Page 48 of Highland Storm

It had merely been her intent to render herself unmarriageable and in the process, she had impugned a good man’s character.

She desperately wanted to make amends, but self-preservation held her tongue as the servant escorted her out from the solar. In the hall, Lianae shrugged free of the man’s grasp and peered back into the room indecisively.

Speak now or forever hold your tongue, Lianae.

Keane is innocent! She wanted to shout.

But she did no such thing. She merely stood, as unbidden, an image accosted her—of Keane down in the gaols, awaiting his end. In her mind, she saw him marched out from his cell, taken to the gibbet and then hanged, and everything would be her fault.

She opened her mouth to speak the truth—no matter what may come—but the solar door slammed shut, and before she could speak another word, the guard dragged Lianae away.

Chapter

Seventeen

The babe’s jet-black hair was slick and shiny against his tiny head. Like the fire in the brazier, he sputtered a bit and gave a throaty wail. Sorcha held him high in her hands, lifting the child with awe. “We have a boy!” she announced.

Exhausted, her sister by law laid down her sweat-dampened head, smiling at the sound of her newborn son. Judging by the bawl he made, his lungs were good.

It was the first child Sorcha had ever helped bring into the world, and the feeling was stupendous. At last—at long last—Aidan had himself a boy—a son—an heir of his own blood to carry on the guardian’s way. Although Kellen was a splendid young man, he did not bear the blood of the Guardians in his veins. But this child did!

“What will be his name?”

“Alasdair,” Lìli said, her voice barely above a whisper, now that her labor was done.

Sorcha smiled. “Defender of men… a verra good choice,” she agreed and gave Lìli a wink. “Now shall we deliver his father from torment?”

“No need,” Aidan said, stepping in through the bedroom door, with a grin bigger than any Sorcha had ever seen before. “I warrant everyone heard that wail unto Edinburgh itself!”

Indeed, who had not, with a howl like his? By now, even Una and Constance should have heard the delightful sound as they hurried down the mount. Lìli simply couldn’t wait, though she tried. The child had been overly insistent about making his entrance into the world, and Sorcha had been there to see it through.

“A son!” Lìli exclaimed, weary though she was.

The look on her husband’s face was one of surprise as he met his wife’s violet eyes. He had said he would be pleased with another girl, but if the look on his face was any indication, her brother was overjoyed. “Truly?” Sorcha thought he sounded like he might actually weep.

Her face flushed with her exhaustion, Lìli nodded happily.

“Come see,” Sorcha bade her brother. She had the babe in her arms and she laid him down beside his mother, pulling the blankets atop them both and tucking them in to keep them warm. His tiny little fists opened and closed and his arms punched at the air like a wee warrior, ready to conquer the world.

In a few short strides, Aidan was at his wife’s side, falling to his knees at their bedside and Sorcha stepped out of the way to allow his brother to comfort his wife and to adore his new babe.

But Lìli held her hand, keeping Sorcha close. Her smile was so full of love. “You did well,” she said, lifting her hand to Sorcha’s arm.

Sorcha wiped her bloody hands on her skirts. “No thanks to Una,” she quipped, though she laughed. “Although now I may tell her she’s outgrown her usefulness.” She winked and laughed good-naturedly, despite that she worried now. “I wonder what is keeping her,” she said aloud, thinking about their conversation the day before. Una had been odd, giving away precious items. Nor had she come down to sup the night before, nor even to greet Aidan upon his return.

Lìli smiled, as though reading her thoughts. “I dinna put it past her to have lingered simply to show you your worth. Dinna underestimate your part in this, dear friend. Your nephew is as stubborn as his Da and for a while he dinna wish to come.”

Aidan peered down at his wife, caressing her cheek with the back of his hand. “Why would he?” He grinned a lecherous grin. “Would that I could spend all my days in your flower as well.”

Lìli’s face flushed, the color heightening in her cheeks, and Sorcha laughed, accustomed by now to her brother’s passions where his lovely wife was concerned. Aidan was like a drunkard, in truth. That he’d taken time to ride south to the aid of the MacKinnons had been a complete surprise to all, considering that he’d had to leave his wife. And yet Sorcha noticed, by the by, that he’d returned the instant he could. And after all, Una was right, he’d brought back another mouth to feed, and it took him all night long, but Lìli did indeed go into labor upon her husband’s return.

“Thank you, Sorcha. ’Tis a good thing you were up to the task,” Aidan said, peering over his shoulder at her. “Una’s auld legs seem to fail her more and more. It takes her a sennight to make her way down the⁠—”

All at once, there was a terrible rumble. It began slowly, building to a crescendo. And then without warning the sound was deafening enough to make Alasdair scream. It was a noise unlike any they had ever heard in the vale. The crannóg shook fiercely. Outside, snow slid from the rooftop, dumping into the loch, the sound like a terrible explosion. The floor shook beneath them.

Aidan and Lìli shared a horrified glance and then her brother bounded up from her bedside and flew out of the room, out of the crannóg, and onto the long pier, where Ria and the rest of the household had congregated to watch.

Ash, not snow, rained down from the sky. A plume of smoke rose up from the mount, creating an enormous cloud like a mushroom. Sorcha’s first thought was for Una, but immediately thereafter for the young lass who’d gone up to fetch her.