Page 14 of Saved By the Highland Beast
“No, that’s not why I’m here at all. I don’t wish to quit, nor will I be quitting anytime in the near future,” she clarified.
Dean stopped chewing on his bannock and stared at her. “Go on,” he said after a few moments of examining her face.
“I want your help so that I can figure out a way to gain his trust. I can’t force him into the study to do his lessons. There needs to be a way that I can make him stay long enough to teach him anything.”
He took another large bite of a bannock and sipped his ale. “I can have one of the men stand guard at the study door an’ make sure he stays until the lessons are done. Problem solved.” He turned back to his plate of food.
“No.” Sophia shook her head and rubbed her temples. “That’s not the answer to the problem. Forcing him into the study will only make him resent us even more. We need a gentler way to pique his interest. You mentioned before that he has an interest in sword fighting. I saw he took a book this morning on the topic. Do you make time to do that with him?”
The laird wiped his hands together, allowing the crumbs to fall into his plate. “Cillian is nae allowed to use a sword, he’s too young,” he said as a matter of fact. “He can learn how to fight once his schoolin’ is complete an’ he’d had more experience in life. Lads can easily have accidents with swords at his age. I will nae take the risk.”
“I’m sorry, but on the ride to the castle you said that Cillian spent most of his time learning how to fight. Did I misunderstand what you were saying?” She cocked her head to the side in confusion.
“Aye, I permit him to watch the men train with Anthony, but he is nae allowed to fight. He’s to focus on his studies first ‘afore I’ll allow him to use a sword. He learns by watchin’ the men and reading those books.” He broke another bannock in half and took a bite without looking at her.
Sophia was a little intimidated by his appetite, though he was a huge man, so he needed lots of sustenance. But she felt slightly annoyed at his seeming dismissal of what she was saying. “But aren’t there wooden swords that rookies sometimes use to train so that nobody gets hurt? Surely those are suitable for a boy of ten?”
“It’s nae about hurtin’ himself. I want him to focus on his studies first. He needs education more than he needs to ken how to fight. All of that will come later in life once he’s more established.”
“I applaud the sentiment behind your efforts.” She tried her best to sound diplomatic. “However, I do feel that we could reach Cillian better by letting him participate in things he’s passionate about, such as sword fighting. It could be a healthy outlet for him, and it can also be used as a bargaining tool. For example, if he completes three to five hours of lessons every day, he could have an hour or two off in the afternoons with Anthony to unwind and enjoy himself.”
“Nay,” Dean said bluntly, his jaw clenched. “The rule is final. I will nae negotiate. Cillian is to complete his education ‘afore he learns to fight. I want him to learn how to be a good man, nae a fighter.”
“But it could be used as a bonding tool between the two of you as well. If you would only listen to what I have to say.”
“That is enough!” He slammed his fists on the table, making the cutlery rattle and shake. “I will nae be told how to raise me own son. Cillian will learn manners an’ education first! I will nae have him raised like some kind of barbarian, knowing naething but how to swing a sword!”
“Do you think of Anthony Gillies as a barbarian then?” Sophia asked defiantly, using the only example she could think of.
Anthony was a well-spoken man and by no means a barbarian, at least from what she could tell.
“Anthony Gillies is different!”
“How so? He uses a sword with expert precision and speaks as if he himself is educated.”
“Anthony Gillies is not my son!”
“There is no need to shout, my laird,” she said calmly as she stared at him, unperturbed by his little outburst. If anything, Sophia was known for her cool head when arguments arose, no matter the size of the person yelling at her.
“I am still the laird and yer employer,” he grunted, but he was slightly calmer. “I will nae have ye comin; in here an’ questionin’ how I raise me son.”
“With all due respect, my laird, you brought me here to help with your son’s education. It is entirely my place to give my opinion if I thought something would benefit your son’s education and, by extension, his relationship with you, his father.”
Dean sighed and raised his hand to touch his forehead, causing his mug of ale to topple over. He quickly stood and righted the mug, placing it neatly beside the plate before retrieving a cloth from the other end of the table and cleaning the mess. He seemed on edge.
Sophia noticed for the first time that everything on the table was neat and tidy, not a single fork or plate was out of place. The table had been laid with expert precision. The queen’s butler could not have done a better job. She noticed for the first time that the laird himself was immaculately clean with not a hair out of place on his head.
Come to think of it, she hadn’t noticed it on the night he’d cleaned her wounds, but he’d been meticulous with the pouches of herbs as well. He’d lined them all up neatly in a row before use and placed them back exactly as they had been once he had been done.
He neatly folded the rag into a square and placed it on a tray. He seemed slightly calmer once the mess was gone.
Sophia also felt her breathing quicken as she watched the way his full lips parted whenever he was deep in thought. He had this way of getting her hot when she was in his presence.
“I never had these accidents before,” she heard him murmur. He seemed to need to have everything in place, in perfect order.
Was he needing the same for his son?
She knew that there were people in the world that needed order to function. There wasn’t a specific name for the condition, but perhaps in a century or two, more light will be shed on it. She was different in the sense that all of her surroundings were often a mess. Her mother had regularly complained to her about this fact.
