Loyal to the Laird at Christmas by MacEwen Fiona

Author:MacEwen, Fiona [MacEwen, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2019-12-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Treachery at Christmas

The snow lay thick about the castle as Christmas Eve arrived. The nobles of the clan had gathered for the feast and the Great Hall was busy with servants rushing back and forth as the preparations were made in earnest. It was Una who had taken responsibility for organizing the festivities and the Laird had retreated to the library, where a fire was kindled, and he was huddled in a chair with a book.

Isla was helping Una and would be a guest of honor that night, seated alongside Blayne and Una at the high table. Hamish Mackintosh had insisted that he too be given such an honor and had instructed Una to have a place prepared for Robert Craig who had been skulking about the castle as though he were already in possession of his promised prize.

Isla had ignored him—in fact she had been positively rude to him. Any time the young lad approached her she simply turned her back upon him and gave no answer to any of his questions. His enthusiasm for her remained undiminished, and he began to follow her about the castle, to the extent that she had seriously thought about not attending the festivities that evening. But to do so would be to leave Blayne without the support of a friend and she had no intention of doing that.

Hamish Mackintosh continued to refer to Robert as Isla’s betrothed and dismissing Blayne at every turn. He was so openly hostile to the Laird that it seemed inevitable that a fight would occur, and as the guest began to gather Isla confided her fears in Una, who nodded her head sadly.

“Aye, lass, I have thought this too. Hamish is becoming more confident as each day passes and all I hear of are mutterings against the Laird. The presence of that young lad does nae help matters either,” she replied, as she directed several of the servants with barrels of liquor for the evening.

“He is odious. All he does is follow me about the place. I am sick of it,” Isla replied, shaking her head as Robert Craig entered the Great Hall.

He was dressed in a fine red tunic and had had the audacity to place a sprig of white heather in his buttonhole.

“Good evening, Isla. Ye are lookin’ particularly beautiful this evenin’ if I may say so,” he said, sidling up to her and Una with a smirk on his face.

Isla sighed and turned away, just as several more guests entered the Great Hall. There was an air of excitement and expectation about the place, for the Christmas feast was always highly anticipated. Outside in the courtyard lay the yule log, cut from the forest and prepared for burning later that night. Darkness had fallen, and she stepped out of the castle gates, looking down the track towards her parent’s croft. She could see her father and mother ambling along and she ran to greet them, taking her mother’s arm and laying her head upon her shoulder.

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