Noah bit his lip, eyeing Brendan for a long moment.
“Ye aren’t here because of yer promise to me at all, are ye? Ye are here for that girl.”
Brendan couldn’t meet his friend’s eye.
“Ye know I never wanted to be laird,” he whispered. “I only wanted a quiet life.”
Noah got to his feet, lips pressed tight together. “Few of us get what we want, lad. How could ye lie to my face?”
“Ach, Noah, don’t make it sound so bad.”
“I’m not making itsound bad, I’m only telling the truth. If ye don’t like it, I’m sorry for it, but there it is.”
Brendan got to his feet too, facing his friend. “Noah, don’t be like this. I only?—”
“We are dying, Brendan!” Noah hissed, his nose suddenly a bare inch away from Brendan’s. “Look me in the eye and tell me ye don’t care. Outside the Keep, folks kill and steal and starve as they wish, with no protection from the Laird. They’re crushed by taxes and the constant summons for fighting men. Inside the Keep, we live in constant fear, fear of murder or execution. Occasionally, it seems entirely random. I watched my brothers hang, Brendan! When I got this position, I told my family that I could protect them now, and Laird Grahame, gods curse hissoul, made a liar out of me. It’s only going to get worse, and there’s no one to save us. No one.”
He took a step back, drawing in a breath. Holding Brendan’s gaze, Noah shrugged helplessly.
“No one but ye, that is,” he finished, his voice quiet.
Brendan couldn’t find the words. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. At last, Noah glanced away.
“Yer lassie—Freya McInnes, that is—was brought here about an hour ago. Fought every inch of the way, she did. Hard not to admire her, although of course it’ll do her no good. The Laird plans to marry her right away. Today, and then consummate the marriage straight after, so there’s no chance of an annulment or anything like that. If ye have any plans to save her, now is the time.”
Brendan drew in a ragged breath, nodding slowly. “I don’t have a plan, but I won’t let this happen.”
Noah stared at him, frowning. “This lassie… ye know her, then?”
“Aye, I do. We met after she fled from the Laird.”
Noah eyed him for a long moment, eyes narrowed. He almost certainly had guessed more than he was letting on. The silence mellowed between them, until Noah sighed tiredly, and pulled a hand through his hair.
“We need ye, Brendan. At the moment, perhaps all ye can think of is yer lady-love—don’t look at me like that, all offended. I’m no fool. Try, please try, to think of how the rest of us are suffering. Laird Grahame is mad, we all know it. He’ll not stop until we’re all dead and the clan is burnt to ashes.”
Brendan swallowed hard, still not meeting Noah’s eye. “Do… do ye think they can forgive me?”
“Who?”
“The clan. The ones who live in the Keep, the ones who live outside and suffer every day. Do ye think they can forgive me for running away when they couldn’t, and then not coming back? Do ye think they’d forgive me for not being the man they all needed?”
Noah took a tentative step forward, placing a hand on Brendan’s shoulder.
“They’ll forgive ye if ye set it right, lad,” he said, voice soft. “Look at me, Brendan. They’ll forgive ye ifye do the right thing. I think ye know what the right thing is.”
Brendan closed his eyes. “Aye, but I don’t know if I’m strong enough to do it. He’s my father, Noah. He’s my father.”
Noah swallowed, nodding. “I can’t imagine how it feels. But, lad, we’ll know no peace until that man is dead.”
Brendan breathed in deeply, calming his mind. He found himself thinking of his home, the little cottage he’d built with his own hands. His sheep, which he’d had to give to a neighbor, his barn, his horse.
He thought of Argentum, sitting in the middle of the clearing outside the barn and howling mournfully because Brendan had told him tostay. It was the right thing to do, leaving him behind. Argentum could hunt and take care of himself, and besides, Laird Grahame had a history of cruelty towards animals. He would do just about anything to hurt his son, too, including doing something terrible to his son’s beloved dog.
No, it was the right thing to leave Argentum, but that didn’t stop Brendan’s chest from aching at the loss.
He thought of Freya, too, probably tied up in some satiny bedroom, awaiting a fate that she’d fled so far and so fast to escape.
Brendan opened his eyes, meeting Noah’s gaze squarely.
