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‘I see an opportunity, Waldrick. Now, do as I say and make good the castle’s defences.’
Will took the stairs two at a time up to Morna’s chamber. Rage made him push aside the man guarding her door and barge inside with his fists balled. He slammed and bolted it behind him. Morna was standing with her back to him, looking out of the shutters at the ocean. She didn’t bother turning around to face him, nor did she have the good sense to be silent.
‘So, my brother has come,’ she said. ‘Unlucky for you it is Cormac. My brother Lyall is the kind one, he would slaughter you quickly, but Cormac will make it last for days.’
‘If you think that means you are leaving, Morna, think again.’
‘You can’t stand against my brother. I saw he has brought an army with him.’
‘A small one, and vulnerable without shelter, with no supply lines, one that has to make camp on open ground. Cormac cannot mount a siege out here in the middle of nowhere. He is bluffing, and I am not falling for it.’
‘My brother is always true to his word. If he has promised you violence, you will get it.’
‘Is that what you want woman, for him to kill me? What a hypocrite you are. What we did abed, you wanted it as much as I, you were practically begging me to take you, and yet you would see me die for it.’
Morna swung around and faced him. ‘I don’t want anyone to die, not even you. Have I not told you I am sick of all the bloodshed and men butchering each other? I just want to go home. Let me go with Cormac, and we can be done with this, Will.’
‘I am not done with you, and you are not leaving.’
‘Why?’
‘I wish I knew, but there it is.’
‘That is not a good enough answer. I am leaving, and if you don’t agree, then you will lose everything, all over someone who doesn’t want you.’
‘Then you are a fool, woman, and given your brother’s folly in coming here, no doubt fuelled by love for you and his own arrogance, you had best appease me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I can send my men to outflank him in the night and drive him into the sea, come in from behind him. I know this land, and he does not, and I have ships moored all around this island. What will he do when I despatch them to burn the ships that brought him here or take them as a prize, leaving him no escape back to the mainland? I am sure he has his ships nestled in some safe harbour somewhere. I can easily sniff them out. What you see at Fitheach is but a fragment of the force I can raise.’
Morna’s face paled. He had shocked her and given away his secrets to some extent, but it was worth it to bring her down a peg or two. These Buchanans, treating him as though he were some dumb animal, some lowly peasant to command.
‘Will, please, whatever you are planning it is not worth it. You have had your sport, made your conquest. Why do you want me to stay here?’
‘I have my reasons, just as you have yours, which make you so keen to return home. Are you eager to hasten your wedding?’
‘What?’
‘It would seem that you have ensnared another heart. You have been keeping a little secret from me. You are betrothed to that horse’s arse out there, the fine and honourable Owen Sutherland.’
‘I am not,’ she said.
‘Did you seal your promise to wed him by giving yourself to him, Morna?’ He rushed up to her and grabbed her by the arm. ‘What favours have you allowed your betrothed? Was your innocence all an act? Did you already open your legs for that fool?’
Her face crumpled in pain and Will realised he was digging his fingers into her arm far too tightly. He flung her arm away. They glowered at each other, both breathing heavily, his anger more than matched by hers.
‘Speak woman, and it had better be the truth, for he must have some claim on you. The man looked fit to tear my head from my shoulders and suck my brains from my skull.’
‘I am not betrothed to Owen. He offered for me, but I did not give him a reply.’
‘Why?’
‘I did not know what to do, I did not know my own heart, and then I happened upon Ramsay. I talked to him about it, and then he turned on me and said he loved me, and, if he couldn’t have me, nor would Owen. Just like you, Ramsay saw me as a prize to be won, a thing without feelings,’ she spat.
‘Why did you not tell me about that fool, Sutherland?’
‘Why should I? I cannot trust you, you have proven that. And do not name him a fool, Owen is far from that, and he is better than you, a good, brave man.’
