“That won’t do—ye must bathe in the pool for the faery dust to do its work,” Una said, “unless ’tis only your feet that need healing.”
“Bathe?” Margaret asked. “Ye mean without my clothes?”
“Of course,” Una said, and glanced heavenward.
“But I don’t need healing. In truth, I’ve never been healthier.”
“Some wounds can’t be seen.” Una extended her arm. “Hand me your gown.”
Margaret reluctantly gave in and was immediately glad she did. The warm water felt like liquid velvet on her skin.
“Ella, come in!” she called to her daughter, who was dangling her feet in the water beside Una.
Ella shook her head, her golden curls swinging side to side.
“I told her we mustn’t tempt the faeries by putting such a pretty bairn in their pool,” Una said. “They’ve been known to take a bairn through the spring to their home in the faery hill and leave a changeling in its place.”
Margaret wished Una would not frighten Ella with such tales. Still, now that she’d heard the tale herself, Margaret was glad Ella did not want to join her in the water.
As she floated on her back with her eyes closed, she felt as if her troubles were drifting away.
“Ye ought not let fear make ye run from Finn,” Una said.
So much for leaving her troubles. Margaret closed her eyes again and hoped Una was done talking.
“There aren’t many good men, but you’ve found one,” Una said. “Don’t be afraid to take a chance at happiness.”
“I couldn’t keep his interest for long,” Margaret said, echoing what Curstag told her. And she’d never have his heart.
“So you’re leaving him before he can leave you,” Una said.
He would leave her. If Margaret stayed, she would lose more of her heart to him each day as she waited for him to tire of her or find some other reason to cast her aside. And all the while, she would risk conceiving and losing another babe. Nay, it was better to go now.
She sank beneath the surface and let the dark silence of the pool encompass her. As soon as she lifted her head above the water, Una continued talking.
“Ye think Finn will throw ye to the wolves like some men will,” Una said. “But Finn is not like that. What has he done to cause ye to judge him so harshly?”
It was true that Finn could have abandoned her when he learned Moray no longer needed a hostage. But he’d had nothing to lose by taking her along. If he had more at stake, a cost to pay, would Finn make the same choice? Neither her husband nor the men of her family ever thought she was worth giving up a single thing they wanted.
“What if it’s me?” Margaret asked in a choked voice. “Perhaps I’m not worthy of sacrifice.”
“Ach, don’t speak such nonsense,” Una said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Nonsense or no, the men Margaret should have been able to rely on had used her for their own ends and then abandoned her when she needed them.
“Live while ye can,” Una said, “for you’re a long time dead.”
After that bit of Highland wisdom, Margaret got out of the water, dried off, and dressed. And still, Una would not leave the subject alone.
“My own dear husband died just a year after we wed,” Una said as they started back to the castle. “But I wouldn’t give up that year if I’d known I’d lose him. Nay, I would have squeezed every bit of happiness I could have from every day I had with him.”
“Would ye not suffer all the more when ye lost everything?” Margaret said.
“Ye can’t give up what happiness this life has to offer out of fear of sorrow,” Una said, leaning on Margaret’s arm as they walked. “Sorrow will come, as it does to all of us, and that’s all you’ll have to remember.”
Margaret had spent so much of her life pleasing others and expecting little for herself. Believing she had no choice but to accept her burdens, she’d tried to do it without anger or resentment. Was she losing too much by leaving now? Was it worth the pain she would suffer later to have some happiness now, however brief?
She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts when Una pinched her.
“Ouch!”
“Hush,” Una whispered. “Ach, this is bad luck, but a pinch helps ward it off.”
“What’s wrong?” Margaret picked Ella up and looked around them, but she saw no danger.
“There,” Una whispered, and Margaret followed her gaze to a branch overhead on which a single bird was perched. “Two magpies mean good luck for a wedding. One foretells trouble coming.”
There was no mistaking the magpie. It had the black feathers on its head, neck, and breast, pure white ones on its belly and shoulders, and a long black tail with a sheen of deep blue.
“Feasgar math,” good day, Una said to the bird.
Margaret’s nursemaid had told her one must show the magpie respect and greet it to ward against the bad luck. Then again, the nursemaid had also suggested telling the magpie I defy thee seven times, which did not strike Margaret as at all respectful.
Margaret told herself she did not believe those superstitious tales. And yet, when the magpie tilted his head and looked straight at her with his dark, beady eyes, she felt a chill in her bones, as if someone was walking over her grave.
Squawk! Squawk! Squawk! The loud, harsh sound made her jump.
“Death is coming,” Una said as they watched the bird fly away.
CHAPTER 21
Margaret usually managed to contain her emotions, but she could not sit still. She was anxious for Finn to return, though she still was not certain what she would tell him or even what she wanted. It might be too late to change her mind about leaving, anyway. He was so angry with her after she told him she wanted to leave that she may have ruined her chance.
She pushed aside her worries about Finn when she heard Ella sniffling.
“Has my poor lamb caught a cold?” Margaret said as she wiped Ella’s nose.
“’Tis nothing to fret over,” Una assured her. “But we’ll have an early supper here in our chamber and go to bed.”
“Then I’ll eat here as well,” Margaret said.
“No need for that,” Una said, waving her hand. “I’m a wee bit tired from our walk and am happy to stay with her—and you need to talk to Finn.”
Margaret kissed Ella’s forehead. She did not seem to have a fever. “Do ye want me to stay here with ye, sweetling?”
“Shall I tell ye the tale of how I outwitted the wolf?” Una asked Ella as she lifted her onto her lap. “Or the one about my escape from the faery prince who fell in love with me?”
“Both,” Ella said, then stuck her thumb in her mouth and rested her head against Una’s chest.
Ella was in good hands, so Margaret gave her one more kiss and slipped out. After asking one of the servants to take a platter of food and hot drinks upstairs to them, she joined Helen, who was doing needlework by the hearth.
“Is there mending I can help with?” Margaret asked.
“There’s always mending to do, isn’t there?” Helen said with her son’s smile, and gestured to the basket beside her. “I’d be grateful for the company as much as the help.”
Margaret thought she had escaped Isabel, but a short time later, Finn’s mother came up the stairs from the undercroft where the kitchens and storerooms were.
“I hope the men are back from their hunt soon,” Isabel said. “The cook has made a stew with that lamb that fell into one of the ravines, and it smells delicious.”
Margaret was surprised by Isabel’s cheerful tone. Good heavens, the woman even smiled at her. Rather than being pleased that Finn’s mother was pleasant for once, her unusual behavior made Margaret uneasy. Margaret could never like the woman because of the way she treated Finn. Perhaps she was being uncharitable, but she did not trust her either.
“Ah, here they are now,” Helen said when loud, boisterous male voices reached them from outside.
“They’ll be hungry after bei
ng out in this weather all day,” Isabel said. “I’ll tell the servants to get ready to serve the meal.”
Honestly, the woman was so high-handed. It was Helen’s place to direct the servants when to serve the meal.
Margaret set her needlework aside and stood to watch for Finn as the hunting party entered the hall in twos and threes. The men had obviously been drinking to stave off the cold. If their hunting was half as successful as their drinking, there would be meat for the household for weeks.
When the door closed behind the last man, Margaret asked him where Finn was.
“He and Alex were still stalking that stag,” he said. “’Twas near dark and we were starving, so we left them to it.”
“You left them?” she asked.
“Ach, you’ve no cause to worry,” the man said. “Finn knows what he’s about. The lad is safe with him.”
It wasn’t the lad she was thinking of. But he was right. Finn knew what he was doing and would not put his cousin at risk.
“’Tis just like Finn to inconvenience everyone by arriving late,” Isabel snapped. “Bearach would never be so inconsiderate.”
Margaret bit back a reply. Since the men were hungry, Helen ordered the meal served without waiting for Finn and Alex. The earl and Helen sat at one end, as usual, with an empty seat for Alex, while Margaret found herself stuck alone with Finn’s parents and Curstag at the other end.
She was distracted through supper, watching the door. As the meal dragged on, she could hear a storm brewing outside and began to worry.
“What’s happened to those two?” Isabel asked. “They should have been back long before this.”
Isabel seemed truly anxious about Finn. Perhaps she did love him in her own way. He was a son Isabel ought to be proud of. More than his superficial charms, of which there were many, he had a good heart. And yet his parents and brother did not recognize his worth.
No matter if she stayed or left, she needed to tell Finn how she felt. Given how little his family thought of him, she did not want him to think she did not care. The problem was she cared too much.
Her gaze went to the door yet again, but her attention was jerked back to the table when the earl abruptly stood up in the midst of the meal.
“Poison!” he shouted, his voice filled with rage. “I’ve been poisoned!”
The earl gripped the tablecloth as he swayed on his feet, sending cups and crockery clattering to the floor. Margaret was out of her seat and reached him first. She held his elbow and tried to steady him.
“Let’s get ye to your bed,” she said in a soothing voice, and prayed the earl was wrong about being poisoned.
“Which of my enemies did this?” The earl’s eyes were wild, and he clutched at his throat as he demanded, “Who here is the traitor who helped them?”
Margaret’s gaze followed his as it traveled down the table and back again, where it came to a halt on his wife. Helen’s skin had gone pale and glistened with a sheen of sweat.
Poisoned. Margaret now feared it was true. Her mother had told them a hundred times every detail of her sisters’ deaths. All three sisters were poisoned to ensure the death of the one the king wished to marry against the advice and interests of his powerful nobles. Her own mother only escaped their fate because she missed breakfast.
“Quick, help me!” Margaret shouted when everyone else was still staring at the earl in shock. “The earl and his wife must be taken upstairs and purged at once!”
Her plea spurred his guards into action. They lifted the earl, but when they started to carry him off to his bedchamber, he grasped Margaret’s arm.
“My son. Warn my son.” His fingers were like iron claws digging into her arm as he pulled her close and gasped in her ear. “He’s in danger!”
“God help us,” she whispered. “Ye believe the poison was meant for Alex as well?”
“Of course,” the earl said, his breathing harsh. “Don’t let Alex touch any food or drink here. Finn must take him away to Dunrobin!”
“I’ll tell Finn,” she said, trying to calm him.
“Promise me,” he demanded, his feverish eyes drilling into her. “Promise!”
“I promise,” she said. “Finn will take Alex to safety.”
Only then did the earl release his grip on her arm and allow his men to carry him upstairs to his bedchamber, where his wife had already been taken.
Margaret told herself others would care for the ill couple and resisted the urge to help. The earl feared someone here had intended to poison Alex as well—and still meant him harm. She had to warn Finn and Alex.
Ella! Panic raced through Margaret’s veins at the thought of her daughter. What if the poison was in their supper? She ran up the stairs to their bedchamber and flung open the door.
Her heart pounded in her ears as she took in the scene, which seemed unnaturally ordinary. Una was stitching. Ella was on the floor playing with her doll. Her gaze caught and held on the tray of half-eaten food on the table.
“You’ve not fallen ill?” she choked out.
“Ella just has a wee cold,” Una said, “but you look like a banshee chased ye up the stairs.”
Margaret knelt beside Una and quickly told her what happened in a low voice so that Ella would not hear.
“If it was poison, ’twas a kind that works its evil quickly,” Una said. “Ye needn’t worry about us. We ate our supper long before the rest of ye. As ye can see, we’ve no ill effects.”
“Praise God!” Margaret grabbed her cloak from the back of the door. “I’m going to wait for Finn and Alex in the stables. I must hurry if I’m to catch them before they come inside.”
Before she reached the bottom of the stairs, however, she heard their familiar voices. Finn locked his gaze on her the moment she rushed into the hall, and she could tell he had already realized something was dreadfully wrong at Helmsdale.
“Ye should see the size of the stag I got,” Alex boasted. “Finn says it’s the biggest…” His voice trailed off as he looked about the room, which had fallen into a deadly silence.
“What’s happened?” Finn asked, taking Margaret’s hands when he reached her.
Before she could explain, she heard Isabel behind her telling Alex about his parents.
“Your father and mother have taken ill, and I’m afraid ’tis rather serious,” Isabel said, her tone surprisingly gentle. “Come, they’ll want to see ye while there’s still time.”
The earl did not want to see Alex—he wanted him sent away. Margaret spun around in time to see Isabel put her arm around Alex and lead him toward the stairs.
When she saw a cup in Alex’s hand, her blood froze in her veins. He was ten feet away and lifting it to his mouth.
###
“Nay!”
Finn was stunned when Margaret shouted and charged into Alex. She hit him with such force that the cup flew out of Alex’s hand and splattered wine in a wide arc over Alex, Isabel, and half a dozen others before clattering against the wall.
Margaret, who was usually so cool-headed, would not do anything so dramatic without good cause. While the others were still staring slack-jawed at the spilled wine or wiping it from their clothes, he drew Margaret and Alex aside so she could tell them the reason.
“Ye must leave at once,” Margaret said in a hushed voice. “Alex’s parents have been poisoned, and—”
“We don’t know that,” Finn’s mother interrupted as she joined them. “I expect ’tis just a passing fever. Or even more likely, spoiled meat—Helen has no skill at managing servants.”
“Alex is in danger here,” Margaret whispered to Finn. “I’ll explain as we go to the stables for your horses.”
“If my parents are ill, I must see them,” Alex said.
Finn saw the panic in Margaret’s eyes when Alex started for the stairs and caught Alex in an iron grip. Together, he and Margaret half dragged Alex out of the hall. Outside the door, they were met by a curtain of rain. The storm was growing worse by the moment.
“Your father fears for your life, Alex,” Margaret shouted over the wind as they splashed through puddles in the yard to reach the stables. “He gave me orders that Finn is to take ye away at once.”
While Finn saddled their horses by the light of a lantern, Margaret told them all that had transpired.
“How can I leave them like this?” Alex asked.
“Ye must do as your father says,” Finn said, resting his hands on Alex’s shoulders. “Your duty to your parents and to your clan is to save yourself.”
“I promise, Alex, I’ll see that everything possible is done to save them,” Margaret said.
Like hell she’d see to it. Finn pulled her aside and told her, “You’re coming with us.”
“I can’t leave Ella, and we’d slow ye down,” she said. “The earl was adamant that whoever did this intended to murder Alex.”
“I’ll not leave ye here with a murderer,” Finn said, trying and failing to keep his voice down.
“If they’d wanted to poison me at supper, they could have,” she argued. “But if the earl is right and the villains want to murder Alex, then riding with you would be far more dangerous for me and Ella than staying here.”
She was right, damn it. He and Alex could have armed men chasing after them or already waiting in the dark to ambush them. Still, Finn hesitated.
“I’m no threat to anyone. As far as anyone knows, I’m an impoverished widow with no ties to a rival clan,” she said. “The only people at Helmsdale the killer lacked the opportunity to poison are Alex and you.”
Finn ran his hands through his hair.
“Please, ye must go!” she pleaded. “Ride hard for Dunrobin before they catch you.”
“I’ll be back in a few hours,” he said, giving in. “Lock yourselves in Una’s chamber and don’t leave it until I return.”
“Be careful.” Her beautiful brown eyes were filled with worry. Did she care for him after all? He could not help but hope.
“I will, mo chroí,” my heart. He cupped her face between his hands and kissed her hard on the mouth.
CHAPTER 22
“What in God’s name have ye done, sending them off?” Isabel greeted Margaret the moment she reentered the hall. “Alex should be here to comfort his parents.”
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