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It was not as if Keira had never seen warriors before, but there was certainly something different about the MacPherson warriors. She knew most people in the council were soldiers, too, or had been soldiers once.
“Why does everyone appear so fierce?” she whispered to Christian, who simply chuckled at her question.
“We are warriors, Keira,” he whispered back, “our clan is different from the rest of the clans because of our ability to be the best fighters in all of Scotland. Nothing and no one compares.”
“That I can see,” she whispered back.
She knew several people had turned to glance at her, but she remained adamantly confident and kept her face neutral. She was certainly not going to show her fear in front of these men who feared nothing. She did not miss the irony of the situation when she remembered how she was in a clan where both the men and women were trained fighters and knew everything about the art of war while she had perhaps never even lifted a sword. It was rather comic to her.
“I ken nae everyone is here, but that is nae necessary since this is something I needed to do so Keira here would know more people in the clan,” Christian suddenly began speaking without warning, and everyone simply turned to look at him. “This is Keira, the daughter of the Laird O’Donelly and I want ye all to introduce yerself to her.”
“Christian,” she whispered his name as she stared at him with widened eyes, unable to believe he was being so adamant about these introductions.
“Keira,” an immensely masculine yet charmingly kind voice called out to her, and she removed her gaze from Christian to stare at the man in front of her. He was tall, perhaps only a few inches shorter than Christian, and just as well built. He had an expression that screamed he would kill anyone who wronged him or his clan, and a part of Keira knew that he was someone important.
“This is Josh, my friend, my brother, my man at arms,” Christian chimed in, a smile on his face. Keira had already heard about Josh from Harriet and simply smiled at the man who made her feel warm without even saying much to her.
“I am Keira,” she nodded at him, and he nodded back.
“I had been looking forward to seeing ye for days now, but the servants tell me that ye do nae leave the bedchamber much except to go to the library or the kitchen,” Josh commented, and Keira immediately burst out laughing. She could have never imagined Josh, Christian’s brother from the gang, to be this perfectly warm and kind towards her.
“The servants are unfortunately right, but I am trying to step out of my bedchamber as much as I can,” she smiled, “or at least Christian is forcing me to.
“He is doing the right thing. The castle is yer home too now, and we both want ye to feel comfortable here,” he replied, and Keira felt warmth burst through her chest.
As Josh moved away, every council member presented introduced themselves to her, and she was pleasantly surprised to see how each of them was both kind and charming and more welcoming than she could have ever imagined. She received invitations to meet their wives and to go out in town or into the market. Keira did not know what she had been expecting, but she had certainly not expected to feel at ease between men she knew nothing about. Men who had no reason to be kind to her, but they were.
Christian guided her back out of the hall once she had said goodbyes to everyone and had promised at least half of them to visit their homes and their wives.
“Are ye feeling all right?” he asked, brushing a lock of her behind her ear as she smiled at the gesture.
“Thank ye,” she said simply, not knowing how else to express herself. She felt as if, in just a few days, Christian was beginning to understand her and what she needed far better than she herself was.
“For what, princess?” he asked, scrunching his eyebrows as they stood at one corner of the long hallway, Keira’s back resting on the wall as Christian stood in front of her.
“For making me feel cared for and respected by nae just ye but the people of yer clan as well,” she replied, a tear escaping her. “I do nae think I deserve this respect because I truly have done nothing, and these people do nae even ken me. But Eric never made me feel respected, and I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be cherished by those around ye.”
“Keira,” he whispered her name, running his fingers along her jawline.
“I do nae ken how to thank ye,” she replied, “honestly.”
“Ye have nay need to thank me. Ye deserve to feel both cared for and respected because ye give love and respect in return. Ye do nae need to do something for someone to attain basic human decency in reply, princess. Ye being ye is more than enough for that,” he replied, and Keira knew he was right. She needed to teach herself that being loved was something she truly deserved.
“I promise I will try,” she nodded, and he placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
“I am so proud of ye, princess,” Christian said, “I will attend the meeting, and then we will have dinner together.”
“I will wait for ye,” she replied and watched as he walked back inside, turning to look at her with a smile before he disappeared. Keira truly did not know how she had escaped from the hell that Eric had turned her life into and had been transported to the MacPherson Castle, which was proving to be everything she could have never imagined it to be.
Everyone from the servants to the cooks and now even the council members were kind towards her. Keira knew if she would step out of the castle and visit the townsfolk, everyone would be kind and welcoming. They would truly appreciate her presence between them, and Keira truly needed that. She deserved that and she would tell herself every day that things were going to be all right very, very soon.
CHAPTER8
“Keira?”a familiar voice called out to her, and Keira looked up immediately from the book she had been absorbed in. She was beginning to spend all of her days reading around the castle, and it was quickly beginning to get tiresome, but she did not have much else to do. She looked up and noticed Josh leaning in the doorway as if hesitant to come in.
“Josh, why are ye standin’ there?” she asked, turning to look at the man who was quite handsome himself. He was nowhere close to Christian, but Keira could sense that he had his charm about him, and he had been excessively kind to her since the beginning, which she was grateful for. Even though he had never tried being close with her, and neither had the two of them conversed for extended hours but there was still kindness in his person, which Keira could simply not ignore.
“Will it be all right if I come and read too?” he asked, and Keira nodded immediately.
