Free Highlander's Promise by Donna Fletcher

civility and I will be sure to let him know upon my return.”
    “See that you do,” Cree ordered, “for it is not civility the King wants from me.”
    Obern wrinkled his nose in distaste and turned his head away slightly. “We need to talk privately.”
    “You speak of civility, yet you would be so rude as not to acknowledge my wife?” Cree snapped.
    Dawn squeezed his arm gently, attempting to calm the anger she felt building in him. She did not care that the little man had not glanced at her once. She cared more about the message he brought from the King.
    “I do not need to meet the peasant woman without a voice,” Obern said dismissively. “And do not think to threaten me, Cree, for I have the King’s guard at my side. My only concern is that the King’s orders are adhered to and I will make certain that is done before I leave here.”
    Dawn let her hand slip off her husband’s arm and she gestured to him, then turned and with a respectful bob of her head to Mathias Obern, she hurried off.
    “A peasant woman with manners, remarkable,” Obern said and walked up the steps past Cree.
    Sloan quickly followed behind Obern, fearful that Cree would snap the man’s skinny neck.
    Cree did not immediately follow the insufferable man. His eyes were on his wife as she hurried through the village. Obern’s slight had not bothered her. She was more concerned for him and that was what she had let him know. That and her playful warning that he better not fall asleep on her tonight.
    In the middle of this dreadful ordeal, his wife found time for humor and he loved her for it. He turned and climbed the keep steps to see this done with Mathias Obern so that when Minnoch arrived he could kill him and be done with it.
    Obern was already ensconced in Cree’s solar while the King’s guards were treated to a feast in the Great Hall.
    Cree’s brow wrinkled when he entered his solar, thinking he may have entered the wrong room. Flanna had done well, making it ready for someone of importance. A table was laid out with the finest linen and an assortment of food was spread out atop it, the bowls and serving dishes placed at various heights to make it more pleasing to the eye. Decanters of fine wine were placed on a separate table along with pitchers of ale. But it was the table set with sweets that Obern seemed to be most interested in, though Cree knew he would not indulge until he made the King’s message clear.
    Obern sat in one of the chairs that had been arranged near the hearth, extending his slim hands out and rubbing warmth into them. “The Highland weather can chill the bones.”
    “The Highlands are for the hardy soul,” Cree said, taking the chair opposite the man.
    “Hardy or not, I have been here long enough and wish to see this done.”
    So Obern had been in the Highlands for a while, which meant the King had sent him to make sure things went as planned. Cree was not surprised since King Alexander did not care for the fact that the Western Isles continued to hold allegiance to Norway. He had attempted negotiations and possible purchase with the King of Norway, but met failure at every turn. With Minnoch pledging his allegiance to King Alexander and friend to King Haakon of Norway, it could very well help turn the tide in the next negotiations.
    “King Alexander sent me to keep watch over your mission and to save it should it turn badly, which I warned the King it would most certainly do. And of course I was right.” Obern’s posture could not get any stiffer or his chin any higher when he asked, “Why in heaven’s name did you steal from Minnoch?”
    Cree leaned toward the man. “Accuse me falsely as Minnoch did and the King will need a new advisor. And the question better asked is why would Minnoch see me, an emissary of the King, beheaded without speaking to the King first?”
    “I have your word you did not steal from Minnoch?”
    “Why would I steal a few gems when I have my own wealth and you well