“It is Janet. You may know of me?” Janet held her breath. First, she feared that Iona would see through the plot, but underlying was the fear that Ewan had never mentioned his betrothed to his mistress.
“I know of you,” came the stoic reply.
“Then you know that I cannot let you have my betrothed,” Janet said, allowing her true feelings out enough to convince Iona that the intentions were for their mutual benefit.
“Yes, I know this well. And I do not blame you for feeling so utterly betrayed,” Iona said with a sigh audible through the wooden planks of the door. Her own frustrations with Ewan remained on high alert.
“I suggest we help each other. I haven't much time, but I will return tomorrow with the key. I will make sure that Ewan is asleep, and I will release you. You will have to go quickly, but I will have a horse placed outside the servant’s quarters. I can assist you in the route to escape. Will you accept my help?” Janet asked.
Iona paused. Her heart longed for Ewan, but her anger burned against him, and she was desperate to return home to her brother and clan.
“Yes. I accept your help,” she finally replied.
Janet released a sigh of relief.
“I will be here tomorrow in the evening. Please, do not tell Ewan when he comes to you and if you wish to change your mind, think of the anguish your brother is most assuredly feeling. Ewan has made very little effort to support your release; he is merely delaying his advisors. If you do not go when I release you tomorrow, you are likely to live and die in that room,” she threatened. The manipulation worked just as she had hoped.
“I know it is so,” Iona replied. “I will be ready. When shall I expect you?”
“I will have to wait until the guard leaves to do his business. I will come to you quickly when it happens as I did this evening. I must depart, but you will see me tomorrow, late,” she answered.
The sound of the footsteps of the guard was heard, and Janet rushed quietly back down the stairs.
“My Laird?” she heard from the guard as she disappeared. He must have heard the hushed tones of voices and assumed Ewan had returned. Janet knew she must be away before the guard came searching for the source of the voices.
Soon, she was gone. Back in her chambers, her beautiful, yet aged, mother snored loudly. Janet looked at her with slight malice. She was grateful for her mother, for the lessons she taught her in how to get her will, but she remained embittered by the earlier comments. Janet was better than that, better than her mother. She would not so easily lose a husband to another woman, she would hold to what was hers and never let go. Tomorrow night, she would indeed prove her strength, and her mother would never have the audacity to question her so again. Tomorrow night would change everything.
Chapter Eight
Iona woke in the morning to the sound of birds outside the high window and the morning haze shining through, brightening the room. She felt a chill and wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders. Her copper hair cascaded in waves around her figure sitting on the bed.
After a time, she reached for one of the books stacked beside her. She recalled that it had been her mother’s favorite, or so Wallace had told her when she was older. Her parents had passed when she was far too young to remember them.
Iona considered that she and Ewan were both orphans. He, orphaned as a result of her own family, perhaps even her own father who had been at the age of those who led the attack. And Iona herself, orphaned as a result of the Inbred Fever that had consumed so many by swallowing whole their lungs and rotting their ability to breathe.
Their mutual loss and their position as clan rivals left a harsh mark of sadness over the affection for which they felt for one another. Yet in the midst of residual pain, lack of familial connections, and the anger of her imprisonment, her heart did yearn for his bond.
Iona flipped her fingers through the pages of the book she held. She recalled a passage her mother had particularly loved but as she searched for it, she was unable to find it. She knew it was something along the lines of the difficulty in love and being true to one another when decisions were made against you.
She became frustrated at not finding it; it was so perfect for the moment she was dwelling in. Her father and mother had both loved literature, and it was said that they loved each other a great deal and much of their love could be compared to what Iona read in those books.
She flipped nonchalantly, knowing she would not discover the passage, but content to have something for her hands to do. Her eyes gazed at the black ink on the uneven sheets of paper. It was not worth her time.
She set the book down and grabbed the next, trying to read but distracted still. Her days were agonizingly boring despite the reading materials. She was frustrated by the way the birds would silence after sunrise and then quiet would descend on her for the rest of the day.
But that evening would change all of that.
That evening, Iona would be free. She would be out of this room and would be enabled to return to her home, to be with her brother and her clan once more. She imagined hugging her brother and feasting with those she loved and who loved her. The knowledge of its imminence was a joy she had not felt in the time of her captivity, a joy she thought she might never feel again.
To choose escape and freedom meant to lose love. Would she ever love again? Would she ever find another such as Ewan? And how might she explain to her brother that the affection had grown on both accounts? He would never understand such a strange thing.
If Ewan released her, if he reconciled with Clan Cameron and taught peace with Wallace, Iona knew her brother’s heart might indeed soften. Fierce and bold and stubborn, he was, but he could scarcely resist an apology. It would take time, but she knew him and she knew that he would grow to be friends with Ewan.
But that could not happen if Ewan did not initiate. And if Ewan did not release Iona, the reconciliation would never begin. It was a messy state of affairs and one that left her pained and distraught. Her heart yearned to tell Ewan that if he did not release her she would eventually find her way out. It would be foolish to tell him, he would only increase her guards and security, but that would also prove that his love was selfish and untrue.
The tangled thoughts continued in this spiral, and Iona felt mad with the constant pendulum swinging from hope to despair and back again. It was indeed foolish to hope, yet despair was far too final.
She would await Ewan and hope once more for his mercy in her captivity.
***
Early in the evening, far earlier than his normal visits, Ewan knocked on Iona’s door and asked her permission to enter. When she shyly granted, he knew something was different.
The guard paid them no attention as he had grown accustomed to the visits for the sake of his own life more than the sake of their privacy.
The door creaked open, and Ewan saw Iona standing with the light still in the room. He had scarcely seen her during the day and was mystified by how much more beautiful she was with the full light hitting her.
When he looked at her face, tears glistened in her eyes and for a moment, he felt that reconciliation was within his grasp. It was the sad anguish on Iona’s face that led him to believe that perhaps there was further pain beneath the sadness she was showing, that perhaps she was still hurting, perhaps she would not forgive him so yet.
“Iona, my love, what is it?” he asked, rushing to her side and pulling her into him. She wept on his shoulder, overcome with emotion. His strong and brave love was hurting, and he did not know the solution.
Iona was unable to answer him. The weight of her sadness pulled him down, and they sat together on the edge of the bed as she continued to cry. Ewan feared greatly that what he had done in bringing her here was something she might never forgive him for, that he was the cause of such desperation.
“Please, my love, please, calm yourself. I hate to see you hurting like this. I know I have wronged you, I know all is not well, but I cannae bear to see
you in this pain. Please be calm, tell me what it is that plagues you so,” he begged over the sound of her whimpers.
Finally, her sobbing settled. With her body calming, Iona was able to breathe and, Ewan hoped, to speak.
“What is it, my love?” he asked again. His hand smoothed her mane, and he did not release her from his grasp as her tears went through the white cotton of his shirt.
“Only that I should never wish to be without you. I miss home more than I could ever express to you, more than you could know or understand. And yet, without you, I should feel my heart was ripped into two pieces,” she whimpered. She began to cry once more, though less violently this time.
Ewan had not seen this weak and vulnerable side of Iona. It was not just that her strength was missing, it was that a part of her very nature had been put to rest and only the fragile child that she had been called to remained.
He noticed that even in her state of weeping, she was still as beautiful as ever. Her eyes glistened but remained wide and vibrant green. He felt captivated by her all the more, and it held him locked in place with her.
He held her and would not let go. After a time, her tears had fully subsided, and Iona began to show her affection once again, brushing her hand up and down Ewan’s arm. Her words still did not come in their fullness, but Iona was unafraid to be with him once again.
In Iona’s mind, she knew that this would be their last time together. She knew well that Ewan was right about her brother, that he would never let her return to him. She knew that upon returning to Clan Cameron, her life may look just as it did in Clan Chattan, stuck in a room where none could reach her, and she was unable to be free. Nevertheless, her chance of freedom was an undeniable temptation that she could not consider refusing.
“Am I forgiven, then?” asked Ewan with a gentle and apologetic smile.
“You are forgiven, my love. For our fight. I do not know that I will ever forgive you for keeping me here unless you set me free,” she replied. She hoped that maybe this last time, maybe finally, he would let her go. She wished to give him at least this final chance before taking her leave and escaping from him. If he answered well, they could have a future, if he answered with a negative, she had no choice but to run away when Janet came for her that night.
“Soon it will be so, my love. Soon,” he said, completely ignorant of the fact that this was just another delay and one that determined his future with Iona to be no more than a mist on a battlefield.
Iona began to weep once more, and Ewan held her into his chest where she wet his white shirt with her tears again.
Chapter Nine
The counsel of Clan Cameron was gathered and ready when Wallace entered the counsel room that evening. His pained face had regained the fierce sense of determination that he had held so stoically before.
“I have decided we can wait no longer. My sister must be avenged. We go tomorrow evening to Clan Chattan. We go and we do not return until that monster, Ewan, is dead, and my sister is with me. We will rally at dusk and walk in the dark. We will remain in the woods until midnight. I am sending four ahead today to keep watch, to gather information. They will guide us in our attack,” he declared.
Wallace was met with shouts of approval from his men who had been holding their blood thirst at bay. They remained silent on the issue of his sister, but were thrilled at the opportunity to finally attack the enemy as their ancestors had done. Ewan Macintosh had brought this massacre upon himself.
“Have you a way into the tower, sir?” asked Daniel. The way would be treacherous as they were unfamiliar with the layout of the castle. None from Clan Cameron had gone to the region since the massacre all those years ago.
“Indeed, the spies know the tower well and will help us to gain entrance. This will all take place tomorrow after dark, as I said. We will be under their cover. They are even going to get us the tartan of Chattan to mark us as them. We will go in formation, none will know we are there until the slaughter begins,” Wallace said. In his mind, it had all been mapped out and he knew he would have to instruct the others once they arrived near Clan Chattan so they remained at their best defense.
“And your sister will be safe? During the attack, I mean,” asked Alistair.
“I will go for her. It will be the duty of the armed men to ensure that we are both protected as I rescue her from her imprisonment. Do you have any objections to this?” he asked.
“No, my Laird. This is a fine plan, and you know that we will protect you both with utter devotion, even to the end,” Alistair replied with approval. Suddenly, a few of the men began to perk up with hope of the possibility. Others merely continued in their excitement for the fight.
“Then we are all agreed. Tomorrow we go,” Wallace said with a finality.
The men raised their fists in the air with a coordinated chant and then each took a swig of the whiskey that sat before them. Before long, the men were all drunk on whiskey and anticipation of the thrill that the next evening would bring.
***
Janet ascended the stairs once again, knowing that her betrothed would soon be hers once more. The pitcher of water was held tightly in her steady and confident hand, and the cup was already full.
“For you,” she said to the guard, when he looked up at her approaching form.
By now, his suspicions had been greatly aroused, but he felt certain that the reason for her friendliness was Janet’s interest in him as a man. She had come so many times, always ensuring that Ewan had already left. There was little doubt in his mind that her plan was to seduce him.
There was certainly temptation, but he was a better man than that. He did not want any willing woman, he desired a good woman, and he knew that Janet was prone to games and that manipulation was a key for her. This sudden, small doubt was enough to keep him in good decisions. The benefit of being in service was the ability to know the nature and character of those living within the castle walls.
He accepted the water, but felt a rapidly growing sense of unease, wondering whether Janet would go so far as to poison a man to get what she wanted. Through these thoughts, his belief in her attraction to him had faded completely and only the suspicion remained and the certainty that this was a scheme of Janet’s dark mind. All of the temptation was vanquished.
In that moment of clarity, he realized he had been foolish only moments before, believing that perhaps this beauty, this woman of wealth and means, could have an interest in him as anything more than a part of her many schemes and plots.
What he had not seen in the midst of his thought was Janet’s hand subtly slipping past him and grasping the key.
***
“And have you moved forward with your plan?” came a quiet voice beneath the stairs as Janet descended. She froze for a moment before a smirk grew on her face with recognition.
“Indeed, I have. And are you still expecting me to leave my betrothed for you once I have had my fill of his plaything’s bloodshed?” she patronized as she slid into the dark with Aiden.
“I know it will be so. I know you will come to me in the end,” he told her.
“Yes, yes perhaps I will. You do have a strength that our leader seems to be sorely lacking in terms of dignity, devotion to the clan, and…desirability,” she said, tantalizing Aiden even further. In the dark, she saw the desperate glint of his eyes.
Aiden wrapped his hands around her hips, and she allowed him to do so, even bringing her body closer in to his. He took this as a sign of confirmation that she was falling in love with him as he had for her.
“Perhaps you do desire me as I do you,” he whispered against her neck.
“And yet I am still betrothed. You know that I cannot leave a man so easily as a man might leave me. If I should decide to quit my betrothed, it will be after I crush him, and it will be you who must go to him. Otherwise, I shall be in disgrace,” she reasoned.
“We could flee together. None need know what has happened to us if we run away with one another.
You know that he is for her and not you so why would you care any longer? Come away with me,” Aiden urged, his fingers gripping her waist even more tightly with want.
“Aiden, my dear. Let us plot only one thing at a time. It is not easy for me to leave. You have little family, but I have my mother to look after. Once we destroy the Cameron child, then we will discuss our plan to be together,” she said. Her falseness was born from a sense of Aiden’s desperation. He had made it clear time and again how greatly he desired her, but now he had taken further steps to make her his, and it required her to show greater affection than she felt, greater affection than her usual teasing and mockery.
“Tomorrow then,” he said. “Tomorrow, after she is dead. We must meet and discuss our plan. I must have you, Janet. We must be together.”
***
“Guard!” Janet called outside the castle near of the servant’s entrance. She had taken her leave of Aiden and had to shake off his neediness.
The young guard stood straight and tall, completely uncertain of Janet’s reason for addressing him.
“Yes, my lady?” he asked nervously.
“I come with word from the Laird,” she said in an urgent voice. “He urges all guards to be on the lookout this evening. It has been decided that if the prisoner is seen escaping, she is to be killed. He believes in his gut she may be planning something, but has no evidence. I have been asked to ensure that you are all aware to be on the lookout should she make an attempt,” she ordered.
“Yes, my lady. I will keep diligent watch, I will remain alert, I will do what it is you ask of me,” he replied with a hurried thrill. He was eager to have attention from the beautiful woman and also to bring her satisfaction in his job.
“Am I to tell the others?” he asked.
“Only those near the servant’s quarters. I will instruct the rest,” she said.
The boy nodded determinedly and spread the word to the others as Janet returned inside. In his excitement, he quickly told all the guards surrounding the castle and only those within were unaware.
Historical Hearts Romance Collection Page 42