Now that the pleasantries were over, David jumped to the heart of the matter.
“I have had enough of the border wars,” he told Garrin. “Especially the one betwixt ye and the MacCulloughs.”
Garrin sat across from him, his eyes slitted, his lips pursed. “Ye have only the MacCulloughs to blame, yer grace.”
“I care not who or when or even why ye are feudin’. I only care that is stops.”
Garrin grunted low. “I would be glad to stop this war betwixt us, but the MacCullough will not stop attackin’ our borders. He is set on revenge.”
“Would it surprise ye to learn he has said that verra thing about ye?” David asked in a calm and cool voice.
Outraged, Garrin shot to his feet. “Then I will tell ye, he is naught but a liar!”
“Sit down now,” David ordered, his tone and manner calm, cool, and collected.
Knowing he would get nowhere with a tirade, Garrin nodded once before taking his seat. “I apologize, yer grace. ’Tis hard for a man to be insulted in his own home.”
Ignoring Garrin’s sense of outrage, David said, “Because I cannae seem to get the two of ye to come to a peace accord, I am constructing one of my own. Ye will find peace betwixt yer clans, via a marriage between Aeschene and the MacCullough. If either of ye breaks this peace accord, ye will lose yer title, yer lands, and anything else ye hold dear. Do ye understand?”
Reluctantly, and only because he knew he stood the chance of losing everything, Garrin gave a slow nod of understanding. All the while, he was quietly seething and planning a defense. He’d need one, for the world knew ye could trust a MacCullough about as far as ye could throw one.
From where Elspeth drew the strength or courage to speak, she did not know. “Yer grace.” She spoke so softly he almost didn’t hear her. “Our daughter, ye ken she be blind.”
“Fer the sake of Christ, Elspeth!” Garrin growled. “Of course he kens she be blind.”
“Might I remind ye that ’tis I who sits before ye?” David spoke directly to Garrin. “I shall hear what yer wife has to say.”
With downcast eyes and flaming cheeks, Elspeth spoke again. “She is not like other lasses, ye ken. She is special. How do we know the MacCullough will treat her fairly or even kindly?”
Apparently, David had already given that some thought, for he had a ready answer. “She may take a maid with her. I shall make certain that the MacCullough will allow regular letters to be sent to ye. Ye might also want to consider making arrangements to visit yer daughter.”
“I’ll not step one foot on MacCullough lands,” Garrin said through gritted teeth. “And I’ll not allow him to set foot on mine.”
Knowing her husband as she did, Elspeth made no attempt to argue. Quietly, she sat and dabbed at her eyes, something she had been doing since the first messenger had arrived.
“The MacCullough already kens that he must treat yer daughter fairly, Elspeth,” David said in a most reassuring tone. “He kens what is at stake. If I find out he has mistreated Aeschene in any way, he will have me to answer to.”
That appeased Elspeth so much so that she managed a faint smile. ’Twould appear David was more concerned about Aeschene’s safety than her own father. Still, Elspeth would worry, as many a mother would in such dire circumstances as these.
“I shall speak to yer daughter. Alone.”
Garrin, his face dark with anger, grunted once again. In a gruff tone, he spoke over his shoulder, to any of his sons who were paying attention. “Fetch her.”
Chapter Four
Black Richard had clung to the hope his scars offered. For the first time in many years, he did not hide behind his cowl. Nay, he left his mangled face unhidden for all the world to see. He fully believed that once the MacRay woman saw his profoundly scarred and disfigured face, she’d become so upset that David would not force her into the marriage. Even David had a heart.
But upon arriving at the keep, Black Richard quickly learned that the MacRay lass was blind.
He was damned.
Furious with the injustice of his king’s order, Black Richard refused to enter the MacRay keep. No matter how badly he wanted to tell David and the MacRay just what he thought of each man and this arrangement, there was too much at stake to risk acting like a fool. Oh, he would tell them, but only after he settled the anger brewing deep in the pit of his stomach.
For two days he had stewed over David’s order. Stewed until he thought he would lose his mind. The only hope he had lay in his scars. Now that hope was gone. The lass wouldn’t be able to see him. She wouldn’t be horrified to the point of hysteria.
So resign himself he must, to the fact that he was going to have to marry the MacRay woman.
He would wait in the courtyard up until the moment the ceremony was to begin. Per David’s order, he had brought only five men with him. Lachlan, his first in command, along with Rory, Andrew, Daniel, and Thomas — four of his best warriors. Each were men he had known for most of his life and trusted implicitly. And they were just as furious with David’s edict as he. Restlessly, with their instincts on full alert, they waited by their horses with a few of David’s own men. Black Richard assumed these men were there to observe and to make certain he didn’t do anything foolish, such as begin a fight with all the MacRay warriors standing nearby. He was never one to start a war, but he was damned determine to finish as the victor.
Black Richard’s fingers nearly itched with a need to draw his sword as he hoped one of the blasted MacRays would say or do something that would force him to act. What he would not give for David to witness with his own eyes what the MacRays were capable of. Then he would see the hatred betwixt the two clans was justified.
Married.
To a bloody MacRay!
“With yer luck, she will be just as ugly as her father,” Lachlan said through gritted teeth.
Rory agreed with a nod and a grunt. “And she be blind as well.” ’Twas a travesty of justice if ever there was one.
Blind. That was the only saving grace to this entire ordeal. A blind woman couldn’t see his scars. She wouldn’t be able to look into his eyes and see the contempt he held for her, her father, and the rest of her clan.
He imagined he would have to be good and bloody drunk in order to bed her. David was insistent there be a child born of this marriage. David cared not if it was a girl or boy, just as long as there was a child.
Aye, he’d bed her only until she got with child. Then he’d send her and the babe away from his keep. There was a spot south of their keep, miles away. There, he would have a cottage built for her, on land near the border betwixt their clans. Hell, she could go back home and live amongst her people for all he cared. David said nothing about living with her. As far as Black Richard was concerned, marriage didn’t necessitate the need for cohabitation.
Wed her, bed her, and forget her. That was his plan. And it would take divine intervention to get him to change his mind.
“Ye might get lucky,” Daniel said. “She might be a right pretty lass.”
His laird and cohorts looked at him as though he had lost his mind.
“A pretty MacRay?” Lachlan asked, incredulous with the notion. “There be no such thing.” His insult was said loud enough that everyone, including the MacRays, heard it. Not a one of them stepped forward to defend their laird’s daughter.