Cassian (The Immortal Highland Centurions #2) - Jayne Castel Page 0,5
a vase in their parents solar. She’d likely just come from spending time with Lady Gavina. Shortly, Aila would have to wait on her mistress. However, she wanted answers from Heather first.
Aila had been relieved to find her sister alone. This wasn’t a conversation their parents needed to hear.
Heather’s face tensed. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t act as if ye don’t know what I’m speaking about,” Aila countered, folding her arms across her chest. “Ye didn’t tell me that ye fell foul of the Galbraith laird’s eldest son … or that he tracked ye north after ye left Fintry.”
Aila’s belly tightened then. There used to be a time when ye told me everything. Aye, once. But all that changed when Heather left Dunnottar on Iain Galbraith’s arm five years earlier.
Heather’s grey-green eyes widened, alarm flickering in their depths. “Where did ye hear this?”
“From the smith. He just cornered me on the stairs and told me that Cory Galbraith and his men’s bodies have been found north of Stirling.”
A guilty look passed across her sister’s pretty face; Aila had always been able to read her easily. Folk said that the two sisters looked very much alike, but Heather was taller, curvier, and more confident. She had an ample bosom that Aila had always envied, and a feisty nature that her husband, Maximus, adored. Aila sometimes felt mousy and meek in her shadow.
Right now though, anger made her bold. Aila placed her hands on her hips. “Did ye and Maximus kill them?”
Heather’s throat bobbed before she nodded.
Aila frowned. “I can’t believe ye hid this from me!”
“It was better ye didn’t know,” Heather replied, stubbornness lacing her voice. “Cory and his men attacked us, and we fought them off. It was ‘kill or be killed’. Afterward we hid the corpses and continued north.”
Aila’s frown deepened to a scowl. “What? Two of ye against a group of armed men … and ye arrive in Dunnottar without even a scratch? Ye don’t even know how to fight.”
Heather’s mouth thinned. Aila knew she was pushing it, yet hurt still boiled within her. She was tired of being the last to discover things. Her parents still wrapped her in wool like she was a five-year-old. Often they’d be discussing politics when she entered the room, and then they’d abruptly change topic. It was as if they thought she’d shatter if she came in contact with the world outside the fortress.
Aila wasn’t a fool; she knew things were bad for the Scots at the moment. After a few years of uneasy truce, the English had attacked once more. King Edward of England had just taken Stirling Castle, while a second fork of his army was rampaging up the south-western coast of Scotland. If the English took Dunnottar again, her parents wouldn’t be able to protect her, yet they seemed intent on keeping her cosseted.
“I know how to wield a dirk … Maximus showed me,” Heather replied stiffly. “And Maximus is a formidable swordsman. He defeated them.”
Aila stared back at her sister, torn between disbelief and admiration. “Well,” she said, a little deflated now. “Ye should know that Blair Galbraith is intent on avenging not just Iain, but Cory too.”
Heather’s gaze shadowed, and she took a step closer to Aila. “Did that bastard harm ye?”
The concern on her sister’s face was real, yet Aila clenched her jaw as irritation surged. She would not let Heather change the subject. “He grabbed me … and would have done worse … if Captain Gaius hadn’t intervened.”
Heat flowered across Aila’s chest when she said these last words. Moments later, a blush crept up her neck. Ever since her sister’s return to Dunnottar, she’d done her best to avoid Heather’s questions about her feelings for the handsome captain.
Heather’s eyes gleamed, her expression turning sly. “Really?”
Aila stiffened, her face flaming. “Aye,” she replied. “But that’s not important … what matters is—”
“Ye have gone as red as a poppy, dear sister.”
Curling her fingers into fists, Aila clenched her jaw. “No, I haven’t.”
“Aye, ye have … and if I had a looking glass to hand, I’d show ye.”
Aila glared back, aware that her cheeks now burned. Curse her sister and her knowing looks. Heaving in a deep breath, she decided to use Heather’s own trick and brazen the situation out. Maybe, her sister would back off if she thought Aila didn’t care what she thought.
Aila gave Heather a haughty look she’d learned from their mother. “Well … I’ll have ye know that he was very gallant. Captain Gaius sent Galbraith