Page 146 of Highland Spy

“They were still my clan, Connor. And it wouldna have stopped either of ye from going back to Urquhart. The best I could do was delay ye, keep ye from being surprised and killed before ye could fight.”

Connor wanted to argue, but the protest died in his chest. Kenneth spoke true. Knowing about the attack would have only spurred Connor to get there faster. And even Cora would not have remained behind at the thought of their father, their people, in trouble.

Kenneth’s jaw squared. “I couldna do anything to stop it. I couldna do anything more to save ye or Cora. I’d spent all these years assuming ye were both dead. I’m glad that is not the case for either of ye.”

Connor’s head snapped up. “Ye know Cora is alive?”

Rain flecked the cobblestones around them and together they moved beneath the eaves of the church.

Kenneth sank down onto the stone bench there and gave a deep sigh. “Were it no’ for someone telling me she was alive, I might never have known.”

“MacAlister,” Connor surmised.

Kenneth looked up at where Connor still stood and narrowed his eyes. “How did ye know?”

“I found out about what ye were planning to do,” Connor said in a lowered voice. “I know we havena seen each other in so many years, but I dinna understand it. Why would ye do something so foolish? Why would ye conspire with him to commit treason?” The weight of those questions had plagued Connor since he’d learned of the plot from Isabel.

A nun walked swiftly past with her head ducked against the rain. They watched her pass before Kenneth answered.

“It was foolish. I knew as much when I first agreed to play a part.” He studied the distant fountain as if it somehow might contain the answer. Fat drops of rain splashed into the pooled water at its large basin. “I did it for her.”

“Her?”

“For Cora. I’ve always loved her. When I found out she was alive…” Kenneth stopped talking and his brows flinched together. He cleared his throat before resuming speaking. “When I found out she was alive, I would have done anything to have her back again.”

Connor lowered his head and gave a sardonic smile. “Even commit treason.”

“That’s done now that MacAlister is dead.”

Connor stared down at Kenneth’s profile and let everything he’d been told sink in. His heart grew heavy with contemplation.

After all this time, it was finally apparent that it was not Kenneth who had changed.

It was Connor.

The realization was a blow to the gut and he allowed himself to sink down onto the bench beside Kenneth.

Connor had allowed himself to be so blinded by the need for vengeance, he had turned his back on the survivors who had needed him.

It had been Kenneth who had cared and provided for them.

Connor had protected Cora the best way he knew by locking her in a place where no one outside could touch her.

It had been Kenneth who risked all to bring her love.

Connor had spent the years simmering in a stagnant pool of bitterness.

It was Kenneth he had to thank for having not only saved Connor, but Cora as well.

Had Kenneth not kissed Cora that day, had he not ensured Connor knew of the clandestine meeting, both Connor and Cora would have suffered the same fate as their father.

The understanding sat in Connor’s gut with all the comfort of a sharp-edged rock. Not only had Kenneth done so much for them, Connor had repaid him by killing his father.

The act had been so easy to justify then. When Connor had been so damn angry, so blinded by bloodlust, wanting only to slake his insatiable need for revenge.

He stared down at his hands. Those hands had killed many. Some for the king, some in vengeance, some on the battlefield. How many had been hurt since the onset of his hatred?

Were it not for the need for retribution, Connor would never have been locked in servitude as the king’s personal assassin.