Amanda Scott Read Online Free

took on summat well beyond your ability, and grave harm may come of it.”
    “I meant tae help! So long as she stayed ward tae Donald the Grim, nowt could happen tae do her good. Ye ken that as well
     as I do!”
    She shook her head. “What’s come over ye, lad? Ye were always one tae make mischief now and again, but never were ye so feckless
     afore this. Is it another woman? Ye never think well when there’s a woman in it.”
    He hesitated, but her powers were far greater than his and he could imagine no way to avoid telling her the truth. “Aye,”
     he said softly, “but Catriona’s no just any woman, Mam. She’s a wee goddess.”
    “Ah, bah,” retorted his mother. She moved nearer, adding grimly, “I thought as much, though. I’ll warrant the whole thing
     were her doing.”
    “Nay, then, it were not,” Claud protested. “It were my doing, Mam, all of it.” He did not think it wise to admit that he had
     wanted to see if he could do the thing, to see if his abilities were great enough to influence even the High King of Scots.
     He would not let her spoil the amazing success he had achieved, either, certainly not by suggesting that anyone else had had
     the smallest hand in it.
    That Catriona might have put the notion into his head in the first place he would never admit to himself, let alone to his
     mother.
    “Aye, sure, I’ve nae doubt that ye believe that, laddie,” Maggie Malloch said with a sigh. Then her voice grew stern again
     when she said, “But ye’ve nae business tae be meddling in the King’s affairs, let alone causing him tae do what he might verra
     well no ha’ wanted tae do. Ye mustna do such a thing ever again, for I’ve given my word tae the Circle that ye’ll not.”
    “I’ll thank ye, then, for standing by me, Mam.”
    “Ye’re my son, Claud, but I’ll no ha’ ye shaming our good name.”
    Her bosom swelled with her lingering anger, and that anger gave her greater size, so that she loomed over him. Hastily, he
     scrambled to his feet, hoping thereby to ease the fear she stirred in him at such times. “Even them in the Circle canna see
     the future, Mam,” he said, striving to sound brave and hearing only desperation in his voice. Blustering on, he added, “I
     warrant it’ll all work out for the best. Ye’ll see. And them in the Circle will, too.”
    “Ye’d best hope that we do, lad, for the chief himself said that ye’re tae ha’ but one more chance. If ye overstep again,
     they mean tae cast ye out, and ye ken fine what will become o’ ye then.”
    Cold terror shot up his spine, making it nearly impossible to speak. He tried, but he could manage no more than a whispered,
     “Aye, I do.”
    “Ye’re frightened, and so ye should be,” she said. “But when ye poke your fingers into a stew o’ King Jamie’s brewing, ye
     mustna weep when ye get burnt.”
    He was silent for a long moment, striving to calm himself so he could make her understand that he had done the right thing.
     However, when he realized that he could not trust his voice, he moved to pass her, to get away.
    “Where be ye going?”
    “Out,” he muttered.
    “Where? Ye’ll no be goin’ tae that wretched lass the noo.”
    “Nay, there’s a
ceilidh
,” he blurted. “I like tae hear the stories.”
    Pushing past her, he left, feeling her angry gaze upon him like a sharp sword against his back.
    Her voice, low-pitched and grim, followed him.
    “Remember, Claud—kings, like dragons and clan chiefs, breathe fire when ye poke at them.”

Chapter 2
    F ires roared at both ends of the great hall at Dunakin Castle, but the reception of six unexpected late visitors was chilly
     at best. The Laird of Mackinnon sat in his armchair on a slightly raised dais at the end opposite the main entrance, his lady
     at his right in a chair almost as elaborately carved as his. To his left sat his two burly sons on armless chairs. The chair
     at her ladyship’s right was unoccupied.
    When Fin and his men