Her gaze was drawn to a hawk, wheeling in the blue sky far above her. Tears threatened to fall, and she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the scent of pine and heather. Not knowing what his mission was or where he had to go was crushing. She shook with fear, thinking that he hadn’t survived the things he was being forced to do. He was the first man she’d offered her heart to, and he’d be the last. To forget him was to forsake hope, to surrender all belief in tomorrow, to accept that she was to be deprived of love for the rest of her life. His departing words put a painful end to all of their dreams.
She loved him and believed he loved her, too, regardless of what he’d said after. Maisie would never forget their last day together in his rooms at Milne’s Court. More than four months had passed since she’d last seen him. Sadness, like a fist, squeezed her heart. Maisie Murray leaned over the edge of the stone parapet of the ancient tower and stared to the south and the range of mountains in the distance and thought of her life as it was now, and the man she’d left behind in Edinburgh. A fortress to protect Cinaed Mackintosh, the man called the “son of Scotland.” Ever since human feet trod this stony soil, it had been a track that no enemy would dare attempt, for no army had blood enough to spill on the rugged hillsides of the Highlands.ĭalmigavie Castle, the perfect place to keep the dream of Scotland alive. And to the north, a single path led from the sea, half a day distant. Beyond the forests to the west, endless hills and valleys, impassable rivers, and the great loch that cut the Highlands in two, keeping the enemy at bay.
To the south and east, the majestic mountains of the Scottish Highlands rose like an unbroken line of ancient warriors, standing eternal guard. Built by a warrior clan, its thick grey walls and high towers had struck fear into the hearts of the fiercest enemies for half a millennium. Above the flowing waters, an impregnable stone fortress sat high on a rocky brae.ĭalmigavie Castle. Below, a glistening stream snaked through steep-sided glens, protected by thick stands of tall pine. Far above jagged crags and worn peaks, a hawk soared free, floating on the breeze beneath the pale azure sky.
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