Highland Dream (Book 1)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Aislinn woke feeling she like she had slept on a cloud. How she woke, she was not so impressed by. The female shrieking from down the hallway did not endear whomever it was to Aislinn, especially with how little sleep she had gained. Groaning and pulling the covers over her head as she turned onto her other side, she tried to ignore the caterwauling, and fall back into the warm embrace of sleep. However, it soon became apparent that it was not meant to be, and if this female was in such a state was there and emergency and she was needed to help?

Moving slowly and stiffly to the edge of the bed, she realised that even with the softness of the feather mattress the hard ride and nights spent sleeping on the ground had finally caught up with her. Her fall down the crevice had not helped in that instance either. The cold wood beneath her feet, as she swung her feet over the side of the bed, helped clear her head and she managed without too much pain to make it to the door to see what the commotion was about.

Pulling the door inwards slightly so that she could see through the gap, she made out the tall, broad shouldered figure of Camdyn, with his chest bare facing off against a girl just a few years younger than herself. The difference in height was startling, the girl barely reached Camdyn’s chest, but she had a feeling that this was in fact Camdyn’s sister, and if that was the case she did not envy him at all. She did not usually judge people so harshly without meeting them properly and engaging in conversation. But after little sleep, a journey full of pain and little food and the fact this woman had no regard for her brother who had been in practically the same situation had a very negative effect upon Aislinn.

If the girl had not been shouting at pitches soon only dogs would be able to hear, and her face had not flamed a rather putrid puce colour, then she would have been attractive. Maybe that was the problem Aislinn thought, that this girl saw herself as attractive and one of the highest ranking women in the clan, and therefore that gave her the right to receive whatever she wished for, without even thinking of doing anything in return.

Her long blonde hair flowed down her back in disarray flying here and there with the agitated movements she made. From what she had manage to catch from the syllables available to the human ear, she seemed to have flown into this state over a dress. The origins behind this she had no idea, but either something had happened to one or she wanted one. That was the best guess Aislinn could come up with. Though for a woman who had never had a new dress in her life and had to learn to patch up hand me downs at a young age, she could not for the life of her understand why a dress would cause this much distress.

Looking again at Camdyn, and rather pointedly at the expression of boredom upon his face, she got a distinct impression that this was a regular occurrence within the household. So Aislinn had better prepare her ears for more she supposed. She was just about to close the door and head to find her plaid from the last couple of days when Camdyn moved. He turned his head just slightly and caught her gaze in his. The apology was clear to see and if she was not wrong there was a hint of frustration and amusement there too, but at his quick glance behind her understood that if possible he would like her not to be involved with this. She was rather pleased with that, and with no reluctance at all, gave Camdyn a quick nod of understanding and closed the door.