“We must discuss what has happened.” Duncan guided her from the great hall. His eyes met Fiona’s, pride mingling with the gravity of consequence. As laird and father, he too understood the weight that now settled upon her shoulders.
“It was the Sinclairs, Father,” Fiona insisted. “Malcolm Sinclair sent men into McClain land dressed as McAfees. I didn’t recognize them, but they could have been new. I didn’t know. I had too much energy yesterday morning, so I took a walk and decided to hunt a few rabbits and give them to the widows and orphans as I do at home so often.”
She huffed, finding it more difficult to tell the tale than she’d realized it would be. “I shot my first rabbit, and then I felt something… like I wasn’t alone. So I reached for my dagger, only to discover I’d left it in my chamber. Someone caught my hand when I reached for an arrow. They took me from McClain land, and I soon saw that their leader was Malcolm Sinclair. He took me to an abandoned fortress outside of McClain land, and there he told me he would keep me until I agreed to be his wife and merge our two clans.” She left out the part where she was gagged and her hands were tied, keeping her hands behind her back so he wouldn’t see the bruises from the ropes on her wrists.
“The McClains should have taken better care of ye,” he growled.
“I left without telling anyone where I was. How could they have known to take care of me?”
He shook his head. “There should not have been strange men in their village with my three precious daughters here under their care.”
“Mayhap not, but I was not gone for even a day, and they brought me back. All of the men who were part of my kidnapping are now dead, their blood spilled around and inside the fortress where I was held. It is your friend, Laird Sinclair, who is at the bottom of all this!”
“That canna be true, lass. Laird Sinclair and I were friends as lads, and we are still friends to this day. We have helped them in many ways over the years, providing food for them when they had none for themselves. What reason would they have to betray us this way?”
“They want a merging of clans,” she murmured. “They want McAfee and Sinclair to be as one.”
Duncan shook his head. “Not possible. Malcolm must have been acting on his own.”
Fiona sighed. It was just as she’d expected. Her father believed the Sinclairs were innocent and the fault lay with the McClains. She had to find a way to convince him differently.
