Page 6 of Laird of Wrath

What do I even say to him now? He’s right to think we wouldnae last under siege, but there is nay talk of siege.

Is this a threat? Is he threatenin’ to attack if he doesnae get what he wants?

That was ludicrous, and yet Rhea wouldn’t put it past the man. He was there to get what he wanted, and what he wanted was Sienna—and by extension, the clan, since he thought Callum was gone for good.

“Ye’re defenseless, Lady McMahon,” Laird Barclay repeated, rising from his seat and walking over to the door. “And I cannae in good conscience leave two women defenseless like this.”

“I’ll have ye ken that—” Before she could say another word, Laird Barclay opened the door and stepped out of the room, leaving the door swinging behind him like a beast.

Rhea sat there, staring at the space he had just vacated with her mouth hanging open, too shocked to even move.

Damn him! And damn Callum for leavin’ like this!

3

Bastard!

Rhea glared at Laird Barclay as he walked through the Great Hall, laughing with Councilman Reggie Henderson, who was giving him a tour of the place.

Her hand itched for a blade, for anything that would force Laird Barclay to leave and never return. And yet she knew there was nothing she could do, especially if the councilmen wanted this marriage.

It didn’t matter that Sienna didn’t want it. It didn’t matter that she had been locked up in her room all day, ever since Rhea had whisked Laird Barclay away to the drawing room. It didn’t matter that Laird Barclay was clearly after the lairdship and would try to take over the clan the first chance he got.

As long as the councilmen liked him, he had the advantage. Perhaps those men even wanted him to take the lairdship, as they would never trust a woman to run the clan for long.

So far, they had been patient. They had been waiting for Callum to return, for the war to end, for him to walk victorious into his home and take his rightful place once more. But they were getting impatient, restless. The longer Callum was gone, the more they feared something would happen.

And they weren’t wrong. Somethinghadhappened already. It might not have been a siege, it might not have been a war, but it was an attack nevertheless—an attack on the lairdship, an attack on her as the lady of the clan, an attack on Sienna, who was being used as a bargaining chip.

Reggie Henderson was a good man, as far as she was concerned. Or at least he was not an active threat to her and Sienna. He was timid and quiet. He was the one to whom Rhea could have gone for advice, or at least for support. But she couldn’t go to him when Laird Barclay had taken him by the hand and was dragging him around the castle, demanding to be shown every room.

Damn him!

She turned to another councilman, Douglas MacIntyre, an older man who had been on the council for many years, even before Callum took over. He had been kind to her. He had given her advice before and had seemed like an ally, however tentative.

He was standing by the doors along with a few more councilmen, all talking in hushed tones, their heads lowered, their shoulders hunched. Rhea approached them slowly, trying to listen in to their conversation, but they soon spotted her and stopped speaking.

“Me Lady,” Councilman Lloyd Cranna greeted. He, too, was older, though not quite as old as Douglas, and he didn’t seem to have the same fondness for her. “What is the matter?”

Rhea’s gaze found Douglas immediately in the small crowd. “May I have a word?”

“With me, me Lady?” he asked.

“Aye. Right now, if ye’d be so kind.”

Douglas exchanged a quick glance with the rest of the councilmen, then followed her down the corridor, where they could have at least some semblance of privacy.

“Douglas, tell me the truth,” she said in a low voice so that no one else would hear them, glancing over her shoulder to make sure there was no one nearby. “Does the council want Laird Barclay?”

“Me Lady…” Douglas let out a long, whistling sigh. He didn’t seem like he wanted to discuss this, but Rhea was not going to give him a choice. “What do ye want me to say? Ye ken the truth, daenae ye?”

She did. Had the council not wanted Laird Barclay, they would not have invited him to come in the first place. His presence in the castle meant that he was very much wanted there.

“But Sienna doesnae wish to wed him, and for good reason,” she argued. “Surely, I’m nae the only one who realizes his true motives! He wants the clan, Douglas.”

Douglas seemed anything but surprised by that. “Of course he does. Why else would he be here?”

Rhea had to resist the urge to throw her hands up in the air in exasperation. She settled on staring at him incredulously, her mouth hanging open in shock.