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‘No. If the English are serious about re-taking Scotland then perhaps we should make plans, my friend, reach out to our allies and our enemies too, and assess the lay of the land, see if they have the stomach for war.’
‘I will send word at once to the others. The Cranstouns too, Will?’
‘Aye, all the clans must be included else they will feel slighted. But don’t trust in the Cranstouns, for they are a slippery bunch. And if we do have to meet, we need to find neutral ground to do it. I’ll not risk a slit throat, Waldrick.’
Morna burst through the door, and Waldrick took one look at her face and attempted a hasty exit, but she stopped him in his tracks.
‘Waldrick, I should thank you for risking a rough crossing to the mainland to take word to my brother. How did you find him? Was he in good health? Did he send word of when he would come to me?’
‘Soon, he said, as soon as may be,’ said Waldrick, with a glance sideways at Will.
‘I am sure he was beside himself with worry over my well-being,’ said Morna, smiling at Waldrick in a brittle kind of way.
‘Aye, he was, most aggrieved by your disappearance. He will be happy to fetch you home safe any day now, I am sure.’
‘Good. Ravenna, his wife, was she worrying about me?’
‘Aye, she was for sure.’
‘She’s very beautiful is she not, with that lovely, yellow hair?’
Will’s pulse quickened. Morna knew.
Waldrick blinked rapidly. ‘Aye, that she is, a man would have to go a long way to see any bonnier, except for you, of course, my Lady Morna.’
‘Leave us now Waldrick,’ said Will, bracing himself for the storm about to break. ‘I think the Lady Morna has something to say to me that is best done privately.’
As soon as he had gone, Morna rushed up to him. Her face was red and the fire in her eyes was scorching.
‘That fool hasn’t gone to Beharra, has he, for Ravenna has hair as dark as night?’
‘Poor Waldrick has all the cunning of a sheep, and you tricked him into giving himself away.’
‘So it’s true. You did not send word to Cormac to come and get me. You never intended to.’
‘At first, I did, but then things changed.’
‘What things?’ she snarled through gritted teeth.
‘You know what things – us, those kisses we shared.’
‘So you kept me here in ignorance, to become your whore.’
‘No, I kept you here so that you would be safe and yes, I want you, and I have said as much. Why lie about it?’
‘You lie about everything,’ spat Morna.
‘I find I care for you, that is a strange thing for me. I want to follow that path to see where it leads and, if your brother fetches you away, I may never find out.’
‘My family will be worried about me. They will think I am dead.’
‘Aye, maybe, but what is that to me? I owe them no loyalty. ‘T’was you who spoke up for me and saved my life at Bannockburn. You who showed me the only kindness I had felt in years, the first person in a long time to care if I lived or died. Now I’ve saved your life and, for that reason, yours belongs to me.’
‘Why you selfish, miserable, grub of a man.’
‘Is that the best you can do, Morna? Surely you have sharper insults to hurl at me?’
Morna just fumed silently.
