“Anghus is dead?”
She nodded, her eyes bright.
“Nay,” Braden breathed, his tone betraying his grief. “How could it be? How could a warrior and man so fine be gone?”
A single tear fell down her right cheek. Licking her lips, she quickly wiped it away. “The same way the others perished. Over a senseless feud that should never have been started!”
His heart heavy, Braden tried to come to terms with her news.
After the death of their father when Anghus was but ten-and- six, he had been the sole support for Maggie and her brothers. All the members of the clan had helped the family as best they could, but the ever-prideful Anghus had turned aside the offers. “‘Tis my family, and I’ll be the one taking care of them. It’s my responsibility and my pleasure to watch over them as my Da would want.”
His old friend had been one of the finest warriors he’d ever known. They’d trained together more times than he could count. Had drank and wenched even more.
From as far back as Braden could remember, Anghus MacBlar had been like another brother to him.
“How?” Braden asked.
She spoke, her voice unsteady. “He fell guarding Ian’s back.”
Braden took a deep breath to stave off the agony he felt. Ian was Maggie’s twin brother. The two of them had been complete terrors as small children.
He remembered Anghus tossing Ian over his shoulder as the scamp ran after Maggie intending to torment her.
“Lad, if you don’t learn to respect your wee sister, I’ll be tearing the hide from your bones.”
How many times had he heard Anghus threaten his baby brother? And how many more times had he seen Anghus wrap his arms around both Maggie and Ian and give them the love they needed after the death of their parents?
“I’ll always be here for you, little Mag-pie. I’ll not let anyone e’er harm you. So long as there’s breath in my body, I’ll keep you safe.” Those were the only other words he’d heard Anghus utter more times than the threat.
“What of Kate?” Braden asked, thinking of Anghus’s wife and two small children.
“She’s surviving. Barely. Her mother took her in to live with them for a while. And now she alternates between cursing Anghus and begging God to let all this be a bad dream.”
Braden shook his head at the agony he heard in her voice. Dear Lord, the pain Maggie must be feeling now. Anghus had been her one true protector, the one person Maggie had always relied on.
What would become of her now?
Most women would have collapsed from the weight of such grief. For that matter, most men would have as well. And he wondered how she was making do. How she had found the strength to devise such a plan to end the feud that had cost her brother his life?
He saw her in a new light and a profound respect for her welled up inside him. “And Ian?”
“He survived, just barely.” The sadness left her eyes and in its place her rage burned bright. “Now the fool wants to head out to avenge our brother.”
Braden could well understand that. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than killing whichever MacDouglas follower had claimed his friend’s life.
And in that instant he understood why Maggie had done what she had. “So, that’s the reason for all this. You’re here to protect Ian.”
“I’m here to protect all the men who are still living. If you men had your way, we’d end up like the MacNachtans with nothing left save small boys and old men.”
He reached out for her. “Maggie?—”
“Don’t you be touching me!” She stepped away from his hand. “I’m not about to let you have your way with me so your brother can lead another party out to its death. I’m sick of all this killing. I have four brothers left alive and by the saints above, I’ll keep them safe or die in that effort.”
Now that got his dander up. She acted as if it were Lochlan’s fault.
“If you recall,” he said, “we didn’t start this feud. The MacDouglas did when he led a raid into Ken Hollow. Do you not remember the women and children who were slain?”
“Aye, of course I do. If you remember, my brother Aidan was one of those who fell that night. Do you think I could ever forget such a thing?”
