Ailith popped upright to stare at him, all the blood in her body turning to ice.
“The Morays?What?Why would he have ye meet with the verra clan that tried to destroy him and his aligned clans?”
William inhaled deeply, and that shadow on his face deepened.His bright blue eyes shifted to avert his gaze.
“He hopes to take their measure in light of the new king.Bernard, Robb, and Iain are to go with me.We shall arrive as emissaries, complete with a letter from King Causantín himself.We should be but a day, mayhap more if our conferencing goes well.”
Her lips thinned as he explained.The Morays.After all they had done to sow dissent among the clans and conspire with the dead mad king, now her husband was to walk into that lion’s den?She shuddered.
Ailith noticed William was oddly quiet after telling her the news, and she tilted her head to peer at him.He kept his face downcast, focused on his hands folded between his well-muscled thighs.
“Does this task worry ye, William?”
He exhaled again.“I have to admit, I dinna understand much about what ye’ve told me about your traveling through the fabric of time.There are moments when I canna bring myself to fully believe it.But since everything ye had shown me to date attests to the truth of your tale, I have to believe at least some of it.”
Ailith stilled beside William.Had something else transpired to make her stand out or call unwanted attention to some peculiar behavior?
Ugh.What had she done now?
Instead of asking, she reached her hand over his thigh, and he readily clasped her hand in his.She breathed out a shaky breath and waited for home to continue.
He exhaled harshly.“I know I asked ye never to tell me anything of my future, but then I never thought I’d be asked to walk onto what seems to be enemy lands.Is there anything,mo ruaidh, anything at all I might need to know about the Morays before I venture to their stronghold?”
It seemed to Ailith that all the air in the room was sucked out.Her skin burned under her léine.
“Ye told me never to tell ye.Ye said ye dinna want to be part of that curse.”
He nodded slightly, barely noticeable.“Aye.But ‘tis no’ for me.I dinna care to know my fate.‘Tis more about the Moray clan and the future of Alba.Is there anything I must know?”
Here it was, his full acknowledgment of who she really was --his awakening, she realized.William’s mind was open to her knowledge.
His hand tightened against hers, and, for a moment, her mind went blank.What did she know of the Morays?Especially this far back in history, when Pictish culture had a tighter hold on the Highlands than Christianity?Where kings came and went, and the whim of the clans?
Other than the history surrounding Dunnottar Castle itself, particularly during the Scottish Wars of Independence, her knowledge of this time was severely limited.But there was one thing she did know, and it wasn’t all due to her history studies.Ailith had to give a nod to her Shakespeare studies from Freshman Literature.
“Ye know they are power hungry,” she replied in a secretive voice.
How much of what she told William would he believe or find useful?That was up to him.All she could do was tell him what she did know.
He nodded but remained silent.
“Their craving for power knows no bounds.And they have no alliance to kings –to any kings.They believe themselves kings.”
“But they were aligning with mad King Donald before he was killed,” William countered.
“Nay,” Ailith answered.“They aligned with him for position.Years from now, about a hundred or more, a Moray great-grandson of King Donald and the Morays will slay a sitting king to become King of Scotland, of Alba.He will be named MacBeth, and his mad thirst for violence will rival that of King Donald’s.The Morays dinna support a king for the king; they support those who might help them retain their power in Alba.Especially farther north, where they see themselves as kings in their own right.”
William wordlessly nodded again, taking in her information.Though she desperately wished she had more information to provide, understanding the true nature of the Morays and their power might work in his favor.
“We know their quest for position and power, and I had heard of their Mormaer of Morays in the north, who rules like a king, but I had no idea how far they would go to retain that power.”He snorted in derision.“Feckin’ Morays, dinna want to unite with the rest of the clans.So ye suggest we dinna trust these Morays at all?”
How might she answer that?How did one measure trust?
“I think,” she said slowly, “that if what they say is something that keeps their hand on their power, then ye might trust it.Anything else ...”
William straightened.“Anything else is questionable.Aye, I understand ye.”
He turned to her suddenly and wrapped both strong arms around her shoulders, crushing her against his chest.He buried his face in her vermillion tresses.
