bodies, its heat adding to their own. He licked up the column of her slender throat. 'Yer delicious, sweeting,' he murmured into the hollow of her neck, nibbling delicately at her sweet flesh. Drawing his tongue over her chest, he lapped at her breasts, his mouth closing over a nipple, drawing her milk into his mouth and swallowing it.
Her fingers threaded themselves through his thick red-gold hair. Fiona smiled. She had forgotten to wash it, and it was dusty with his travels. Tomorrow would be time enough. She abandoned herself to the pleasure of his passion, and it was even better than before. Finally in the middle of the night they managed to leave their place before the fire for the warmth of their bed, cuddling beneath the down coverlet. Something had changed. They both realized it as they slid into a contented sleep.
The winter came, and the news that filtered into Nairns Craig from south of the Tay was ominous. The king had been furious to learn that the Lord of the Isles had burned the town of Inverness. Its survivors had trekked to Scone to plead with the king for revenge and reparations. Only the snows kept the highlands safe for the present. In the spring they knew the retaliation would come. Fiona tried to force it from her mind, but Nairn would not let her.
'We had a good harvest last year,' he said. 'Ye must conserve what is in the granaries and cold storage, for we may not get to plant a new crop in the spring. If we do, it may be destroyed before ye can harvest it. Ye will have to be responsible for Nairns Craig while I am away, sweeting. My mother will help ye.'
'Where will ye go?' Fiona asked him as they sat together in the hall, the children romping about them. Johanna was soon to celebrate her first year of life and was already toddling about on unsteady feet.
'When my brother calls, I must follow him into battle,' Colin MacDonald said quietly. 'Ye know it, sweeting. Don't hide from the truth. If Alexander goes to war, I must follow him.'
'Ye must pledge yerself to the king,' she said, working hard to keep the desperate tone from her voice. 'If yer brother chooses to fight with James Stewart, don't follow him. Ally yerself with yer liege lord. In the end James Stewart will triumph over the lord. I know it! If ye fight by the lord's side, the king will punish ye, too. If ye fight beneath the royal banner, we will all be safe. I know ye love yer brother and feel a deep loyalty to the clan as yer father taught ye, but times are changing, Colly. This world we live in is not yer father's world. Once the lords of the Isles ruled unchallenged, but now their authority is in dispute. James Stewart claims all of Scotland. Even the lord's allies waver in their loyalty. Unless yer brother will accept the king's authority, he and all those who follow him will be made to suffer. We have three bairns, my lord. Yer mother is old. Must we suffer for yer misguided sense of devotion? Please, I beg of ye, don't follow yer brother into battle!' Her eyes were filled with tears as she pleaded with him, and The MacDonald of Nairn was moved by her words, yet he refused to yield to her plea.
'I canna refuse the Lord of the Isles' summons when it comes, sweeting. Do not fear. Ye’ll be safe within Nairns Craig, and the bairns, too. The king will not take any revenge against ye and my mam.'
“James Stewart would take revenge against a saint if that saint stood in his way, Colin MacDonald. Don't say ye were not warned. I know what I must now do. If ye leave us, I will take the children, and yer mam if she will come with us, and go home to Hay Tower. There I know we will be safe from the chaotic games ye men play.'
Astounded, he said, 'Ye must hold Nairns Craig for me.'
'If this castle is as invulnerable as ye claim, my lord, then yer servants can hold Nairns Craig until ye return, or the king's men demand its surrender,' Fiona told him. 'I will not remain here without ye, nor will I allow our children and that old woman to be in danger. Leave us, and I will depart here. If ye survive, ye know where ye may find us. If the king confiscates this castle, ye may be glad of my small house, Colly. 'Tis not grand, but the roof doesn't leak.'
He was amazed by her determination. He did not think her a silly and foolish woman who threatened a man, never meaning to follow through. She meant every word she was saying, and he knew it. The idea, while shocking at first, was not such a bad one. If Nairns Craig stood in danger of imminent attack, perhaps it would be a good thing if she took the children and fled to her own holding. She was not rebelling against the king. If she distanced herself from Nairns Craig and he was killed or captured, she could not be held responsible for his behavior-or used to force him into submission. How many children of Stewart enemies had languished their lives away in custodial confinement. He did not want his daughters bartered into unhappy marriages that benefited James Stewart while making them miserable. He did not want his son brought up to be ashamed of his proud heritage.
'Perhaps, sweeting,' he told her, 'it might be a good thing if ye and the children hid at Hay Tower if war comes. The troubles will not be anywhere near yer home. It will be fought in the north and in the west predominantly. No one would think to seek ye on yer ben.'
Fiona sighed. She had thought to coerce him into renouncing his foolish course, but instead she had given him a means to salve his conscience. 'I canna change ye, can I, Colin MacDonald?'
He shook his head, a small smile upon his lips. 'No, sweeting, ye canna change me. I love ye with all my heart, Fiona mine, but not even for ye will I betray Alexander MacDonald, Lord of the Isles.'
'I can but pray we all survive yer misguided loyalties,' she answered him, but then she kissed his lips.
The snows were on the bens and the trees showed no sign of budding when the call to arms came. One icy twilight when a new sliver of moon hung in the western skies, first one, and then another, and yet another signal fire sprang up on the hills. Before dark a messenger arrived at Nairns Craig from the Lord of the Isles. James Stewart and a vast army had crossed the Tay River, bound for the north. The king had struck earlier than any of them had anticipated. It was to be a battle to the death.
They had lost not a man at Inverness, but now, as the two hundred assembled in the castle courtyard, Fiona looked upon them with sad eyes, wondering how many, if any, would return unscathed. As Nairn was preparing to make his departure, his mother, frail with the hard winter they had endured and the loss of her old servant, Beathag, spoke earnestly to her only child.
'I sense what ye are doing is not right, Colin,' she told him. 'Don't follow the MacDonalds this time. If not for our sake, then for yer own. No good can come of this fighting.' Her eyes were filled with tears that began to flow down her weathered, yet beautiful, aged face. 'If ye go, I will not see ye again in this life,' she told him.
He tried to comfort her, for he had never in all his life seen her so concerned over him. Putting an arm about her, he said, 'I am my father's son, mam, and must do my duty by my family.'
Moire Rose looked up at him bleakly as he kissed her cheek.
'God bless ye, Colin, my son,' she said. Then, pulling from his embrace, she hobbled back into the castle, leaning heavily upon the cane she now used. She would have no servant helping her since Beathag's death in the winter from old age.
'I'll look after her,' Fiona said to her husband, 'but there is little I can do to calm her fears. We are right, Colly. Ye should not go with the lord. March for the king's camp and align yerself with him. Ye will not suffer for it, and, believe me, ye will not be the only highland chief who arrays himself with James Stewart. I don't approve the burning of Inverness, but I understand now why ye felt ye must join yer brother in razing the town. This is different. That was to avenge an insult, but this is treason, plain and simple, Colly. Will ye mark yer bairns with a traitor's mark? So will they be if the king wins.'
Fiona wanted to shriek at him. Didn't he understand? The Lord of the Isles believed he had ten thousand men beneath his banner, but human nature being what it was, Fiona was certain that a number of the clansmen, seeing the king's might, would switch sides. The messenger last night had stated that the king's troops were equal in size to Alexander MacDonald's. Looking into her husband's eyes, she saw that there was nothing she might say or do that would turn him from the path of his own destruction. It was madness, but she had to admire his sense of loyalty and determination. He was not a complicated man, just a good one. Pulling his head down to hers, she kissed him passionately until both their heads began to spin with the pleasure. He broke the embrace, smiling down at her.
'Farewell, my love,' Fiona said. 'May God guard you and bring you home safe to us.'
'So,' he said, his blue eyes suddenly alight,
A quick sally sprang to her lips, but she swallowed it back, saying, 'Aye, I love ye, Nairn.' Then, before he might see her tears, she turned away from him, walking back into the castle as his voice called after her, 'I always knew ye would love me one day, Fiona mine!'
