Highland Strength (Book 3)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The need to scream was intense. Building up inside him until he had to move. His skin was crawling with the need to feel the fresh cool air. The damp felt as if it was coating his very being, it was uncomfortable, and he had only spent one night and half a day in this crumbling monstrocity that they called a Keep. Sitting in an uncomfortable, and he was sure rotting, wooden chair, in a main hall that had grown mould over the winter months. Very sure the building itself would not last another winter, he wanted to breathe fresh air. The heavy air in the Keep almost felt as if it was suffocating him. He needed to breathe.

The talks they had started were going nowhere. The list of issues they had been called in to deal with were growing by the minute. Aonghus was starting to feel as if they had stored all of the problems they were facing, and decided that he could deal with them all. Did this new Laird not do anything in the time they had been gone? Gusting out a breath, he leant back in the chair, and had to steady himself a moment as the chair threathened to give way under his weight.

With a harsh glance at the male before him, he took a moment to take a deep breath before he said anything that he would regret and spoil any chance of an alliance. From the look he shot Iain, the male was thinking exactly the same as he. Calmly releasing the air trapped in his lungs through his nose, he looked upon the new Laird. In a measured voice, which those that knew him would allow them to take enough steps backwards to mean he would miss when he swung out on them. “Robert.” He waited for the insufferable male to stop talking and look at him with shock that he would interrupt him. “We are not here to deal with matters that you as Laird should be dealing with, the small issues you have put forward so far we can help give advice upon. But you are the only one who can make those choices. If you do not want to, then I would suggest you find another to be Laird. I mean no offence by these words, but we are here to deal with the major issues. The ones that have occurred because Grant has run this clan into the ground.”

He paused, letting his calm words sink into the male before him. When it looked as if he was grasping the words he had heard, and had begun to take insult to them Aonghus started again. Not giving him time to retaliate verbally in a way that could make Aonghus take offence. His voice lowered in pitch once more, as the male before him stuttered, and Iain just sat back slightly, folded his arms across the broad expanse of his chest and looked smug and expectant for a show that he wished to see. “Robby, I would suggest you do not say anything if you wish for our help.” Raising an eyebrow, he waited for the posturing to stop before he continued. He may not want to look like he was backing down in front of his advisors, but Aonghus seemed to say exactly the right thing to deflate the male before him. They needed help, and Aonghus could take away whatever vital information they needed. It was a start.

“Now, Robert. Would you care to tell us the issues that are major enough for us to actually deal with?” He knew he had the upper hand here, and so did Robert. Iain was trying not to look too amused at the inexperienced Laird’s fumbling, as he leaned over to whisper in the ear of his nearest advisor, a razor thin male, with sharp angular features. He looked more like a bird of prey in human form than a highlander. Aonghus had to wonder if he was born into the clan of it he had been absorbed by them at some point since them. He had not heard him speak yet, and that would be the most telling sign.