Chapter 39

Innis seemed the most natural ally to call upon, so as soon as Alex and I arrived back at Stormway, I hollered at a maid to find her, fetch her, and bring her to the study.

Alex dumped the box on the desk and, with a quick kiss to my temple, left to catch up on work he was now woefully behind on. Waiting for Innis, I thumbed through the old documents, marveling at their existence. It was surreal. As I flipped through page after page of family histories, my astonishment became complete. As Alex has summarized, The Islands, until a century ago, had been a matriarchal society. They passed family names through the mothers. Women ran the estates and territories. There was a smattering of male Lairds, but they were few and far between. The records were annotated with notes clarifying that they had served in an interim role during sickness or until a younger sister came of age.

Innis' quick, sharp steps announced her arrival, and she glided into the study. "I assume this is about the sheep?" She said with a raised brow and a worried expression.

"What sheep?" I asked, confused enough by her announcement that all thoughts of the history before me evaporated in a blink.

"Oh, I thought Calum told you." She sat down and arranged her skirts. "My father is sending a flock to you. Ransom for my return."

"That's convenient, as you just mentioned yesterday Ellesmure had the terrain for it." I meant it as a jest, to coax a wry smile out of her. Innis just shook her head, her eyes hollow.

"Do you want to go back?" I asked, softening my tone.

"No." Her answer was definitive. "I like Stormway. I'd do things differently, of course, but it's better than being dead."

I couldn't help the dark chuckle that punched out of me, faced again with her stark reality. "Was it that bad?"

Innis sighed and bit her bottom lip. "My memory of my father is of a man who was gentle, calm, and quiet. Indulgent to the point of spoiling us kids. Something about the war changed him. He returned bitter, mean, and spiteful. And my brothers..."

As she trailed off, I watched her eyes turned into tempests. A deep frown of disapproval carved her face into a hard-set sneer. "They are younger than me, pulled into this conflict as mere boys. Now they are like ghosts."

It was uncharitable, but I contemplated if not having my family return was better than the lingering effects of the war. Who might my parents and brothers be after years of killing and battle?

"If that's the case, why would your father spare such an expense just to have you returned?" I mused. "I know that's a disgraceful way of thinking, and I hope you do not mind the question."

"I don't," she shook her head. "To make an example of me. The Northern Isles is a loose collection of small islands, all of them interdependent on each other. We are not the only daughters who got a taste for control, Eilean. No doubt he intends to use me as a martyr to quash further resistance from the wives, daughters, and sisters who are hesitant to return to the way things were."

I shook my head, speechless. There were no words to convey the heaviness and dread I felt settle across my shoulders.

"Anyway," Innis said, straightening her posture and smoothing her skirts, eager to move on. "Keep the sheep, and I will teach your people how to herd them. Now I have an occupation, and Ellesmure gets to expand its industry."

"Won't your father want the sheep back?"

"Crags Mist is swimming in the damn things. He either won't notice the loss, financially at least, or you can send him some of that fine wine Lord Leslie keeps us flush in and he'll move on to another scheme."

As if desperate for me to bring it up, the golden latch of the box of records glinted in the sun. "I may have something better," I said with a slow smile. "Something that will both give you work and may improve our circumstances."

Innis followed my glance toward the box. "What's that?"

"I understand you were educated on the mainland, like your cousin?" I asked.

"Of course." Innis asserted as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The lifetime of shame I carried around my ignorance hardly twinged in response. That weight had lessened as I became more confident in my abilities.

"My education was not so formal. Indeed, it was hardly an education at all. Everything I know I learned from doing it, and only very recently."

I tried to ignore the click of understanding that lit her eyes and made her mouth open slightly in surprise. As the explanation of her frequently veiled condescension at my lack of formality or process sliding into place.

"What do you know about the history of the Islands?" I asked.

Innis tilted her head, pondering the question. "The basics. What everyone knows. Clans from the Mainland broke away and sailed across the sea in search of new territory. They settled on individual islands and created a nation-state by connecting their interests together."

The basics indeed. "Was there ever any official record-keeping? How robust are the historical documents?"

"Light. Since the Federation maintains individual Island independence over the collective, individual families are tasked with maintaining knowledge relevant to their own lands. I don't know of any effort to house it in one place."

Convenient enough of an excuse for anyone hoping to change the Charter and erase history over time. Stormway boasted a large, dusty library full of records, but I had seldom found an excuse to go there. When everything is passed down orally, it's easy to forget the history you're sitting on.

"This," I gestured to the box, "I believe is some such collection. Inside are records from across all the Islands until about one hundred years ago."

"That's interesting," Innis said blandly, suggesting she did not find it interesting in the slightest.

"The people who broke away from the Mainland and sailed across the sea were women. The people who founded the Islands and raised castles and established the Federation were women."

Innis gripped the arms of the chair, pushing herself back. It looked like a concerted effort to stop herself from springing forward and rifling through the box that instant. She was interested now.

"Until a century ago, every Island was ruled by women."

"That's impossible." She breathed, eyes dancing. A genuine smile played on her lips, breaking through the frosty exterior she wore so well.

"Look for yourself," I offered with a wave toward the box.

Like a shot, she exploded out of the chair and pulled up a handful of documents. She flicked through them with determination, her smile growing wider with each flip of a page.

"This is..." she shook her head. "I don't even know what to call it. But this is..."

"Life-changing?" I suggested.

She laughed the sound light and trilling. It was a laugh that suited her sugary costumes and powdered hair. I had never heard it, and it warmed me to know I had done something, at last, to please her.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" She asked, understanding my need for her.

"Copy it. Use some of Angus' messengers as scribes to help you. We should have a record of our world. Can you start a library of records from across all the Islands? We can house them here, at Stormway."

The idea sprang to me unexpectedly. As the largest island, with the most space, placed between the Islands to the west and the Mainland to the east, Ellesmure was the ideal location for a... capitol. I gasped at the word, stunned by its impertinence. Thankfully, Innis spoke before I could travel down that path too far. Hadn't the same delusions of greatness led my father to his death?

"I can do it," Innis said with a resolute nod.

"Great," I beamed. "Our first priority is to ensure records are available for review by the time the delegation on the Charter resumes in the spring. It's a tight deadline."

"But not impossible. Does Calum know about this?" She asked.

"The priest scrounged it up and gave it to Alex this morning. I doubt anyone but the four of us know of its existence."

Innis considered this, chewing again on her bottom lip. "Our best chance is to catch them by surprise. We limit access to this information, for now. Then, when Calum returns to the delegations, he can stun everyone with the discovery."

I chuckled, rejoicing in the demand for theatrics all Northerners possessed. Nevertheless, I liked the plan and agreed.

"We might become friends, after all, Innis." I teased.

"Oh, I like you well enough," Innis placated with a sardonic smile, "but don't push your luck." She fell back into the chair in a fit of radiant laughter.