Highland Bear (Book 4)

Chapter 22

AN - It may not end in the place you want a the moment and sorry for the long tie between updates. It was hectic last week. But this is going up now as my mother is sat across from me reminding me I have been in her hours neary 3 days and still have not uploaded. So hear it is. I will try and get another one up as soon as I can! Az xx

Chapter 22

                Artair paced back and forth in front of the sputtering fire. The logs popping and cracking as the flames licked around them. The chill in his bones ached slightly as he warmed in the room, his pacing back and forth helping heat him from the inside out. But in the end it only helped to fuel the fire of his anger at the situation he had been placed in.

                The more time it took for Robert to appear the more inventive his mind became as it tried to come up with a suitable reprimand for Kendrick. His part in this he would remember for the rest of his life, and he would make sure that he was always making up for his actions here.

               

                His chest was puffed and he thought steam should be appearing from him soon. His anger was palpable and he knew if he did not reign it in soon, then he would lash out in a way he may, just may, regret in the future. Right now thought, his knuckles cracked as he tightened his fists at his sides. His surroundings disappeared as his mind churned over and over, it did not stop, could not stop. Thoughts of Robert and Rohesia flew through him and it increased his anger tenfold.

               

                Footsteps made him pause, his head swinging forcefully towards the door and a tiny flare of pain shot through his neck. But the footsteps only gained in volume till they passed by and faded into the bowels of the house he was currently standing. It was always trying on his patience when he was kept waiting for no reason, and at this very moment, he saw no reason for Robert to have been absent from that doorway. Nostrils flaring with his next breath he shook his head and turned back to his pacing once more. If Robert kept him much longer he would make his way out of this room and hunting him down through the house until he managed to corner the little weasel and show him exactly the kind of pain which could make him give up his lairdship if Artair wanted it.

                It was lucky for Robert that all he had to do was break a betrothal. It would be a much less painful experience for him. Not many knew of Artair’s role in the MacKay clan. He had the public face of helping to run the clan, being one of Camdyn’s closest confidents and friends helped in that aspect. But even Aonghus, his own twin, did not know the full extent of Artair’s actions for his clan. He had been trained by the old laird. He had seen a lack from Artair’s own father, he had favoured Aonghus, and the old Laird had leaped into the breach for a young bairn who wished to know what some form of fatherly love was like. Looking back he taught him things that would benefit that clan, but which a bairn should never have been exposed too.

                It did give him a few skills, though, which would mean that he was an asset to the clan, and right now, he could make sure everything went his way…but only if he wished to reveal that part of himself to a Laird of another clan.