the friend whose dilemma I told you about was myself. I can remember Ivor telling tales like that before he learned that he could tell me anything.”
“You’re right,” she said. “Who was the kinsman you found dying?”
“My father.”
“Oh, Fin.” She moved closer and put her arms around him. “And who…?” She stiffened but soon relaxed. “Your father was the war leader,” she said. “So he would have wanted vengeance against my father, at least. And you came here—”
“I came because Rothesay sent me. I did not know that Shaw was your father until you told me so, and I accepted your hospitality here because I had to see the Mackintosh. But, sweetheart, what I’m trying to tell you is that I had already made my choice between those two oaths. I just hadn’t known it. Cat, it is four and a half years since the battle at Perth. Had I believed that killing your father was right—”
“You’d have done it long since, aye. I do see that. So, I agree that you made the decision without realizing it, simply by not choosing. That was instinct, was it not? It would have been better, though, I think, if you had recognized long ago the plain fact that one should always choose life be over death.”
“Aye, perhaps, but I’m a warrior, sweetheart, and a good one. The likelihood is that I will kill again, and you know it.”
“I do, but I don’t want to talk about war or killing now. I want you to hold me. And in troth, sir, if you want to take me, you’d best do it soon, because much as I love you, I am so tired that I can scarcely keep my eyes open.”
“You don’t know how glad I am to hear that,” he murmured, kissing her. “I’m going to put out those candles.”
“There is something I should tell you, too,” she said. “Sithee, for those four and a half years, I thought all Camerons were sons of the devil. Then I met you and came to think of you as a good friend. So, later, your being a Cameron didn’t seem so dreadful. But I assumed that your family would feel about Mackintoshes the way I’d felt about Camerons. Then I met Ewan, and he was just your brother and I your wife. I doubt that I thought of him as a wicked Cameron even when you told me who he was. I like him, and I want to see Tor Castle with you.”
“I think we’ll still spend most of our time at Castle Raitt,” he said. “But we’ll see Ewan often, too. And we’ll all spend Christmas together at Tor Castle.”
Cat watched him put the candles out and felt him climb back into bed but knew nothing more until the kitten demanded release the next morning. Even then, she barely noticed Fin getting up to let it out and was asleep before he returned.
When he woke her, midday sunlight was streaming through the open window and he was already dressed.
“It is nearly time to eat,” he said. “And Ivor is back.”
“Already?”
“Aye, and grievously annoyed.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Why? If he is back, then Albany must have turned back at the Cairngorms. So whatever nuisance he intended to create—”
“Need no longer concern us for now,” he said. “But although the army that tried to get through there did fly a royal banner, it was Sir Martin Redmyre, one of Albany’s captains, who led it. There was no sign of Albany, or so Ivor heard from watchers who met him and told him that the weather in the high pass had defeated them. He would have been back sooner if the rain had not come down so hard, but they took shelter and made camp. So he is annoyed that he missed all that happened here, as well. And your father sent a messenger.”
“Then he must have routed Douglas’s men in Glen Garry.”
“Aye, and likewise without a battle,” Fin said. “He sent two lads ahead to meet Douglas, pretending to be Comyns. They told him that Rothesay and Alex had fled and assured him that the wicked weather would prevent the other army from making it through the high passes. They also mentioned that your father’s army was waiting at the top of the glen. Douglas turned back at once.”
“But Rothesay still has no alliance,” she said.
“Alex will do what he can, but Donald will do nowt,” Fin said, stripping off his tunic. “Shaw’s messenger brought more