Page 40 of My Scarred Laird
By the time she was finished, Callum had put together a plan with his men.
Islay watched as every single man did exactly as he was told and when Egan came down the stairs, he was holding almost an entire novel of pages.
“I found these in Angus’s rooms. They were hidden underneath a stone by his bookcase.”
Callum walked over to him, and Islay went to his side, watching as Callum read through some of the correspondence that Angus had written. But as Callum read, his brows drew together and she watched as he cursed, and she saw why. She read a few lines and it made her angry. All of it was merely jumbled words. They made no sense and she didn’t understand them.
All she knew was that this man had been in Callum’s trusted circle and was trying to get Callum killed.
She went still, thinking of the note she had received and wondered if there was someone in the keep helping Angus, aside from his wife and daughter.
She didn’t want to think it, but with the evidence staring her in the face, she needed to keep her eyes open and her ears listening for any scrap of information she could give to Callum.
She was pledging her loyalty to him here and now. He was her Laird as much as he was everything else to her.
She loved him. And she would keep him safe from anyone who wished to harm the gentle man in front of her.
CHAPTER5
CALLUM
Finding out about Angus’s betrayal was something else.
He hated knowing that one of his closest advisors was conspiring against him for a long time chafed at him.
He could only imagine what Culloden would do if he knew.
Culloden wasn’t exactly known for being diplomatic.
He couldn’t be trusted to ask prisoners anything because he was quick to draw his sword, not hearing what the person was trying to tell him.
Egan told Callum that more than once he had had to stop Culloden from killing a few prisoners for pissing him off.
Callum appreciated Culloden’s bloodthirsty ways, but there came a time for it, and Callum was a tiny bit grateful that Culloden wasn’t here.
If he were, Culloden would hunt Angus down, slaughter him without remorse and then kick himself for not finding out the information he needed.
Callum sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, grateful that Islay had given him the medicants she had, or he would be fighting with a headache right now.
He read through each paper, noting that each letter was written in jumbled words. None of the sentences matched up and they made no sense whatsoever. But he did notice that the letters had only started after Callum signed the betrothal contract to Daracha.
He knew then that Talitha must have thrown a fit, and Angus could do nothing but listen to his daughter.
It still made no sense to Callum as to why Talitha longed to be the lady of his keep. With him as Laird or without. He couldn’t understand it.
Talitha knew nothing about running a keep. She wasn’t trained for such things as she wasn’t high enough as a noble’s daughter to be anything but a courtier in someone else’s keep.
She was beautiful to be certain, but that meant nothing. Callum had seen beautiful women all over Scotland.
Just being beautiful didn’t mean you had anything more to you than your looks.
Most Lairds chose daughters of the people they were allied with. Which is what happened in his case, but some didn’t care who the women were.
So, maybe Talitha had a chance then, but he hadn’t had his allies come to his keep, simply because they chose not to, so she wouldn’t have had the chance to meet any of the other Lairds.
The only way she would be noticed is because of her father.
But knowing that she only wanted to be the lady of Leydford Castle was something else.
