Page 15 of A Fearless Rebel
It surprised her when he nodded. “I agree.”
“But ye are?”
“By my honor, I pledged fealty and obedience to my father and laird. Therefore, I must.”
Men and their pledges. Ava wanted to roll her eyes.
“I must thank ye for what ye did for the woman who was brought as a prisoner along with my mother,” he said.
It had been horrible to find the poor woman who’d been ravaged and beaten until she was unconscious by the guardsmen. She’d brought several men with her to rescue the woman from their clutches after hearing what they did. Ava had yet to get rid of the images and the many bruises she’d seen when helping to clean the woman’s tattered body.
“How does she fare?”
When she looked to him, his face was like stone. “She will never fully recover.”
“Ye have feelings for her?” Ava wasn’t sure why she asked the question, other than it would matter if they did get married. Better to know if her husband was already involved with another woman.
“Catriona and I grew up together. She is like a sister to me.”
Her heart broke for not only the woman, but for Keithen having to witness his lifelong friend so battered and bruised. “I can only offer my regret for what happened…”
“Do not offer something that cannot undo what happened. Yer father ordered her given to those bastards as if she were worthless.”
“I had nothing to do with it. Do ye take responsibility for what yer own father does?”
He reached over and yanked on her horse’s reins, bringing it to a stop. His eyes bored into hers. “Understand one thing, Ava Mackenzie,” he said as his lips twisted in distaste at stating her name. “My father would never commit the atrocities yer father seems to thrive upon.”
It was hard to swallow due to the constriction in her throat. There was nothing she could say because, for a long time, she knew everyone either hated or feared her family.
Ava stared at the man that she was to marry and could only see loathing in his eyes. There had to be something she could do to get out of the marriage.
“Release my horse,” she uttered. “And be gone from me.”
Surprisingly, he did. After turning his horse away, he urged his mount to a gallop.
Once she neared the keep, Ava slowed down and looked over her shoulder, almost expecting to see Keithen following her. The look of disgust and pure hatred he’d given her made Ava shiver with apprehension. Would he be cruel and unjust when they married?
Already, she expected the worst at going to live with Clan Fraser. What was her father thinking sending her to live among people they’d just recently gone to battle with? The Mackenzie warriors had killed many of their people. He was sending her into a lion’s den.
Not caring that Lady Fraser was supposedly ill, she stormed into her mother’s chamber and pulled back the curtains.
“I must speak to ye,” she announced, turning to the bed.
Her mother glowered at her. “Whatever it is that has ye going mad is about to get ye kicked out of my chambers.”
Ava ignored her. “Do ye realize Father is sending me to live with people that hate us? Do ye really expect me to live long enough to spy for him? They will no doubt poison my first meal.”
Her mother pushed up to a sitting position. “Ye have always been much more like my sister. Much too sensitive. They will do the opposite. They’ll make sure ye are protected so as not to earn yer father’s ire.”
“I saw Keithen Fraser today. I rode to the village on Chisholm lands.”
Instead of being upset at her going off without an escort or permission, her mother sighed. “Let me guess, it was a less than friendly exchange.”
“Does it not bother ye that I will live with people that hate me?” A tightness in her chest made Ava inhale sharply. “Mother, I am being sent away to a place where I will live in misery.”
When her mother patted the bed indicating that she should sit, Ava was apprehensive, but she sat.
“As Mackenzies, we all have a heavy burden to carry. We are strong people who adapt and change in order to protect ourselves. I expect that after ye are there for a spell, ye will learn the best way to live among them.”
