Cassian (The Immortal Highland Centurions #2) - Jayne Castel Page 0,21

wife. “As if he’s just going to tell us his plans, Gavina. Honestly, ye might have a pretty face, but ye are witless.”

Silence followed the laird’s insult.

To Lady Gavina’s credit, she didn’t flinch. However, her gaze shadowed. “Men reveal much when they don’t intend to,” she replied, her voice subdued. “I don’t expect Edward to lay out his plans before us, but he may inadvertently reveal something he hadn’t intended.”

“Aye, and if ye bring yer lovely wife to Stirling with ye, Edward might be distracted into letting something slip,” Wallace added. He was watching Gavina with a keen expression.

Lady Elizabeth wasn’t his only ally tonight.

“All of ye are forgetting Shaw Irvine,” David De Keith ground out. A nerve flickered under one eye, a sign that he knew this conversation was getting away from him. He was outnumbered, and no one appeared to be taking his side.

The laird was losing the argument, and they all knew it. Cassian tensed at the realization.

He was torn. As much as he wished to remain at Dunnottar, a trip to Stirling would allow him access to its vast library. He could leave Draco and Maximus in charge of things here, and if his spy in Drum Castle got in touch, they’d let him know.

They still had that last line of the riddle to untangle, and their lack of progress was frustrating. It sometimes seemed like the bandruì’s riddle only revealed itself when it was ready. Of late, he’d begun to suspect that nothing any of them did made a difference. However, Cassian couldn’t give up. Maybe he’d find the answers he sought in Stirling.

De Keith shifted his attention to his wife, staring her down. “Yer brother seeks to take lands that belong to my clan. The moment we leave Dunnottar, he will attack.”

“Let him,” Wallace rumbled. “Irvine doesn’t know that my band and I are here. Ye can go to Stirling, De Keith. I’ve already assured ye that I will defend this castle in yer absence.”

David De Keith’s face went slack, and then his mouth flattened into a thin line. For a few moments, Cassian was sure he’d object. De Keith was threatened by the outlaw leader. He had charisma and courage, and inspired loyalty in others in a way that De Keith never had or would. And David knew it.

All gazes shifted to the laird then, and Cassian watched the war waging within the man play out across his face.

“Ye fear I will betray ye, De Keith?” William Wallace broke the weighty silence, voicing the very thing that had been playing across Cassian’s mind. The laird frowned, although before he replied, Wallace continued. “I saved Dunnottar once before, David. I rescued ye all from the English … and if I’d wanted to take this castle for my own, I’d have done so years ago. The distrust I see in yer eyes now offends me.” Wallace’s tone was gentle, yet there was no missing the steel that lay just beneath.

De Keith’s throat bobbed. No one wanted to offend William Wallace. Tales of what he did to those who angered him were now legend throughout Scotland. Cassian had heard that he’d made the dried skin of Hugh de Cressingham—the hated English treasurer he’d killed at the Battle of Stirling Bridge—into a scabbard, hilt, and belt.

Cassian’s gaze slid to the wide leather belt the Wallace wore about his waist—was this it?

“I meant no offense, William,” De Keith rasped. “But ye can see why I’m hesitant to leave Dunnottar at present.” He cast his wife another simmering look. “Irvine will strike the moment my back is turned.”

“And as I said, let him,” Wallace replied coolly. “I’ll shove his ‘Battle Hammer’ up his arse if he dares bring it here.”

“I don’t want ye going to Stirling, Aila. It’s not safe!”

Aila looked up from where she was laying out kirtles on the bed and trying to decide which ones to pack. Her mother stood in the doorway, twisting the gold band she wore on her left hand—a sure sign she was agitated.

Letting out a long breath, Aila favored her mother with a smile. “Worry not, Ma. The laird has hand-picked twenty of his best warriors to escort us. I’ll be fine. Ye wouldn’t let Lady Gavina travel without her lady’s maid, would ye? Lady Elizabeth is joining us as well … and bringing Jean, her maid, with her.”

Aila had been delighted to discover that Captain Gaius would lead them. They’d journey to Stirling together. Her chest constricted at the thought.