Page 29 of Treachery in the Highlands
"Why didn't Alyssa take the MacTaggart name?"
Alyssa herself responds."Kieran insisted on using the traditional Scottish way in which the wife keeps her family name."
I shift my weight, trying to find a position on this wooden torture device that won't give me sciatica.Rachel catches my eye from across the room and gives me a sympathetic smile.I return it with a half-hearted smile of my own, hoping my discomfort isn't too obvious.
Back in New York, I had cash in my pocket.Guess that's gone now.Even if I could wish for my money to magically appear, what would I do with it?
Kieran MacTaggart's deep, snarly voice snaps my attention back to the gathering."You have brought peril to my kin, Joseph Finnegan, and I will know what your role is in the dark magics that brought you here."
"Dark magics?You've gotta be shitting me."I gesture at my modern clothes that are slightly battered.They've always been like that, since I could only afford junk I bought at thrift shops.Mobsters aren't known for their magnanimous nature."I don't know jack about supernatural crap."
Kieran's eyes narrow, and I swear I can see the veins in his forehead pulsing."You mock our ways, outlander?"
"No, not intentionally," I backpedal, realizing I've stepped in an invisible pile of manure."I'm just...confused.Where I come from, magic isn't exactly a daily occurrence."
Rachel turns to her father."Athairich, Joey speaks the truth," Rachel says."He's as bewildered by all of this as we are."
I throw her a grateful smile, but Kieran isn't mollified.
He leans forward, his massive frame casting a shadow over me."Bewildered or not, your arrival has set in motion circumstances we do not yet understand.The winds whisper of change, and not all change bodes well."
A chill runs down my spine.I've faced down mob enforcers who were less menacing than Kieran MacTaggart when he glares at me.Still, his attitude doesn't scare me the way he must've hoped it would.
"Look, I understand what you're saying, Mr.MacTaggart," I tell him."You're worried about your family, I get that.But I swear, I'm not here to cause trouble.I just want answers---about how to get home, whether I can ever blend in here, stuff like that."
"You will call me laird, yecacan."
If I plan to go home somehow, I probably shouldn't have let his daughter fuck me.Well, my judgment has never been the best.
Kieran's eyes narrow further, if that's even possible."And how do we know you speak true?How do we know you're not in league with our enemies?The ones we cannot yet identify?"
I can't stop the bitter laugh that spills out of me."Trust me, big guy, I've got enough enemies of my own without adding yours to the mix."
Rachel steps forward, lifting her chin."Father, I believe him.I've spent time with Joey, and I sense no deception in him.I believe his arrival is not a threat.We should worry not about Joey, but about the beings Lachina spoke of."
Kieran's gaze softens slightly as he looks at his daughter, but the suspicion doesn't leave his eyes."Your heart is kind,gràidh, yet sometimes you are too trusting.We cannot afford to be naive when unknown forces might be plotting against us."
I bite my tongue, resisting the urge to point out that trusting me hadn't exactly been Rachel's only motivation for our...interactions.Instead, I tell Kieran, "Look, I get why you don't trust me.I'm a stranger who appeared out of nowhere.But I'm just as lost as you are.If there are dark forces at work here, I have a vested interest in helping to stop them."
Kieran's golden eyes bore into mine."And why would you wish to aid us?What stake do you have in our affairs?"
I meet his gaze steadily."Because whatever brought me here might be my only way back home.And if that's the case, then I need to understand what's going on just as much as you do."
The laird's expression remains stern, but I notice a flicker of something in his eyes that might be curiosity."You speak boldly for one in such a precarious position."
I shrug, trying to appear more nonchalant than I feel."Bold speech is about all I've got going for me right now."
A snort of laughter escapes Rachel before she can stifle it.Her father shoots her a disapproving look, but I catch the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Very well," Kieran says after a moment of contemplation."You may stay, for now.But know this, Joseph Finnegan---I'll be watching you closely.One false move, and you'll wish you'd never set foot in the Highlands."
Even I know better than to push my luck in this situation."Understood, sir.Thank you."
"Only knights are called 'sir' in this time."
Does Kieran have chain mail armor?It wouldn't surprise me since he does have a big sword.
The laird of the castle rises to his full height, towering over me---because I'm sitting down.Even when I stand, I'm a few inches shorter than Kieran.When he strides up to me, where I sit on this horrid chair contraption, he leans over to make sure I get the picture.He's Big Daddy, I'm the flea he can squash under his boot anytime he likes.
