Read Online Claiming the Highlander by Mageela Troche - Free Book Online Page B

haphazard braid. She had lost weight and she appeared more hunched every day. She dimmed as she watched her life partner die each day.
    “With Rowen gone, you must oversee everything. I trained you as a child, so I have no concerns, but if you require my help, please come to me.”
    “I shall.”
    “I am also available for guidance.” When Brenna nodded, she said, “That is not the only reason. There is upheaval in the household. I need that to stay away from my husband and me.”
    “Caelen and I shall see to it.”
    “My son is included in that. Tavish is in the chamber now, telling my husband how Caelen has spilt the men.”
    Brenna heard of nothing else. The castle folk had laid wagers already.
    “He has not done such a thing. He has to show he can be a leader of this clan.” It took all of Brenna’s stubborn will to stop her from racing into the chamber and scream insults upon Tavish.
    “Of course he can and will, but he must follow orders.”
    “Follow orders from men who see him as a boy, a boy who left and only just returned.” She cocked a brow.
    “That will pass.”
    “Not as long as the council questions everything. Besides, with the new members and my father making demands, everything could erupt. If my father goes to the king and he demands a divorce, the lands and title will be taken away. What will happen to the clan then? Others would see this as a weakness and my father will war against us. These men will never be pleased with Caelen. When the laird dies, the clan will have unrest. So nay, he cannot follow their orders.”
    “It will get worse. They are going to kill my husband.” She choked back her tears. The lairdess interlocked her fingers and clenched them until her knuckles whitened.
    Brenna rested her hand over them. “I will do all I can to keep these problems from you both. I cannot promise you more than that.”
    “Do what you must. I am placing my trust and hope with you, Brenna.”
     
    * * * *
     
    The shutters blocked fresh air and light from pouring in and caught the scent of blood in the stifling air. The healers were pleased they had brought down the laird’s fever. Those men and their doctoring only cared for the symptoms that flared up. For Caelen, it only increased his father’s suffering. From the pile of linens, Caelen knew his father rested beneath it all. He pulled up the stool and sat beside the bed.
    His father rolled his head to the side. His eyes bulged from his thin-boned face and revealed the inner pain racking him and eating him from the inside out. Veins creased his skin and gave him more color than his pallid complexion. The same body that helped him defeat his enemies was destroying this man, who had fought raiders and battles.
    “I should have died with my claymore in my hand and a blade in my gut. Instead, I’m wasting away, dying a shameful death.”
    Caelen’s throat dried and closed up. He kept his hands on his thighs to still the tremors quaking through him. It no longer mattered that he was an Earl and heir. Sitting in this chamber and watching his father die turned Caelen into a boy.
    “I should have summoned you sooner.” He struggled to breathe. The sound was nothing more than a wheeze. “I believed you would come back to face the talk.”
    “I made a choice I believed was moral and just. I couldn’t destroy another based on what I decided.”
    “You have always filled me with pride. My death is coming soon.” He fell silent, struggling for the scant breaths. Caelen could see him heaving for each one. He inched forward as if he could give his own chest expanding breath to his father.
    “Swell Brenna with your child and you can retain the land, no matter what her father plots.”
    “You think a bairn will stop this nonsense he is concocting.”
    “It will give you time to play, and if the union is dissolved, then you shall get the child and land.”
    Caelen dipped his head in semblance of a nod. Speaking was a hardship around the thick