Those words hurt more than a sword ever could.
“Ye wilnae get the best of me this time if ye try tae escape,” Mark spat. “I hae a sword and ye hae naething. I knew ye couldnae be trusted. Once a Frasier, always a Frasier. I cannae wait until Caitlin finds out.”
Rhys could have defeated him if he wanted. Mark was not as good a swordsman as he thought. His movements were clumsy and Rhys could have easily unbalanced him, but he stood motionless and stoic, not wanting to cause any more ripples of dissent. He didn’t even reply to Mark’s goading words as he too was afraid of what Caitlin would think of him.
It wasn’t long before Bryn returned, his face like thunder.
“I couldnae find yer da anywhere,” he said. “There’s naebody tae prove yer story, Rhys. I cannae be sure that this is nae a part of yer plan. What if I take my warriors out in search of ye da, leaving the keep undefended? What if ye are just a distraction?” Bryn shook his head as he paced around the room. Rhys was impressed at the way the man’s mind worked. He watched as Bryn’s eyes flickered about, considering plan after plan and possibility after possibility. His reputation for being a clever man with a mind for stratagems was well deserved, but his suspicious nature meant that he was not ready to trust Rhys’s words.
“I am nae a distraction. I’m telling ye the truth!” Rhys claimed. He leaned forward, but as he did so, Mark thrust the sword in his direction, and Rhys suddenly realized that he wasn’t being seen as a prophet of doom, but as an enemy.
“Ye may well be, but I cannae take the chance. I hate tae dae this tae Caitlin, but I hae tae send ye tae the dungeon until I figure out what’s gaeing on. Take him away, Mark,” Bryn said. Mark took great delight as he marched Rhys out of the room. Rhys tried to protest, but it fell on deaf ears. It was a grim ending to the moment, and he wasn’t sure Caitlin would ever forgive him, but at least he had told Bryn the truth. At least he had done the right thing.
15
“Caitlin…Caitlin! Wake up, lass.”
Caitlin could feel her body being shaken gently. She almost didn’t want to leave the realm of sleep, for it was the best night’s sleep she’d had for a long, long time. Her body and mind had been utterly content after the passion that she had shared with Rhys. It had been more powerful and fulfilling than she had ever imagined, and the natural urges in her body wanted to experience it again. The thought of spending a lifetime with him was glorious and she longed to taste his sweet lips once again. She murmured as she opened her eyes. In her half-dreamy state, still a little dazed and delirious from the previous night, she expected to see Rhys’s kind eyes gazing down upon her. They were the only thing she wanted to see, so she was shocked awake when she saw her father perched on the end of her bed, shaking her awake.
Fear and anxiety lined her heart as she sat up, pulling the blanket around her as a shield. Her gaze darted around as she searched for her husband.
“Where’s Rhys?” she asked.
“That’s what I came tae talk tae ye about lass,” Bryn said in a heavy breath. His shoulders sagged and his face was tense with anger. “He came tae me and told me of a plan tae take the keep from us, that this whole marriage was just a sham tae get inside the keep and attack us when our defenses were down. Malcolm never had any intention of honoring the treaty. It was all just a trick…I never thought he haed it in him. I should hae been more careful.” He clenched his fist and scowled, but Caitlin didn’t care about that.
“Nay…he couldnae hae done that! Nae Rhys…he would hae told me. He…he loves me, Da.”
“Aye, he may well dae, but he is also a Frasier. I thought things could change. I thought they could be trusted…”
“Where is he?” Caitlin asked.
“In the dungeon, where he belongs until I find his father. I know what ye are thinking lass,” Bryn said, holding up his hands to try and put a stop to the flow of her emotion, “but ye shouldnae see him. I dinnae ken if he is telling the truth. Until we know for sure we should leave him tae stew. They’ve fooled me once, I’m nae haeing them fool me again,” Bryn said.
But that wasn’t going to be enough for Caitlin. She hadn’t been prepared to wake up on the first morning of her being a married woman to find her husband locked in a dungeon. Tears welled in her eyes as she threw off the blanket. Bryn averted her gaze as she got dressed in a hurry.
“I’m planning for war, Caitlin. Ye should stay here, where it’s safe. The attack could come at any time. If this was a distraction then Malcolm is probably wondering why we’re nae out there looking for him. I dinnae want anything tae happen tae ye. I’m sorry lass. I wish things could hae been different. I hoped for the best…for the first time in my life, I hoped that things would be different, but a Frasier is a Frasier. I shouldnae hae believed otherwise.”
There was a sinking, hurt feeling in his voice, and for a moment Caitlin experienced doubt. Her throat tightened and her heart beat so fiercely she was certain that it was going to burst out of her chest. She fingered the ring that hung around her neck, the one that symbolized her devotion to her clan. But there was another ring she wore as well—one around her finger, that symbolized her devotion to her husband. She thought of all the
