Free The Magic of Highland Dragons by Kella McKinnon Page A

way… unless she had agreed to the scheme. Colm had said she was doing the work, once she knew how, but she wasn’t used to it, she wasn’t born to it. She was a beauty, made for a man’s hands, made for a man’s pleasure. She was meant to be protected and cosseted, meant to bear the sons of a powerful laird. What a shame it would be for her hands to grow rough and calloused, the fiery spirit that he felt in her to fade under the drudgery of hard physical labor. He couldn’t let it happen. What had he been thinking, assigning her to the kitchens? If he had been thinking straight, he would have assigned her to be his own chamber maid, where he could keep her close at hand. Where she would be obliged to help him bathe and dress, and undress… He stood up abruptly and left the study, walking across the hall and out of the keep with long, purposeful strides. He nearly ran into his brother Eian. Again.
    “Whoa! Where are ye off to at such a pace? Is there a fire in the keep?”
    Bren crossed his arms and gave him a narrow look that said he was not amused. “I’m going to see the sorcerer, if ye must ken, and ye always must. I suspect he’s holding back some rather important facts from my attention. I canna wait until I get my hands on that old meddling…”
    Eian cut him off. “Ye willna find him, Bren, he’s gone.”
    Bren stopped short. Of course he’s gone, the sly old fox! He sighed irritably. “What do ye mean he’s gone?”
    “I mean he left Creagmor. This morning. Went to visit a sick cousin or some such. He willna be back for a week at least, or so he said.” He took in the menacing scowl forming on his brother’s face. “Jesu, Bren, what did he do? Did he try to slip ye one of his love potions again? Ye ken they dinna work anyway. I ken that for a fact, because I’ve given one to nearly every maid in the castle. None of them…”
    Bren grabbed Eian’s arm and dragged him back into the study, slamming the door shut with a resounding thud.
    “He left me with a damned lady under my protection, that’s what, for she is nay servant! Does the man think I am daft? Did he think I wouldna figure it out?”
    Eian was looking at his brother as if he was wondering the same thing himself. “What?”
    “Faith. His ward. Or the lass that he claims is his ward, at least. She’s no’ a common servant as he wanted me to believe. She’s higher born than that, and that old sorcerer is up to something even greater than I first suspected him of. How on earth did he procure a lady for his latest plot?” He growled in irritation. “One just doesna walk away with one, ye ken! They are generally well guarded. He kenned I would figure it out and ask questions, so he left! The coward! Now I have a lady in the castle that I’m sworn to protect, and I dinna even ken the first thing about her, or even if her family is on the way to lay siege to the castle! She doesna even ken how to be a kitchen maid, Eian! That’s how I figured it out. And she’s to give her oath tomorrow. What sort of strife might that cause, should her kin come looking to take her back?”
    Eian only shrugged, well used to his brother’s occasional, sometimes even incredibly violent, outbursts, but this time he was really rambling. “Hell, Bren, ye only have to spend a little time with her, talk to her as if ye dinna ken anything is wrong. Even if she’s sworn to secrecy, she’s bound to slip up now and again. Ye should be able figure it out by what she says, or doesna say. And spending time with such a bonny lass is surely nay hardship.” He paused, and his mouth widened into a grin. “Or do ye want me to do it? I’m rather good with the lasses, and the ladies too.” He made a crude gesture, and Bren cuffed his brother in the ear, though not as hard as he would have liked to. Somehow, such crudity did not seem to belong anywhere near Faith.
    “Ye stay away from her Eian, on my orders. I ken what trouble ye can stir up. It’s only because