by Nicole Locke
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gaira found Flora and Creighton in the herb garden, picking rosemary leaves one at a time. ‘You two are busy this afternoon.’
‘Oona has us picking rosemary for her magical potions,’ Flora said.
‘Ah, you are lucky. She must trust you very much. If you take care, she may keep you for a few days.’
Creighton stopped working. ‘Aren’t we staying with you?’
It was hard to hide the truth from them. ‘I need you to stay here for a few days.’
‘We want to stay with you!’ Flora announced.
‘It won’t be for long. ’Tis just that I need to get your rooms ready and there’s four of you, so it’ll take some time—’
‘We’ll help you,’ Creighton interrupted. ‘And we can stay together.’
‘He doesn’t want us,’ Flora said firmly.
‘Doona be silly, Flora, Robert wants us,’ Creighton stated.
Flora shook her head slowly. ‘Nae, not him. ’Tis Bram, the laird, who doesn’t want us.’
Gaira’s heart clenched at Flora’s sure opinion. ‘Nae,’ Gaira said. ‘Bram wants you. He just doesn’t want me.’
Creighton let out a mocking sound. ‘He doesn’t have a choice about wanting you. You’re his sister!’
‘Aye, but...’ Gaira sighed and told them why she had fled to Doonhill.
Flora stood up. ‘I doona want to stay here. He is nothing but ill-faured!’
‘I know he seems mean,’ Gaira said. ‘But this land is the only place safe for you.’
‘But not for you,’ Creighton said.
‘But not for me,’ she agreed. ‘That’s one of the reasons I want you to stay here. So I can discuss with Bram about my staying here.’
‘One of the reasons?’ Flora asked.
She’d have to be more careful with her tongue around the children. ‘Aye, one of the reasons,’ she said firmly. She hoped her tone indicated that she wouldn’t discuss it any further.
‘Must have something to do with Robert being English,’ Creighton said to Flora.
Flora nodded with a knowing smile.
No point in discussing it any further. ‘So you’ll stay here?’ she asked.
Flora and Creighton nodded simultaneously. But they weren’t looking at her; they were looking at each other.
* * *
Gaira returned to the keep. There was either going to be sacrifices or compromises. But more than the river was going to bend if lives were to be saved. The boulders as well would have to find some way to stop being so stubborn. Including herself.
A hand grabbed her arm. Startled, Gaira looked up. Malcolm started pulling her behind the kitchens. ‘Where are you going?’
She yanked her arm free. ‘I need to speak to Bram again. Explain why—’
‘It wouldn’t matter,’ he said. ‘He’s cleaning up.’
‘Cleaning up? What do you mean?’
Malcolm kicked the dirt with his toe. ‘He questioned Hugh about King Edward’s and Robert’s plans.’
‘If he’s anything like Robert, he won’t tell anything.’
‘Aye, well it ended up being a wee bit more than talking.’
She was tired of her brothers. ‘What did Hugh or Robert ever do to this clan?’
‘He’s English. They’re soldiers—’
She whirled around in frustration. ‘Nae, nae, nae. The men themselves. They have done nothing to us. Robert’s helped us. Hugh is his friend.’
‘Doesn’t matter. There’s too much at stake. Hugh will be bargained off to King Balliol.’
If so, Hugh was good as dead. She didn’t know him, but he had travelled a great distance to help his friend, to help Robert. And he’d acted honourably when he fought her brothers. He didn’t deserve to die.
‘And Robert?’ she asked.
Malcolm’s face closed shut; he wasn’t telling her. She turned to leave.
‘Gaira?’ Malcolm shook his head. ‘I knew what Bram planned to do with you, but you were always telling us to do something...’
She was in no mood for this apology. ‘I was trying to help this clan. I was taking care of the keep, ensuring food was on the table, you inding weevil. And even if I wasn’t, I’m your sister!’
‘I know. I’m sorry.’
‘Are you? Then you know what I ask of you. Talk to Bram. Robert deserves to live.’
A muscle twitched in Malcolm’s cheek. ‘He is too hated, too feared.’
‘He is a man, nothing else, and he helped me.’ She poked him in the chest. ‘He helped me. What did you do when Bram planned to get rid of me?’
Malcolm stayed silent and she poked him again. ‘What did you do when he married me to that...troke of a man? Nothing. You did nothing. You won’t be doing that again. You owe me this request.’
Malcolm’s lips thinned, but he nodded. ‘I’ll talk to Bram.’
* * *
Gaira reached the steps to the keep when Bram appeared at the top.
‘Where have you been?’ Bram started down the long flight.
‘I was checking on the children,’ she said when they were within proper speaking distance. ‘Remember them? Irvette’s daughter?’
Bram stopped in front of her, his countenance less thunderous. Good. He needed to be put into place.
‘I need to talk to you.’
‘I know.’ She stared at him. She wasn’t giving him any boon.
‘Can we do so now?’ he asked.
Ah, a request. ‘Aye,’ she answered.
They entered his solar in silence. Bram closed the door behind him and she walked to the window. The room wasn’t overly big and she needed to look outside.
‘How are they?’ he asked.
‘Staying with Oona for a few days.’ She glanced over her shoulder. ‘Aye, it is safe and a might better place to be than here.’
‘Will you turn around so we can talk?’
‘We’re talking just fine the way we are.’
‘I wasn’t the one in the wrong here.’
She whirled around. ‘Like hell you weren’t. Your actions started everything!’
‘I dinna kill Irvette!’
She snorted. ‘Nae, you wouldn’t hurt Irvette. Just your other sister.’
‘I never hurt you!’
‘I think I’m a better judge about that.’
Bram grabbed a cup from the table, smelled it and drowned the contents. ‘I doona know whether to curse or thank God for sending you to Doonhill,’ he said.
‘It wasn’t God,’ she reminded him. ‘It was you.’
‘I sent you to Ayrshire.’
‘You sent me to hell.’
‘That wasn’t my intention.’
‘The only intention I saw and felt was to get rid of me. For what? Because I ran this keep efficiently.’
‘I’m the laird. I have to get married. You were making it impossible. The servants went to you instead of me for any questions or needs. That role should belong to my future wife.’
She started pacing. ‘You dinna think to talk to me about it? Just decided to send me off at your convenience? And to Busby! The man was thick as a tree in head and girth. I would never want a husband such as him.’
He set the cup on the table. ‘He wasn’t your husband.’
‘I beg to differ. I was there when you handfasted us.’
‘But that’s all it was to be.’
She stopped pacing. ‘What do you mean?’
He sat on a large padded bench and leaned his weight back. The bench creaked under his weight. ‘A handfasting was all it was to be. There would be nae consummation. You would never have been married.’
‘I doona understand.’
‘I had a bargain with Busby. He would take you for six months. But you were never to be his wife. In return, he could keep the twenty sheep and would have someone to straighten his keep.’
She slammed her foot into his shins. ‘You paid to make me a servant!’
He moved his leg out of her way. ‘It seemed like a good trade at the time. You like having projects. Busby’s home needed your expertise.’
‘Why Busby? He was laird of the southern Fergusons and his alliance was weak at best.’
‘Nae, I needed you south. Busby had all the earmarks we needed. He wasn’t smart, he was desperate and he was the one most easily intimidated. You would have been fine, Gaira.’
Busby had not touched her. But when he had looked at her, she felt as if she’d stepped into a peat bog, covered in filth and sinking to her doom. She doubted she would have been fine. But there was no point arguing that now. Busby was dead. ‘You gave me nae choice.’
‘I dinna see how you would protest. You like children.’
‘But you just said—’
He slapped his thighs. ‘They weren’t yours, but they sounded as if they needed you all the same.’
‘Busby had children! How many?’
‘How many should I care?’ He shrugged. ‘And it matters not. Busby mentioned an older daughter, I’m sure she’s caring for them.’
Gaira sat beside him on the bench. ‘You dinna tell me.’
‘I saw nae need. You would soon be there and could see for yourself what needed to be done.’
‘The younger ones, they’ll need care.’
‘What can be done? You ran away.’
She refused to feel guilt. ‘Aye, I did, but you sold me off, manipulated my life and my future.’
‘It would not have been for naught. I probably would have been married by now if I hadn’t had to worry about where you’d gone off to.’
‘Who would have taken you in so short of time?’
‘Margaret.’
Gaira snorted. ‘That snivelling weak-kneed wisp? She’d never make it here!’
‘See! This is why I made the bargain with Busby. You just doona want me married and happy.’
‘Ach, I want you happy. Margaret’s not going to make you so. Within a month of you not being besotted with her fair golden hair, you’d be tired of her.’
‘This is useless to argue. She won’t be coming here now you’re to stay.’
‘If I’m to stay.’ She picked up a small dagger on the table. ‘I’m with Robert on whether to trust you.’
‘Trust? You have just brought an enemy to my home.’
She rolled the dagger in her palm. ‘What will you do with him?’
‘Kill him.’
She stood and pointed the dagger. ‘Bram, he is not the man you think he is. He deserves to live.’
He shrugged. ‘He’ll have to die.’
‘Nae!’
‘Irvette’s dead because of the English. There is nae chance in hell I’m letting him live.’ He put his hands behind his head. ‘I’ll question him first, though.’
‘Question him like you did Hugh? What torture do you have in mind?’
‘None, if he co-operates. But much if he does not. Robert was close to the English king. Any information he has will be valuable to us.’
‘He’ll never give it,’ she said.
‘I will get some information from him. He could be a spy or an assassin sent up to get close to King Balliol.’
She snorted. ‘Not likely. Maisie still wets her drawers. That does not sound like an assassin’s agenda.’
‘Then he must be in hiding or running from the English.’
‘He’s not in hiding or running away.’ She set the dagger down. ‘He came because I asked him to.’
‘His reputation would belie otherwise.’
‘I knew nothing of his reputation when he arrived at Doonhill,’ she said. She told him how Robert arrived and of the journey to Colquhoun land.
‘Robert had to know you would kill him, but he did not abandon me,’ she concluded.
He stood and took a couple steps away. ‘If he did what you say, there is something more to him than his reputation. But I doona know if that changes anything.’
‘It has to.’
‘If I spared his life, do you think it would prevent some other Scotsman from chopping off his head? He is too well known.’
‘No one on Colquhoun land will go against your word.’
‘In most things, aye, but this is unusual and it does not prevent other clans seeking retribution.’
‘We will leave, then.’ She had not thought about leaving with Robert before.
‘How long do you think you’ll last?’ He widened his legs, crossed his arms. ‘Once he is dead, they will not spare you or the children. You would have aligned yourself with him.’
She swallowed. He was asking questions she was afraid to know the answers to. ‘I’ll leave the children with you.’
‘You love them,’ he said, his tone baffled.
‘Aye, enough to protect them.’
‘He still has to die.’
‘Why, you stubborn betraying idiot?’ She was willing to leave the only home she’d ever known and was willing to tear her heart in two to do it. And still her brother fought her.
‘Because by coming here, he has given the laird of Colquhoun nae choice. I can’t be just brother in this.’
She wasn’t changing his opinion. ‘When?’
‘If he co-operates, tomorrow. This is not something needing counsel.’
She slammed the door when she left.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Robert sat against the far wall of the cellar and tried to sleep. It was the darkest and quietest spot, but it was no good. Hugh had not returned and he was worried. They hadn’t harmed him, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t harm Hugh, especially if Hugh did not keep his head.
Concern was just another feeling he had thought died out of him long ago. He wanted to laugh at himself, but it wasn’t funny.
He had thought he was numb to the variances of life, but then Gaira arrived. Her spirit, as bright as her hair, had illuminated how thin his defences were. It had taken nothing more than a curse from her lips, a laugh reaching her eyes, for his walls to shatter.
The cellar door slammed open. He was too surprised to stand as Gaira, her dress trailing behind her, walked down the steps. Someone shut the door behind her.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.
Her head turned, but he knew he was too far in the corner for her to see him.
‘I talked to my brother.’ The shafts of light from the cracks in the cellar door highlighted the copper of her hair. It was wet and fell heavy with curls.
He stood. ‘You know what he did to Hugh.’
‘Aye,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t help him. Your friend... There was too much anger between them. I fear he’s been hurt.’
‘How bad?’
‘I doona know. I haven’t seen him. But they have plans for him.’ She clasped her hands in front of her. ‘Bram told me the plans for you, too. Although you dinna ask me that, did you?’
He knew what Bram planned to do with him. Hugh was his concern now. ‘What will he do with Hugh?’
‘He believes he’s enough of a bargaining chip for King Balliol. He will send a messenger to tell the king of his capture.’
He didn’t care for himself. But Balliol would not be kind to Hugh, especially because of his friendship with Black Robert.
Another joke on him. He had tried to maintain distance from Hugh in order to protect him. Now, it didn’t matter.
‘Do you think Hugh will live long enough to reach Balliol?’ he asked.
‘Are you accusing my brother of subterfuge?’
‘I will not forget how he treated you.’
‘Aye, well. He has explained his reasoning to me and we’ve resolved that issue now.’ They’d resolved it, but she hadn’t forgiven yet. ‘Is there nae chair around here?’
He walked towards her. She never wore her hair loose and he could smell lavender from her bath. To have her so close and yet never touch her. He cursed himself again for that night. She had offered him everything. He thought he was too damned to have taken from her, especially when he could offer her nothing in return. So he had sought to relieve her ache with only the barest of touches, the lightest of kisses, thinking his body wouldn’t burn so painfully afterward. But he was wrong. Her response, her taste, the very way she gave herself to him had tortured him ever since. He thought himself hell-bound before, but since that night, he knew he was already in hell. ‘Why are you here?’ he asked.
She turned to face him. ‘I’m asking you to escape.’
Robert fell silent and she breathed in deeply. ‘There’s nae guard, the hour is late and the torches have not been lit,’ she informed him.
He frowned. ‘What do you think he’ll do to you when he knows you set me free?’
She raised her chin, readying herself for his response. ‘Since I’ll be with you, he won’t be able to do anything.’
She heard him stop breathing.
‘What about the children?’ His voice was hoarse.
‘They will be safe here.’ She pulled his arm and felt him tense. ‘Let’s go. We doona have much time.’
‘You cannot mean to leave the children. Why are you doing this?’
She held back her thoughts of the children. If she thought of them at all, she’d change her mind. And she couldn’t do that. If she did, Robert would die. ‘I realised something when I was talking to my brother. There is nae reasonable explanation why you travelled all the way to Colquhoun lands to deliver me and the children.’
He tugged his arm out of her reach and stepped back. ‘I made a promise to keep you safe and your brothers brought me here. There is nothing more to it than that.’
‘Liar. I saw you fight Malcolm. You allowed yourself to be captured.’ She stepped closer again. ‘There must be an unreasonable explanation why you brought me here.’