Alexander had been drawn to his death? Had his younger brother, John Roderick, fallen to a ClarenKey as well, or a Claren sword? After Duncan’s failure, it would have fallen to Rory, the last of Calum’s sons, to bind the clans in some way. What did it matter? They’d all ended up dead.
It was because it did indeed matter that he had finally ended up here in this spot, certain he would come back to what he knew and had always known as truth. He had done the right thing in trying to take her back. Never before had he questioned his actions and he would stop this insurgence now before it went any further.
“Aye, so ye’ve finally come.”
Duncan froze, then forcibly relaxed. Her voice was soft, the lilt musical where he’d only remembered shrillness. Mairi. Had his thoughts conjured her?
Mairi gathered her roughly woven skirts and sat down beside him in the grass. “From yer frown I’d say yer not here to grieve me.” She paused and he felt her silent censure. “Some things no amount of time will change.”
He should have been surprised by her sudden appearance, yet he was not. “A thousand years could pass. I’ll no’ grieve the death of a woman who killed my family, my clan.”
“ ’Twas no’ my act, but your stubbornness and that of every man in both our clans that killed them.”
Because he was terrified to look at her, he made himself do so immediately. She was taller, broader of shoulder, less fragile, than he remembered. Where he remembered it pinched and tight, her mouth was wide and generous, as if made to smile often, though he couldn’t remember a single one. It was not that he found her lovely where he’d only remembered ugliness, that shocked him. It was that, with few exceptions made for the decade or so difference in their ages, she looked like Maggie.
“Ye look like yer seein’ a ghost.” She smiled faintly. “Perhaps yer seein’ now what you didna let yoursel’ see before.” She reached out a hand and it took all his considerablewill not to shrink away. Her touch on his arm was not weak and grasping, but surprisingly warm and firm.
“Yer beauty or lack of it doesna change your actions,” he said coldly.
“Nor does yer sudden appearance here change yer brutality and arrogance,” she said evenly.
“You condemned us to death, Mairi. No’ just you and me, but our clans as well.” He looked her in the eye. “Is that the sin yer paying for in purgatory? Why are ye no’ rotting in hell where ye belong?”
She seemed shaken by his accusation. “Our union would no’ hae stopped the killin’ or the feudin’.” She spoke fervently. “Ye still havena seen that in all this time? Our clans were destined to decimate each other.”
“And yet rather than stay and fight alongside yer kinsmen, you fled, compounding the sin of death with tha’ o’ shame as well.”
There was a fierceness in her blue eyes he had never seen before. It reminded him of another set of blue eyes, ones that had moved him as Mairi’s never had. Had the fault of that been Mairi’s alone?
“Aye, I grieve for what happened to them,” she said heatedly. “But ’twas their own foolishness and misplaced pride that warred them to their deaths. I couldna make them listen. Nothing ever would. I knew that, as my sister had before me.”
“Doona speak tae me o’ Edwyna!”
“They killed her ye know. After we left. Raped and murdered her, yer clansmen did. Because of their fear of her ‘kind’ and what she tried to tell them. Should I have stayed and endured the same fate?”
Duncan hadn’t known. It shouldn’t have bothered him, she’d been the cause of Alexander’s death after all. But no woman deserved such a fate. Not even Edwyna.
“I tried tae make ye understand that marryin’ alone would not end the wars, that we had to do more. Yewouldna listen to me. Tae you I was chattel. I didn’t expect yer love, yer admiration, or even yer respect. But because I truly wanted to save my clan,
It was because it did indeed matter that he had finally ended up here in this spot, certain he would come back to what he knew and had always known as truth. He had done the right thing in trying to take her back. Never before had he questioned his actions and he would stop this insurgence now before it went any further.
“Aye, so ye’ve finally come.”
Duncan froze, then forcibly relaxed. Her voice was soft, the lilt musical where he’d only remembered shrillness. Mairi. Had his thoughts conjured her?
Mairi gathered her roughly woven skirts and sat down beside him in the grass. “From yer frown I’d say yer not here to grieve me.” She paused and he felt her silent censure. “Some things no amount of time will change.”
He should have been surprised by her sudden appearance, yet he was not. “A thousand years could pass. I’ll no’ grieve the death of a woman who killed my family, my clan.”
“ ’Twas no’ my act, but your stubbornness and that of every man in both our clans that killed them.”
Because he was terrified to look at her, he made himself do so immediately. She was taller, broader of shoulder, less fragile, than he remembered. Where he remembered it pinched and tight, her mouth was wide and generous, as if made to smile often, though he couldn’t remember a single one. It was not that he found her lovely where he’d only remembered ugliness, that shocked him. It was that, with few exceptions made for the decade or so difference in their ages, she looked like Maggie.
“Ye look like yer seein’ a ghost.” She smiled faintly. “Perhaps yer seein’ now what you didna let yoursel’ see before.” She reached out a hand and it took all his considerablewill not to shrink away. Her touch on his arm was not weak and grasping, but surprisingly warm and firm.
“Yer beauty or lack of it doesna change your actions,” he said coldly.
“Nor does yer sudden appearance here change yer brutality and arrogance,” she said evenly.
“You condemned us to death, Mairi. No’ just you and me, but our clans as well.” He looked her in the eye. “Is that the sin yer paying for in purgatory? Why are ye no’ rotting in hell where ye belong?”
She seemed shaken by his accusation. “Our union would no’ hae stopped the killin’ or the feudin’.” She spoke fervently. “Ye still havena seen that in all this time? Our clans were destined to decimate each other.”
“And yet rather than stay and fight alongside yer kinsmen, you fled, compounding the sin of death with tha’ o’ shame as well.”
There was a fierceness in her blue eyes he had never seen before. It reminded him of another set of blue eyes, ones that had moved him as Mairi’s never had. Had the fault of that been Mairi’s alone?
“Aye, I grieve for what happened to them,” she said heatedly. “But ’twas their own foolishness and misplaced pride that warred them to their deaths. I couldna make them listen. Nothing ever would. I knew that, as my sister had before me.”
“Doona speak tae me o’ Edwyna!”
“They killed her ye know. After we left. Raped and murdered her, yer clansmen did. Because of their fear of her ‘kind’ and what she tried to tell them. Should I have stayed and endured the same fate?”
Duncan hadn’t known. It shouldn’t have bothered him, she’d been the cause of Alexander’s death after all. But no woman deserved such a fate. Not even Edwyna.
“I tried tae make ye understand that marryin’ alone would not end the wars, that we had to do more. Yewouldna listen to me. Tae you I was chattel. I didn’t expect yer love, yer admiration, or even yer respect. But because I truly wanted to save my clan,
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