “Sister, ye be weary enough to drop, as I can tell merely by looking at ye. I suggest ye go get some rest and worry about the prisoner tomorrow.”
Farlan said, “My presence may make a difference to Leith.”
Rhian eyed him. “If he is your friend, this Leith MacLeod, ye might do better to leave him be. If he comes awake, he will be in agony.”
Farlan and Moira exchanged speaking looks. “Come, love.” Moira tugged at his hand. “We will tak’ my sister’s advice and seek our rest.”
