“It doesn’t matter,” he soothed. “Your fever has broken. Do you hear me? Your fever has broken. ’Tis a good sign, Keeley. You’ll not die on me now, do you hear? You’ve fought this hard and long and I refuse to let you die now that you’ve given me hope.”
She whispered something he couldn’t hear. He leaned down and placed his ear next to her lips. “What did you say?”
“Brute,” she muttered.
He closed his eyes and laughed helplessly. ’Twas such a wonderful, exquisite feeling that he threw back his head and laughed until tears of relief streamed down his cheeks.
“Alaric, what is it?” Ewan demanded as he ran toward his brother.
Alaric turned to see his brother halt a few steps away, his expression wary and sorrowful. He glanced down at Keeley’s still figure and then back up to the tears streaming down Alaric’s cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Alaric. I’m so damn sorry.”
Alaric grinned broadly. “She lives, Ewan. She lives! Her fever has broken and she just called me a brute. Surely ’tis a sign she has no intention of dying.”
A broad smile split Ewan’s face. “Aye, ’tis a good sign to be sure. Any lass who can muster the gumption to be contrary is surely not to die.”
“I can’t lift her, Ewan,” Alaric admitted. “ ’Tis God’s truth I’m so poleaxed that I lack the strength to stand.”
Ewan hurried forward and lifted Keeley from his arms. It took Alaric a moment, but he was able to rise on shaking legs and walk alongside his brother back to the keep.
“They all think she’s dead,” Ewan explained. “Word went through the keep that you brought her to the loch to die.”
“ ’Tis a miracle, Ewan. A miracle I can’t explain but I’m so damn grateful for. She was dying. I could feel her dying in my arms. I held her through the night and I talked to her endlessly, telling her of my dreams and the children we’d have. I went to sleep and when I awoke, her fever was gone and she was bathed in a sweat. She’s still weak as a kitten but the fever has left her.”
“I’ll have a look at her wound as soon as we get her to bed,” Ewan promised. “Then we must address the issue of what is to be done about the alliance with the McDonalds. The king awaits as do the lairds of the clans who gathered here for your wedding. We cannot hold them off any longer.”
Alaric looked at his brother with all the dread in his heart. Then he nodded, knowing he must face this issue or the result could be disaster for his clan.
“As soon as Keeley is settled, I’ll go with you to meet with our king,” Alaric said quietly.
CHAPTER 38
Alaric left Keeley with Maddie and Christina, and Mairin checking in as many times as she could slip past Cormac, who guarded her doorway.
Maddie burst into tears when Alaric told her of Keeley’s fever breaking. “I’ll take good care of the lass, Alaric. Go do what must be done. I’ll have her washed and fed and well on her way to recovery by the time you return, I vow it.”
Alaric smiled. “I know you will, Maddie.”
He pressed one last kiss to Keeley’s lips before he eased out of her chamber and headed belowstairs to where the others waited in the hall. Caelen met him just as he stepped off the stairs.
“I heard Keeley is recovering.”
Alaric smiled. “Aye.”
“I want you to know, you can count on my support no matter what is decided this day.”
Alaric sobered. “That means a lot to me, Caelen. More than you’ll ever know.”
“Shall we go see what the king has to say then?”
Alaric walked in ahead of Caelen and the room immediately quieted. ’Twas quite an impressive gathering. At the high table sat Ewan and the king along with Laird McDonald and Rionna on his right.
The other lairds were seated at the two tables that flanked the high table in the middle of the room.
When the king saw Alaric enter, he rose and motioned for Alaric to come over.
“Your Highness,” Alaric murmured as he came to a stop in front of the older man.
“We have a situation, Alaric McCabe. One that we must remedy with all haste.”
Alaric stood legs wide apart, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for the king to continue.
“ ’Twas admirable that you offered a handfast to the woman you loved after she saved your life and lay dying in your arms. The problem now arises that I’ve heard she may recover.”
“She will recover,” Alaric corrected softly.
“Then you find yourself married to the wrong woman.”
Laird McDonald rose and thumped his fist onto the table. “This is an insult. ’Tis preposterous. The agreement was for him to marry my daughter, Rionna, not a whore who was cast out of the McDonald clan years ago.”
Alaric snarled and started for the laird but Caelen got there first. He grasped the fleshy neck of Laird McDonald and slammed him back into his seat. The laird immediately went silent and stared up at Caelen in fear.
Alaric frowned. What had transpired between the two that would push Caelen to such anger, and why would the laird fear Caelen so much?
“Be silent, McDonald,” the king reprimanded. “That whore you speak of saved Alaric’s life twice and cared for my niece and safely brought forth the heir to Neamh Álainn. She is owed a great debt and ’tis my intention to make sure she never wants for anything in her life.”
He turned his attention back to Alaric. “As I said, ’Twas honorable that you sought to wed with her, but you must set her aside so the marriage to Rionna McDonald can go forth. I have a dozen lairds of surrounding clans ready to swear their allegiance to the crown and ally themselves with the McCabes as soon as you marry and take over as laird of the McDonald clan.”
Alaric stared at the king, not believing that setting aside another so he could marry Rionna was so calmly suggested. He looked then to Ewan to see his response. His brother sat next to the king, his expression indecipherable. Did he too expect Alaric to set Keeley aside and go ahead with his marriage to Rionna?
He thought of all that rode on this marriage. The safety of his clan. His brothers. Mairin and her babe. Finally the ability to go to war and defeat Cameron.
And his marriage could do all that? He shook his head. “Nay. I’ll not set her aside.”
The king’s eyes widened and the hall dissolved into chaos. Voices were raised. Angry statements were thrown. Threats were made and Laird McDonald was nearly apoplectic in his fury.
Alaric roared out an order for calm. When the hall finally quieted, he swept the gathered men with his gaze. “Only a man without honor would set aside the woman he loved to marry another. Only a man without honor would desert his woman when she lay so close to death after saving his life. I cannot be that man. I love her. I owe her my loyalty and my allegiance. I owe her my protection and all the happiness I can bring her for the rest of her life.”
He turned then to face Ewan. “I know this will lower me in the esteem of my family. My brothers. My clan. My king. But I cannot be the man you’ve always known me to be if I do this thing. There has to be another way to make the alliance work. Me being laird of the McDonald clan should not be the hinge that holds us all together.”
The king let out a deep breath, his eyes glittering with anger. “Think what you do. Cameron nearly destroyed your clan. This is your opportunity to finish him once and for all.”
“With or without this alliance, Cameron is a dead man,” Alaric said in a menacing voice. “What you seek is an alliance that will prevent Malcolm from a successful bid to the throne, and you would use our clan to achieve your means.”