Page 76 of Highlander’s Haunted Past

Kenna snorted. “A bit far-fetched. Where did they even come up with the idea?”

“Well, ‘tis likely because we look so similar. What, have ye never noticed?”

Kenna found herself eyeing Ellen up and down as if for the first time. She had always found Ellen to be a beauty, such a beauty that Kenna had never really allowed herself to notice how similar they were, sharing some major features, such as dark, curly hair, nearly identical builds, and fair complexions. It was only in the details, like Ellen’s amber eyes to Kenna’s blue, or Ellen’s crystal clear complexion to Kenna’s freckled one, that differences really revealed themselves.

“Ye never ken.” Kenna laughed, shaking her head at the revelation. “We could be long lost sisters.”

Ellen gave a soft laugh, the kind that Kenna immediately recognized as false, as she continued to lead them down the trail.

“Just over there is a dock that ye can walk out onto. It gives ye the perfect view of the riverbanks. Completely unobstructed,” Ellen said.

Kenna followed Ellen down the dirt path as it twisted away from the castle to follow the river instead and, sure enough, a dock appeared up ahead, tucked up against the line of trees. Ellen let Kenna walk out first, though it was wide enough for them both, so she could take a moment to survey the sight on her own.

If it had been summer, when everything was bright and green, this would have been one of the best sights at Dounie. But now that it was winter and the sky was gray over the dark water, Kenna couldn’t help but feel that it was just desolate and melancholy.

“I used to come out here all the time when I first got to Dounie. Actually, Hugh and I had our very first kiss here.”

“Really?” Kenna asked, suddenly fascinated. “Tell me more.”

Ellen sat down on the dock and patted the space beside her, where Kenna settled herself as Ellen started to spin the tale.

“Well, I had been here fer a few months, and I finally worked up the courage to ask Rob to come walk down here with me. I thought we could talk in private, maybe get to know one another, but he never showed up. I found out that he had gone off riding instead. So, I walked down here by myself and started to cry. ‘Tis a lonely place, isn’t it? It matched how I felt so perfectly. I told Hugh so when he found me here. But then he promised me that I would never be alone again, not so long as he stood on this Earth. And, well, that was all it took fer me to fall.”

Kenna shifted, not knowing what to say. It was not really a particularly good story, nor did it sound like the Rob she knew. But Ellen had come to the castle and experienced him in a way that Kenna never would. For that, she should probably be grateful.

“I was just thinking how this place seemed to feel a bit sad,” Kenna said, reverting the subject back to a place where she was comfortable.

“Maybe we are secret sisters,” Ellen said, slipping her arm through Kenna’s as if they were the best of friends. Perhaps, in Ellen’s mind, they were. “Though, of course, ye grew up in a big castle, and I grew up on a farm.”

Kenna rolled her eyes. Ellen had used this argument a time or two against Florence, and each time Kenna had found it to be a particularly odd stance to take.

“Why do ye feel the need to bring that up?”

“Because it made me who I am, and it made ye who you are.”

“I am more than my father’s coin purse.”

“Are ye? Ye see, when I was growing up, I understood that I would be marrying into a world that was far different than my own. So I worked hard. I became the best at everything—sewing, posture, etiquette, and more. My father paid for the best tutors to teach me languages and letters. I thought that if I could accomplish all that, my upbringing would no longer matter. I would eclipse it with success.

“But ye—ye grew up knowing that, regardless of how ye behaved, ye would be able to live in a castle without anyone questioning yer authority to be there. Life was never threatening to ye. So, while I had to work hard to be accepted because of my lack of a name, ye were allowed to never work fer anything because ye already had the name that guaranteed yer future. Ye were allowed to be mediocre.”

Had this been the reason Ellen invited her out here? To demean her with words that she would never be able to take back? Kenna tried to pull her arm away, but Ellen’s grip was tight and unyielding.

“Look at ye,” Kenna said. “Ye are even proving that ye are the best at holding people against their will. Well done, point taken, now may ye let me go?”

“Ye ken, when I got pregnant, I was furious with myself. All my life, I had been preparing to be the Lady of Lovat, and I had just thrown that away fer the sake of a few hours of pleasure with a man. Aye, I love Hugh, but he had never been the plan. The title—that had been the plan. To rise above my station to a post that demanded respect—that had been the plan. Hugh knew how upset I was about it all, so the clever man came to me with what he called the new plan. A plan that would take a bit longer, but that would allow me to both have the man I loved and the title I wished fer. Fer, ye see, Hugh reminded me that one day Rob would die.”

Kenna stiffened at her words, at the thin threat that was now rising between them.

“When Rob dies, Hugh is next in line. He inherits the title of Laird, and I the title of Lady. Sure, I would have achieved it faster by marrying Rob, but it will eventually be mine if I am just patient fer it. The plan would work so long as one thing remained true: Rob retained his position as a bachelor.”

“Well, the Queen of Scotland intervened on that point, I am afraid. Maybe ye could call her here and have her sit out here with ye.”

“Would ye just shut up, fer once.” Ellen hissed. “This is what I am talking about. What proper lady, a lady from a fine clan in regards to both marriage and birth, speaks the way ye do? I’ll admit, when Hugh first arrived in Aberdeen and came to me to tell me the news of ye being married into the family, I was nervous. Hugh swore to me that he would kill ye. He had tried once and failed but was sure he would succeed in due time. I was all fer that plan, until, of course, I met ye. I saw ye then fer what ye are: a lesser version of me. And if I had already been rejected by Rob, then yer rejection was imminent.

“Hugh confirmed my suspicions about yer relationship, saying that every night he listened outside of yer tent and never so much as heard a pleasant conversation, let alone a consummation. So, I thought the matter was over and done with. I told Hugh to stop any attempts, to just focus on maintaining the wedge between ye. So long as ye never bore any children, the plan would still work. Ye would be cast aside as soon as Rob died, relegated to some room in the castle where the old and forgotten things belong.”

“Delightful, really,” Kenna said. “So, let me deduce—when ye found out that Rob is not, in fact, a woman hater, just a ye hater, ye put a snake in my room?”