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‘You threatened to kill, Lyall.’
‘I was playing with him. He was swimming naked in a loch with a beautiful woman. It is not the kind of sight you come across every day.’ He smiled, hoping to win her over. ‘Perhaps I was jealous.’
‘Perhaps you were just being a brute, and you still are, I am sure.’
‘Has Lyall told you that?’
‘No, my husband speaks well of you, for some reason I can’t fathom.’
‘And my wife? I went to Beharra and they told me she had come here.’
‘Morna is glad you are safe but other than that she will not speak about you. It pains her to do it.’
Will’s heart sank, but he put a brave face on it. ‘I must say, Lyall Buchanan has done very well for himself, indeed. I am glad he has made an honest woman of you, Giselle.’
‘What would you know about honest women?’
‘You seem to have grown harder since last we met.’
‘If that is so, I am glad of it for I have good reason to be.’ She took a deep breath to compose herself. ‘You will be wanting to see Morna, of course. Why did you not just ride up to the castle and announce yourself.’
‘Because I fear she will not want to see me, and I need to speak to her without prying eyes.’
‘You want to get her alone to convince her to do your bidding, to bend her to your will. She has told me you wed her for an alliance.’
‘Have you ever seen Morna bend to the will of another? As to the alliance, I swear I wed her because I loved her, and I love her still, I always will. She belongs with me.’
‘As I see it, you lied to her. You said one thing and did another. Such men as you are not to be relied upon for a future. Morna belongs with her family, who will keep her safe.’
‘Safe, but not happy. Please, Giselle, go to her quietly and tell her I will be waiting, on that hill above the castle, under that dead tree. Every day I will wait, rain or shine until she comes to me.’
Giselle gave him a hard look and continued walking back to Corryvreckan.
***
He hadn’t dared hope, but Morna came the next day. Will heard her soft footfall where he sat leaning on the tree trunk, whittling a piece of wood with his knife.
He leapt to his feet and was lost for words. She was bonnier than he’d left her. Her skin was lustrous, her hair neater than he had ever seen it, coiled about her head in some ornate design. Giselle’s handiwork no doubt. It made her seem more of a lady and more remote somehow.
‘I sailed here on my way home, Morna, we are anchored at the mouth of the loch,’ he said, pointing out to where the freshwater joined the salt.
‘I am sure you and your men will be glad to get back to Fitheach,’ she replied evenly, her eyes not quite meeting his.
‘And you, Morna? I have come to fetch you home. Are you coming with me?’
Morna’s eyes were guarded and swimming with tears as she looked into his own.
‘I am glad you survived,’ she said.
‘Aye, my body is intact, if not my honour,’ he said, his voice breaking a little.
‘Was that not the reason you left me - to throw away your life, for honour?’
‘As it turns out, there is little honour in butchering men on a battlefield, and even less in pledging myself to a King I hate.’
‘But still, you would do it.’
‘I did it for you - to build a better life for us.’
