Cam could feel his hardness against the man fracturing. “Then why did ye not say so?” he said. “I thought ye hated me because ye made an example of me more than the others.”
Wendell grinned. “If I told you what I expected from you, it would not have made a difference,” he said. “I was trying to draw the lion out, the one that lurks inside of you. I cannot invite him out. I have to draw him out for him to reach his potential. I am sorry you did not understand that.”
Cam was feeling rather foolish. “I do now,” he said. “Forgive me for thinking poorly of ye.”
Wendell handed him the reins. “As you go to your new duties, draw upon that lion. He is a fearsome thing.”
With that, he headed off toward the Fields of Mars and anoviciustroop that was undoubtedly awaiting him.
Perhaps he wasn’t such a bad trainer after all.
Cam had to admit that he was sorry to leave The Cal now, but that couldn’t be helped. Turning to look at Isadora and her family, he could see that they were all mounted on their shaggy ponies, waiting for him to say his farewells.
Deftly, he leapt up onto the saddle of his new mount, getting a feel for the big horse beneath him. Much as Cam had felt that he was starting a new life when he’d first come to the Ludus Caledonia, now he felt very much as if he were starting another new life.
He was about to embark on something he’d been planning for, working for, hoping for. The moment was upon him. Vengeance for his grandfather had come.
But so had his love for a brave, true young woman with red hair and a toothy smile.
Cam was a man torn.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kirkburn Castle
“No promise ofhelp, Dros.”
In the great hall of Kirkburn Castle, Drostan turned as Ternan entered the hall, newly returned from the Murray stronghold to the north. But what he’d heard was not what he’d expected to hear and the words were a blow.
“How do ye know this?” Drostan demanded. “Ternan, why would they refuse?”
Ternan was exhausted from travel, little sleep, and little hope. Drostan had put him at the head of the negotiation for Murray support, putting the burden on him.
It had been unfair.
He wasn’t the one who had given the order to destroy Netherton.
Therefore, Ternan had little patience as he pulled off his leather gloves and tossed them onto the tabletop, the same table that had been so brutalized over the years by Drostan’s men. He sat heavily.
“It is simple enough, Dros,” he said wearily. “Angus Murray has heard things against ye. The Murray has ties tae Clan Keith and they tell him it wasyewho burned Netherton. Men saythat they saw Lindsay men making it look as if the Keith had committed the attack. The evidence is damning.”
Drostan ran his hands over his greasy head in disbelief. Months of discussion, of plying Clan Murray with gifts and precious heads of cattle, all of it designed to show Chieftain Angus Murray that the Lindsay needed help in running the Keith off their lands, had evidently failed.
Clan Murray evidently saw past the gifts and promises.
“I dunna understand,” Drostan said, sounding despondent. “We did everything possible tae convince Angus thatwewere the victims in all of this. The feasts, the gifts… Are ye telling me they were all in vain?”
“I am telling ye that they’ll not side with ye in this.”
“They dunna believe it was the Keith who destroyed Netherton?”
“There is doubt, and if there is doubt, they willna act.”
“And the decision is final?”
Ternan wasn’t sure how to respond to him. He’d told him all he knew. He’d just come from old Angus Murray’s hall, listening to the chieftain speak on his doubts over Drostan’s claim.
Drostan’s disbelief wasn’t entirely unwarranted. Clan Lindsay had historically been close allies of Clan Murray and there had never been a time when either clan would not come to the other’s aid if asked.
