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‘I’m back for good Ilene.’
‘Father and mother may believe that, but I don’t. Are we supposed to just forget that you left all of us, with barely a word in almost ten years? You never had a care for us in all that time.’
‘It seems you have been nursing a grudge all these years. I don’t blame you but believe me when I say that I thought of you all, constantly, you more than anyone Ilene, for I’ve always regretted the manner of our parting.’
‘I was young, I thought you had a fondness for me. I have grown up now and I am not so trusting.’
‘Aye, you have indeed grown up, and it’s astonishing how you’ve changed.’
She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I remembered you as a plump, squalling brat, wilful and prone to tantrums if she didn’t get her own way. It’s stupid of me really, but not once did I imagine you as a woman and such a pretty one at that.’
A blush flooded her cheeks and she blinked rapidly in confusion, her mouth falling open. She turned her face away and looked down at her hands.
‘Don’t say such things.’
‘Why not, it’s true, isn’t it? You definitely draw the eye.’
‘It is not seemly to speak to me so.’
‘Don’t you like compliments? Surely you must hear them all the time?’
‘Not from strangers.’
‘I see. Did you ever imagine what I would be like?’
‘I’m sure I didn’t give it much thought.’ She looked up from under thick dark lashes and gave him a defiant look. ‘In my memories you were funny and you always looked after me, but I was a child then and that’s why I looked up to you. Now you’ve changed a lot too.’
Murray felt the shame then, as he always did before those whose good opinion mattered, so he turned to face the other way. ‘Nevertheless, you do remember me, Ilene.’
‘A little I suppose.’ She was silent for a few moments and he could feel her staring at him. ‘It’s not so very terrible you know…the scar. You don’t need to turn your face away.’
Murray was surprised that she was perceptive enough to read his discomfort with it. ‘It gives most people pause,’ he said slowly.
‘Most people are foolish then, and if what I’ve heard of your exploits is true, you are lucky to have but one.’
‘The deepest wounds are often unseen.’
‘I am sorry, I should not have spoken so freely. I did not mean to give offence Murray.’
He was silent for a moment, her compassion sparking some strong emotion in him. ‘So the world has changed me, Ilene, more than you.’
‘How could I change when nothing ever happens to me?’ she said, with some bitterness. ‘It is a dull life here at Cailleach, though a bit less dull now you are back to scandalise everyone. You do realise that you have a shocking reputation? Folk say you are a reckless sell-sword, a thief, a seducer and a killer.’
‘I’m all those things, Ilene, but in spite of that, and the fact that you doubt my intentions, I want you to know that I truly wish to be a friend to your family. I have pledged myself to your father, to be by his side in what is to come.’
‘War again, in England and beyond?’
Murray looked sharply at her. ‘Yes. What do you know of this?’
‘You think me ignorant of such things because I am a woman. Well, I have eyes and ears, I know what Cromwell’s death could bring down on us and I would prefer to hear the truth about it. Women cannot live by the sword but we can certainly die at the point of one, so it’s best to be prepared don’t you think?’
‘If you want the truth you shall have it but it will bring you no comfort. The Highlands are a powder keg at the moment and, if someone lights the fuse, war will be upon us.’ He leaned against the cold stone of the bridge as his interest in her deepened. ‘No one can be certain of anything and a man’s beliefs can now be his undoing, one day monarchy is dead, the next it is resurrected.’
‘So some of Scotland is loyal to the exiled Prince Charles and I would guess he is eager to wreak revenge on his father’s killers, to regain his throne in England,’ said Ilene.
‘That’s no easy matter as Cromwell’s son Richard will oppose a return to a monarchy with all he has.’
