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“Are ye sure?” she asked. “Perhaps it was one similar to this, but no’ the same at all.”
“Nay, it is exactly the same. I’ll prove it to ye if ye dinna believe me.”
“How can you do that?”
“I have the brooch. The woman gave it to me before she sent me off on my horse, tellin’ me to accept anyone I’d ever meet who wore a pin like it and no’ to turn them away.” He jumped out of bed and hurried over to a shelf, pulling down a small chest. Opening it, he plucked up something in two fingers and held it out for her to see. It was a heart-shaped pin that looked identical to hers. There was no doubt in Fia’s mind that it came from one of the members of the queen’s secret group. “What does it mean?” he asked her.
“Mean? I dinna understand.”
“Aye. I noticed that ye wear one and so did Imanie and so do yer cousins. Lorraine from the Iron Eagle has one, too. I asked her about it once, but she wouldna tell me where she got it. It is no’ a coincidence that so many women are wearin’ the same brooch.
“It’s just a brooch,” she said, trying to make light of the situation so he wouldn’t ask more questions.
“I noticed it on ye the first time we met in the woods. It startled me to see it. I have to ken what it means.”
“Is that why ye let me go and allowed me to keep my crown? I always wondered about that,” said Fia, finally understanding his odd action so long ago.
“Aye, I thought ye were special, and now I ken that ye are. I didna want to tempt fate by hurtin’ or stealin’ from a lassie who might be connected to the woman who saved my life.”
“Interestin’ that ye say that, yet ye are so willin’ to keep me as yer prisoner and trade me to the enemy. Mayhap, that will be temptin’ fate as well.”
“Aye.” He fingered the brooch while pacing the room, staring at the floor. “Mayhap it is, but it is what I have to do to bring my faither home.”
“I’m sure there are other ways to rescue yer faither,” Fia told him, trying to get him to change his mind.
“Nay. I’ve tried everythin’, and yet the Grants still hold him prisoner.”
“Did they demand a ransom?”
“They did no’. Instead, they hold it over my head that if we attack or even try to rescue him, they will kill him on the spot.”
“The Grants said that?” This surprised Fia since Hamil, the clan chieftain, seemed to be such a reasonable man. He had even accepted her father, Reed, knowing he was the English king’s bastard. But since Reed was married to Maggie, and Hamil liked Maggie, he made the exception. Fia didn’t doubt that Laird Hamil would not want anything to do with her and that she would be far from a good trade for the captured laird of the MacPherson Clan.
“I dinna want to talk of my troubles anymore. Tell me, why were ye bein’ fostered by an English earl if ye are a Scot?” He walked over and set the brooch on the bed.
Fia wanted to tell him about her family, but this was one question she couldn’t answer without revealing the queen’s secret group. So, instead, she decided to take the conversation in a different direction.
“I have a younger sister, Morag, who ye’ve already met.”
“Aye, the inquisitive lass with the long, strawberry-blond hair.”
“She is always gettin’ into trouble.”
“Why is she bein’ fostered in Northumberland as well?”
Fia didn’t answer. “Then I have twin brathairs named Conall and Dugal. Conall is quiet like my mathair, but Dougal is showin’ signs of possibly endin’ up a warrior just like my faither.”
“So, are yer brathairs still livin’ in Scotland? Or are they bein’ fostered out to the English as well?” He kept up with his persistent questions.
“I also have an Uncle Duff who my mathair raised like her son instead of her brathair, after her parents and siblin’s died in Burnt Candlemas.”
“Fia, ye are tryin’ yer hardest no’ to answer my question. Now tell me what I want to ken. Why are ye and yer sister bein’ fostered by an English earl and where did ye get the heart brooch? Matter of fact, why do ye have the late Queen Philippa’s crown?”
“All right, I’ll tell ye,” she said with a sigh, planning on giving him just enough information to satisfy him without divulging too many secrets. “Queen Philippa was my grandmathair. Though I was only three when she died and never really kent her, she left crowns to the eldest daughters of the king’s bastard triplets. She was the one to give us the heart brooches as well.” Her hand covered the pin as she spoke.
“Really?” he asked. “Then, that means the queen must have given the heart pin to Lorraine and the mysterious woman on the battlefield, too.”
Fia groaned inwardly, realizing she had probably just made matters worse. The last thing she wanted to do was to get Lorraine in trouble. Alastair asked too many questions and was very sharp. If she didn’t stop this conversation soon, he was bound to figure things out on his own.
