Page 86 of Deception of a Highlander

Not that Blair appeared to need much consoling.

He had expected many things in her reaction to Mariel’s betrayal, but her blank look of nonchalance was not one of them. She had remained expressionless while Kieran repeated everything Mariel had told him, save the horrifying story of her back.

Blair gently blew a curl of steam and took a sip before speaking. “You don’t believe her.” It wasn’t a question.

He straightened, irritated that his doubt was so obvious. “She lied to us. When she speaks, I dinna know what I can trust and what I can’t.”

Blair tilted her head to the side, studying him the same way their mother always had when she knew they were hiding something. “From what I understand, she did not lie. She just didn’t tell the entire truth.” She sipped her hot chocolate again and watched him over the rim of the mug.

“I dinna understand how ye can be so calm about this. She was sent to report yer location to that bastard of a husband of yers. She tried to kill me. How can ye sit there as though nothing has happened?” His fist slammed the table, upsetting the warmed ale in front of him.

Blair righted the overturned cup and wiped up the spill with the same cool composure as she’d taken the news. “Mariel has known about my presence for a while now and has been free to come and go as she pleased. When you were gone, she did not rush away to reveal my location and send my husband to a partially defended castle. Do you know what she did?” Blair did not wait for his response. “She cared for the wounded.”

“Ye’re too trusting. She could have met with someone when ye werena looking.”

Her lips pressed into a frown. “She slept in the rushes alongside the injured lest they need her.” Blair grasped his forearm, her fingers warm from the mug she’d cradled. “What happened with Brennan was not your fault, Kieran. You were not the only one who trusted his killer.” She stared directly into his eyes. “No one blames you.”

Kieran snatched his arm away from her and stood so abruptly that the chair screeched against the stone floor. “Dinna speak of that.”

How could Blair bring that up now?

She got to her feet and continued in a gentle voice, “If you stopped hiding, I wouldn’t speak of it. I know the pain that man’s betrayal causes you still.” Her eyes shadowed with her own hurt. Brennan’s murder had affected them all greatly. “You need to understand that you were not the only one fooled by him. Everyone was. No one had any idea what his intentions were.”

Everyone had believed the spy to be a good man. But Kieran should have seen through the façade then, just as he should have seen through Mariel’s now. If he could be so easily fooled, how could he protect his family? How could he be laird to the MacDonalds?

“Mariel is not the same. She is a good woman.”

Rage coursed through his veins, fueled by past mistakes. “How can ye say that?”

“She had no choice. Can you not see? Look at what I did to free myself when Dougal was beaten.” Blair sank down into her seat and motioned for him to do the same. “Let me ask you this. If Dougal and I were held captive and to free us, you had to act as a spy and possibly kill a man you did not know, what would you do?”

Kieran sat heavily in the chair and avoided Blair’s gaze. He knew exactly what he would do, and so did she. “She should have told me,” he ground out with great irritation.

Blair’s eyebrow quirked up. “Did she not try?”

His mind flashed to the memory of Mariel standing in the moonlight, the air crackling with the frenzied pull of battle as she pleaded with him to speak to her. He had been fixated on the rush of men climbing toward them and the danger her location placed her in. Something tightened in his chest at the image of her tear-streaked face. Blair was right. Mariel had been desperate to talk, and now he understood why.

“I’ll be going back to bed now.” Blair rose from her seat but did not walk away. “I think you have some more talking to do with Mariel, aye?”

Kieran grunted again and tried to change the subject to more important matters. “I want a guard with ye at all times when ye are awake, and one stationed at yer door and Dougal’s when ye sleep.”

Mariel might be locked in the cellar, and Blair might have faith in her, but Kieran was not about to take any chances.

“I will comply, so long as you promise to speak to Mariel when I leave.” She folded her arms over her chest, and Kieran knew the conversation was done.

He heaved a tired sigh. The women of Caisteal Camus would be the death of him, one way or another. “Verra well.”

After securing a warrior to guard Blair and Dougal, Kieran made good on his promise and trudged toward the cellar once more. He bit back a curse and pulled the heavy door to the stairs open. If it weren’t for Blair, he would not be coming down to see Mariel again. Or so he told himself.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped. Something was wrong. The room was unnaturally still, and Colin no longer stood guard. The cell door was open. His stomach clenched.

Mariel had fooled him again.

Kieran crossed the narrow floor, anticipating an empty prison.

Instead, he found Colin sitting on the dirty floor with Mariel’s head cradled in his lap as she slept soundly.

Kieran gritted his teeth. Colin had wasted no time laying claim to what belonged to Kieran.