Authors: Susan King

Laird of the Wind (52 page)

And he thought of his family there. "And how is my sister Mairi, auld man?" he asked.

"Auld man? I may be married now, and a father, but call me auld, and you will go there with me. Auld are we, at thirty-three," Alasdair muttered. "I hear men in England dinna marry afore thirty years. Is it true?"

"I ken little of English ways. I lived with my mother's people for years, on the Scots side of the border, and never crossed over."

"Hah! Never crossed by light o' day, nor crossed legally."

Duncan almost smiled. "My cousins, the Kerrs, are good citizens of her majesty Queen Mary Stewart."

Alasdair laughed out loud. "That Highland Macrae blood of yours, lad, found its merry niche with the Kerrs, who rank with the most fearsome border reivers who ever haunted the line between Scotland and England, or so I hear."

"Well," Duncan drawled, "occasionally a few cattle and sheep wandered over the border. Someone had to fetch them back again. We obliged."

"With lances and swords, no less."

"Just so," Duncan said. "Cattle are dangerous beasts." He paused while Alasdair hooted a laugh. "So you told me about Mairi and the bairns. How is my sister Kirsty?"

"Wee Kirsty?" Alasdair smiled. "She is fine, as is Mairi and the young ones. Did I say that our youngest, Dougal, is dark like the Macraes? Aye, and broad and bonny as the Frasers." Alasdair slid him a careful look. "Mairi took the wee ones north to spend time with your grandmother and Kirsty at Dulsie. I'll be going there to meet them soon. Will you not come too?"

"I have duties in Edinburgh when I finish this task."

Alasdair sighed. "They would welcome the sight of you after so long."

Duncan shook his head. "I will send documents north to turn Dulsie over to my sisters. I think it is best."

"You've been a Lowlander for a long while, with all those years spent on the border, and at the university at St. Andrews, and then lawyerin' and such at the courts in Edinburgh," Alasdair said. "But do not fool yourself, lad. No such tame life could please that wild Macrae blood for long." He tipped a brow. "It is long past time you allowed yourself to be a Highland man again."

"The wild Scot in me is gone, and I do not mourn his passing." Truly, he was glad that he had tamed those wilder urges; they had nearly ruined him once.

"Hah," Alasdair said. "The Macraes are legendary in the Highlands for recklessness, and for strength and darin', and for tempers that would make even Frasers quake. That blood tells in a man, no matter where he goes in life. And never was a lad as bold as Duncan Macrae."

"Oh, I once meant to be the boldest of the wild Macraes, but that was long ago."

Alasdair looked at him. "Let it go, lad," he said softly. "You were sixteen when they died. Will you carry the guilt of that day forever?"

"Aye," Duncan said curtly. Shutting the regret out of his thoughts, he set his jaw and fixed his gaze on the far mountains. He was a lawyer now, disciplined and scholarly, no longer the angry lad who had left these hills behind.

And as a lawyer, he had been successful enough to earn the respect of Queen Mary Stewart's Privy Council. Ironically, that same steady capability, and his understanding of the Highland temperament, had earned him a royal order to return to the Highlands and deliver a legal document to the Frasers.

He glanced at Alasdair Fraser. And some called the Macraes wild, he thought. The Frasers' feud with the MacDonalds had been fierce enough to catch the attention of the crown. Duncan had been sent to quell it.

"Alasdair," he said, "no more talk of wildness, I think, unless you wish to discuss the Frasers." Gathering his reins, he urged his horse forward.

Alasdair laughed as he rode alongside. "Aye, wild we are, particularly my cousins. Including Elspeth, who has likely ridden on every raid in MacDonald territory. You will have a challenge discouraging this feud with that bonny lot."

"Elspeth Fraser?" Duncan frowned, not recognizing the name. Likely one of the Fraser widows, he thought, to be so adamant about the MacDonald feud. "What, does she stir her sons into battle fever?"

"She'd be in the thick of it herself, weapons and all."

Duncan raised his brows in disbelief. "A warrior woman? A matronly Athena? A Boudicca in your midst?" He laughed. "Well, if she shares your brawn and your mean looks, my friend, it is no surprise that she wields a claymore with the best of them."

Alasdair laughed outright. "I'll say no more on that, man. You will see for yourself." He kneed his horse into a canter. "Come ahead, lawyer, if you dare. Castle Glenran is only a few leagues away!"

The Raven's Wish

Susan King

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THE RAVEN'S WISH

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Susan King is the bestselling, award-winning author of 20 historical novels, each one highly praised for historical accuracy, storytelling quality and lyricism. Her first novel,
The Black Thorne's Rose,
was published in 1994, followed by many well-known historical romances written as both Susan King and Sarah Gabriel. The author's most recent fiction release as Susan Fraser King,
Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland,
follows the acclaimed
Lady Macbeth: A Novel,
both from Crown/Random House. Susan holds a graduate degree in medieval art history and lives in Maryland with her family and a Westie.

Learn more about Susan's books at
www.susanfraserking.com
and
www.wordwenches.com
.

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