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Cerberus thought it was a game and ran after her.
“Cerberus, leave her be,” shouted Alastair, causing the dog to stop and turn and run over to him instead. He lunged for Alastair, but he stepped aside. Instead of hitting him, the dog barreled into Fia, knocking her to the ground. The hound started licking her face.
“Nay. Get off of her, ye mangy mutt!” Alastair yanked the dog off of Fia, but Cerberus still thought he wanted to play.
Fia got up and brushed off her skirt, not minding that the dog did that, but it seemed to upset Alastair.
“Go on, get out of here,” said Alastair, touching the dog to push it down every time it jumped up and put its paws on his shoulders.
“Sit, Cerberus,” Fia commanded. The dog sat at her feet. Alastair looked at the hound and shook his head in disbelief. “Guid dog,” she said, pulling a piece of dried meat from her pocket and petting Cerberus on the head. “Now, go on and play.” The dog saw a squirrel and took off across the garden kicking up dirt on Alastair as it left.
“Let’s go,” he said, directing her with his hand at her back.
“Where are we goin’?”
“Somewhere – anywhere where the hellhound canna find us.”
Alastair led her to the mews and entered, closing the door behind them.
“Where are all the birds?” she asked, looking around to see that the place was empty.
“I no longer have falcons since my faither is gone. They take a lot of care and are expensive. I am no’ in residence often enough to care for them, so I sold them.”
The sunlight streamed in from between the cracks in the walls, giving just enough light to see each other. “Ye are a spy, and that is why ye are no’ here often. Am I right?”
“What difference does it make?”
“I’m curious.”
He sat down on a wooden bench, picking up a piece of straw and twirling it in his fingers. “Aye, I am a spy from the Highlands, though I wasna always.”
“Well, I ken ye were a spy three years ago when I first met ye in the woods.”
“Aye. That was just after my faither was captured and I took over as laird. The clan was restless. I thought if we traveled they would be far more apt to stay together. No’ all of them wanted to follow me.”
“Like Rhodric and Brohain?”
“Aye,” he admitted. “Rhodric and Brohain are older and dinna like followin’ someone so much younger. I kent they’d be trouble, so I volunteered my clan to be spies for our country, comin’ over the border to find out the plans of the English.”
“It’s a risky task,” she said, sitting down on the bench next to him.
“I figured it would bide me time until I figured out how to free my faither.”
“I see why Caitlin is so upset. After all, that is her faither, too. Why dinna ye like her?”
His head snapped around, and his brows dipped. “Who said I dinna like her?”
“She did.”
“Well, that’s a lie.”
“Really? Then why do ye tell her to stay in her chamber? And why didna ye mention to me that ye even had a sister?”
“She’s a half-sister. That is different.” He threw down the straw and wiped his hands on his plaid. “I tell her to stay in her chamber to protect her.”
“Protect her?” Fia laughed. “From what? Ye? After all, she is inside the castle walls.”
“Ye dinna understand. Caitlin is like an orphan. After her mathair died givin’ birth, she was a baby raised by servants. My mathair left when she found out, and my faither hardly ever paid any attention to Caitlin.”
