Page 27 of A Highlander’s Heart

“I’m sorry. I have something on my mind.” She smiled. “’Tis nothing.”

Emma went about picking herbs from the garden and handing them off to Enoch to crush into medicants.

Morgan spent his time looking out the window, and based on his expression, was deep in thought.

Sometime after their meeting in the garden, Janet entered the hut in a rush. “I need to refill my medicant basket. The older lads were playing with a ball and two of them ran into each other. I thought instead of dragging them here, I would bring what I need to them.”

“Do ye need help?”

The lass smiled. “Nay. I think I will be fine with this. Two bloody noses and bumps on the head.” She walked to the shelf where all the healing items were.

“Did they run into each other’s noses?”

Janet grinned. “Nay. They each have a bruise on their heads from that. The bloody noses were from the fight they had afterwards.”

In the corner on his cot, Morgan chuckled.

One of the kitchen lads entered just as Janet walked out of the hut. “Emma, the laird wishes to see Gunn in the great hall.”

Emma turned to Morgan, very confused, similar to how she’d felt after their conversation with the laird and Gregory in the garden.

She walked over to him, reached out, and helped him up.

“Is this the laird’s way of giving me exercise?” Morgan said to her.

Emma shrugged. “I truly have no idea.”

Chapter Fifteen

She might have spoken those words, but he was sure she knew what this was all about. Looking back on their meetup with the laird and Gregory in the garden, it had been apparent that Emma had not be surprised at seeing them.

“I think ye do have an idea, and I’m thinking yer laird has decided that ’tis time for me to move from the healing hut to the dungeon.”

She wrapped her arm around his waist as he stumbled slightly. “Doona worry about that. If the laird was going to toss ye into the dungeon he would have done it by now.”

Morgan snorted and they said no more as they made their way to the great hall. Since it wasn’t mealtime, the room was empty except for three old men sitting in front of the fire at the end of the room. Two were sleeping and one was staring out the window across from him.

The laird nodded at Emma and told her she could return to her duties in the healing hut. She looked over at him before she left, her expression unreadable.

Once they were settled in seats—ones not on the dais, Morgan noted—the laird leaned his forearms on the table and stared straight at him. “I have news for ye.”

The muscles in his stomach cramped as he envisioned being dragged from the great hall and moved into the dungeon. Or mayhap his intention was to let him go, no food, no horse, no sword, just let him fend for himself.

Devil’s toes, why didn’t the man do it when he first arrived instead of letting him suffer to become almost mobile? He huffed. And Emma had said repeatedly that Daniel Mackenzie was not an unjust man.

“What is yer news?” He knew he hadn’t shown the proper respect for the laird, but he just wasn’t feeling very respectful at the moment.

The Macenzie stared him in the eyes, no expression on his face. “Instead of me telling ye the news, I’m going to let Gregory tell ye what happened in Edinburgh.”

Since he’d learned that Megan Mackenzie was back home, he couldn’t imagine what information Gregory had that would involve him. Unless his uncle knew about his imprisonment and decided to leave him here to rot, and in the meantime had forced another lass to marry him.

Gregory leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Despite what yer uncle told everyone, he did no’ have an edict from the king to annul my marriage.”

Morgan nodded, not at all surprised that his uncle and the Sinclair had made that up.

“Before my wife and I left the king’s presence, she asked for a moment to speak with the king. He allowed it, and she moved closer and spoke in a soft voice.”

Morgan waited for the man to continue. If whatever she said to the king had affected him, he was sure one of the two men facing him would say.