Highland Persuasion (The MacLomain Series- Early Years) (2 page)

“’Tis past time you let me have my revenge, brother.”

“For a set of events that was meant to be?
Nay.”

“Meant to be?” Iosbail nearly growled. “We both know that time travel has definitive rules. The Sinclair’s broke them.”

“Did they?” Adlin sat and received a goblet of mead from a passing servant.

Iosbail stood straighter. “They murdered a man for no good reason.”

Her brother cocked a brow. “Are you sure it was for no good reason? Just look how well the Broun clan flourishes.”

“Murder,” Iosbail hissed. “And you try to make sense of it.”

“As do you though you say otherwise.”

She sat and received a goblet as well. Leaning forward, she shook her head and through clenched teeth said, “It was cold-blooded murder. I could see it in his eyes. Not a moment of remorse. Not a moment of hesitation. What would make a man act so harshly?”

“Anger.
Revenge.
Passion.
There are so many reasons, lass.”

“Precisely.”
Iosbail nodded adamantly.
“Anger.
So let me go.”

“You focused on but one of my explanations.”

“The most important one.”

“You and the Sinclairs have a history, Iosbail. One that even I dinnae completely ken.”

Iosbail made a dismissive gesture. “It doesnae affect the MacLomains, brother, only the Brouns.”

“Clearly.
But not so much beyond you personally I’d say.”

“Then he should have killed me, not Nigell.” Iosbail sat back and stared at the fire. Remorse soon replaced anger. If she’d thought her simple action so long ago would result in all this, she’d take it back in a moment. Well, some of it.
Nay, none of it.
What was done
had
to be done.

“Tell me what you did, Iosbail. Maybe I can help.”

The flames flickered. The great hall grew quiet. Iosbail knew it was time to share. “I never quite knew why history books recorded it the way they did. Truth told, the king granted the Sinclair’s land in Lothian far sooner than most know.” She glanced at her brother. “But you knew.”

Adlin nodded and waited.

“As if they needed more what with lands already granted in the north and Orkney Isles.”
Iosbail shook her head and swallowed. “I spent hundreds of years building the Brouns into a formidable lowland clan only to have a quarter of the land seized by the king and granted to the Sinclairs.” Iosbail took a sip of mead and sat back. “As if he had more right to the land than the clan who’d already laid claim.”

“’Tis the way in these times,” Adlin murmured.
“Despite how unfair.”

Iosbail ignored his comment and continued, “I didnae travel back in time to alter events, but forward.” She cast a wayward glance at Adlin.
“To the year one thousand and eighty.”

As she anticipated, his eyes rounded and he ground out, “The Sinclair would have been into his barony near on twelve years at that point. His son Alexander would have been young.” Adlin murmured, “That boy has quite the history, verra important history.” He stopped and narrowed his eyes. “What did you
do
when there?”

Her own anger returned and she said, “Took retribution!”

Quiet, almost lethal in his tone, Adlin said, “On a clan granted their place and land by a king. They did not seize the land of their own accord. Do ye ken the difference, lass?”

Iosbail felt her blood boil. “How easy it is for you to cast judgment when ‘tis not the MacLomain’s of whom we speak but the Broun’s. I birthed the first of my clan and watched my tribe grow over the generations, as did you yours.” She stood and went nose to nose. “And now you would raise your voice when I took retribution to defend my blood knowing you would do the very same had our positions been reversed?”

Adlin stood taller, the fury in his blue eyes more evident. “My actions would not cause someone to travel through time to kill my clan’s chieftain.”

“Not yet,” Iosbail said. “But ‘tis plenty of time left in your long life, brother.”

They stared at one another for several long seconds before Adlin shook his head and sat. “Tell me the rest.”

“I made use of my feminine wiles.”

Adlin’s expression flattened. “So you had an affair with the Sinclair baron?”

Deadpan, Iosbail said, “You judge as though you yourself haven’t fathered many beyond your rightful place.” She took a long swig of her drink. “No, I had an affair with the king, William the Conqueror.”

Mid-swig, Adlin choked on his own sip. Brows raised he said with a croaked voice, “You had an affair with the Sassenach king! How did it not change history?”

“I was careful.” She shrugged.
“Mostly.”

“Not nearly enough it seems.”

“William had originally intended to give the Sinclair’s all of the Lothian land belonging to the Brouns. Because of my whisper in his ear they got only a quarter.” Iosbail shook her head. “But they still got a quarter of
my
land.”

“You mean the Broun’s land.”

“Same difference.”

Adlin cocked a brow. “Is it?”

“Dinnae patronize me.”

Adlin pursed his lips. “You did something that brought the wrath down upon your own head. Tell me the rest.”

“Not much more to tell. The Sinclair’s learned the truth. They didnae take it well.
Ambitious bastards.”
She took another deep sip from her goblet. “I’d do it again if it meant protecting my clan.”

“You created a bitter enemy.” Adlin sighed. “Who obviously tracked your moves enough to know you’d time traveled through the Defiance.”

“Aye, seems so.”

“So now the Sinclairs hunt you through time for retribution.”

“Aye!
Over land that was never theirs to begin with.”

“Actually, as time would have it, the Broun land should have been theirs, not yours. ‘Tis the natural order of things.”

“Nay!”
Iosbail stood, rage rekindled. “’Twas the Broun’s rightfully. Politics need not hold sway over what is ones rightful land.
New politics at that.
So many storm this country and think it theirs.
‘Tis not!”

“What made it ours to begin with, sister? The fact we got here first?”

“Aye!”

“Nay.”
Adlin shook his head. “We live in volatile times. Though young in appearance, you and I are very old. Who are we to judge?”

Furious, Iosbail made a gesture that encompassed the great hall. “This place is your very heartbeat. How can you ask such? We defend what we have built.”

“Nay!”
Adlin roared and stood. “The Highland Defiance was what I built. I walked away and started anew here in Cowal because it was for the greater good of Scotland. You walked away from the Broun clan because you’d tired of them.”

Iosbail didn’t waver. “Nay, brother, ‘tis obvious the great love I have for my clan. I walked away from the Broun clan to bond the MacLomain’s with the Broun’s, as you wished. I did this for the greater good. Never for a moment misconstrue that.”

Before he could say another word she summoned a long gown. “This is the wedding dress that all my descendants will wear when they marry into the MacLomain clan.
This
is the dress full of the pearls I gathered from the North Sea when my friend was murdered by a Sinclair.” She looked at it with disgust. “I cannot fathom how it will be worth the hand-picked pearls strewn within it.”

“Then you truly do not see the greater good.”

With a sharp thrust back of her shoulders, she stood up straighter. “I have always seen the greater good through your eyes, Adlin. For years I have supported you… the gods. I’ve watched your internal battle.”

Adlin flinched but said nothing.

“We give up things, brother, people who matter. That’s the way of it. I ken. Let me not have revenge on the Sinclair’s but make retribution.”

“You switch too easily from one objective to another, sister. What do you mean?”

Before she even understood her own objectives, Iosbail said, “Let me travel to the time that Malcolm’s son is laird. Let me persuade him to marry into the Broun clan. This will allow a peace between the Broun’s and Sinclair’s. It will aid in a unified Lothian and through that, a better tie with the MacLomain’s and Sinclair’s.”

Adlin was as shocked by her words as she was. “You would be willing to convince a Sinclair to marry a Broun to rectify the wrong you’ve done?”

A certain sinister peace settled over her. Without meaning to, she’d turned the situation in a direction much to her benefit. Before Adlin had a chance to scrutinize her expression, Iosbail nodded and gave a half smile. “Aye, ‘tis the least I can do.”

Adlin’s eyes narrowed. “You didnae even realize your manipulation until you’d voiced such.”

“Nay, I didnae realize the brilliance until I’d voiced it.” Iosbail smiled. “I will be the persuasion that keeps a Sinclair from traveling back in time to murder my friend! I will change the very course of history.”

“Nay.”
Adlin shook his head. “You will cause havoc.”

Iosbail smiled warmly, though her innards curdled. She’d ensure every last Sinclair burned. “Nay, I will make things correct. I will ensure history bodes well.”

Adlin shook his head. “I forbid it.”

But she’d already formulated a plan. While a king might not keep his wits about him to thoroughly conquer a land,
a lass
could. In fact,
a lass
with enough drive could convince a mere highland chieftain to give up about anything, including his land and all lands acquired.

Men were pliable.

“You’ve too much anger in your heart, Iosbail.”

She took a deep breath and looked at her brother. “Nay, I’ve just enough.”

“You willnae travel through the Defiance.”

“Nay.”
She shook her head.
“I willnae travel at all.”

“You’re too easy to comply.”

Iosbail shook her head.
“Nay, too easy to avoid another lecture.”

Adlin sat and stared at the fire. “Truly, I
cannae
stop you.”

“Nay.”
Iosbail took a sip of her drink. “You
cannae
.”

Adlin stared at the fire for several long moments. “You will do what you will, Ioabail. Know this though, there will be repercussions.”

Then let there be. Damn the Sinclairs! But she didn’t say that.
“’Tis time for rest brother.
Tomorrow we will speak of this again.”

“Aye,” Adlin said too quickly and looked at her. “We will.”

Her brother had a sharp way of foreseeing the future and she didn’t much like the way he’d said that. “I will not travel, brother. You have my word.”