Aggie’s heart fell to the earth. When last she had seen Rose, she had been sitting with Ian. “Nay!” she said as she began looking for her friend. “Rose!” she called out, her eyes darting all around her. “Rose!”
Together, they began searching for her first in the front courtyard, then made their way around to the rear of the keep. There were so many people wandering about looking for loved ones. Men were trying to put the fire out, as bucket after bucket of water was thrown on what flames they could reach.
As they reached the rear of the keep, Ian looked sick with worry. “Rose! Rose!” he called out, the desperation in his voice was painful to listen to. “Rose! Rose!” his voice cracked as he stopped in the middle of the courtyard.
There she was, helping people out of and away from the keep. She was barely recognizable, covered as she was in soot. She had torn a piece of her dress and used it as a mask against the smoke. There was no way for her to hear anyone call her name over the roaring fire and chaos.
Aggie’s heart stopped beating when she watched Rose step back inside the burning building. Ian raced forward. Frederick was too late to stop him as he ran toward the keep.
Ian didn’t get far before Rose came running back out of the keep, just as the wall behind her began to collapse. Ian reached her in two large strides, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and ran away from the collapsing wall.
The group made their way toward the stables. Horses screamed in terror, kicking at their stalls, panicked and frightened. Frederick knew if he set the horses free, they’d only race back into the stables, which, thankfully had not caught fire yet.
“Put me down, Ian!” Rose shouted as she pounded his back. “I am fine!”
Once they were a safe distance away, Ian set her on her feet. “God’s teeth woman! Are ye mad? How could ye go runnin’ into a burnin’ buildin’ like that?” he shouted at her. “Ye scared ten years off me life!”
“I had to make sure everyone got out!” she argued with him as she removed her makeshift mask and began wiping her face.
Ian was speechless. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Bloody hell,” he murmured before stepping forward and grabbing her. Without permission, he kissed her fully on her mouth.
When he was finished, he pushed her back from him. “When ye become me wife, I’ll no’ ever let ye out of me sight again. Ye’ll no’ be doin’ anythin’ so stupid as that, ever again!”
Rose looked up at him, surprised, stunned, and baffled. “When I become yer wife?” she asked angrily. “Who says I’ll be marryin’ ye?”
“I say ye will, ye daft, foolish woman! Though why I want to remains a mystery when ye do daft things such as runnin’ into burnin’ buildin’s!”
Frederick stepped forward. “Ian, while I love the thought of ye marryin’ this fine, bonny young woman, we need to see them to safety. We must find Mermadak and Donnel.”
The seriousness of the situation beckoned Ian back to the moment. He gave a nod to Frederick before turning back to Rose. “Can I trust that ye’ll no’ go back into the keep?” he asked.
“Of course ye can,” she said. “Go, find Mermadak and Donnel.”
Not wanting to leave either woman or Ailrig alone, Frederick and Ian went in search of John and Elsbeth.
AGGIE, ROSE AND Ailrig spent the rest of the night huddled inside a tent with Elsbeth and her children, outside the walls of the keep. It had turned out to be a blessing that the McLaren keep was too small to house all the warriors that John and Elsbeth had brought with them. John had placed a guard on all sides of the tent. Until Mermadak and Donnel were found, none of his family would be left alone or unguarded.
John had left in the middle of the night, taking Comnell with him. They went to offer help in any capacity they could. He would not allow Aggie to see to her people. Instead, he put his men to work tending to the injured and displaced McLarens.
The children slept, albeit fitfully, on thick pallets. Each mother kept a protective watchful eye on her children, silently giving thanks that all had lived. They also prayed for those who may have been hurt in the fire.
Ailrig slept between Aggie and Rose, tossing and turning and crying out several times throughout the night. Aggie kept an arm draped over his little chest, doing her best to soothe his fears.
When dawn broke over the horizon, Aggie woke still feeling nauseous. John’s men appeared with trays of food. Aggie chewed slowly on a hunk of bread, her heart filled with worry over her husband. The not knowing was maddening. Rose, who was usually the rock on which she could lean, was not faring any better.
Finally, the men they had been worrying about all night appeared at their tent. Covered head to toe in soot, smelling of smoke and sweat, their women did not care. Aggie ran to Frederick and flung her arms around his waist. Rose, unable to contain her relief, raced to Ian and leapt into his arms. John went to Elsbeth and sank to the pallet beside her.
Their relief and happiness were short-lived when Frederick delivered his news.
“We canna find Mermadak, Donnel or Clair anywhere, Aggie.”
The news made her blood run cold. “Clair?” she hadn’t prepared herself for that bit of news. Was Clair so consumed with having Mermadak’s love and proclamation that she would give up her husband and life here? Aggie began to believe that her sister was just as insane as their father. “Were they in the keep?”
Frederick shook his head. “Nay. The fire destroyed nearly everything, Aggie. We’ve spent hours going through the rubble. No one died last night, Aggie. Everyone is accounted for, save for Mermadak, Donnel and Clair.”
Mermadak alone was enough to give anyone nightmares. But add Donnel and Clair into the mix? Who knew what the three of them together were capable of. “Mermadak does no’ have much time left,” Aggie said. “Ye saw it with yer own eyes last night.”
Frederick had to agree. “Aye. I do no’ think he is long for this world, Aggie. But what of Donnel and Clair? They have an unnatural allegiance to the man.”
Aggie wrapped her arms around her stomach, feeling quite chilled and unwell.
“Aggie,” Frederick said as he wrapped his arms around her. “I fear ye are no’ safe. We must find yer da, and Donnel and Clair. We do no’ ken what they are capable of. I canna leave it to chance.”
Aggie could not argue that point, at least not with any amount of conviction. She knew, better than anyone the cruelty those people were capable of.
“Aggie,” Frederick swallowed hard. “I need ye to go with Da and Elsbeth, back to their home.”
Aggie pulled away from him, her eyes wide and afraid. “Nay! I will no’ leave ye!”
“Aggie, it will be just for a short time, I promise. As soon as we find them, I’ll come for ye.”
She shook her head. “Nay, I’ll no’ go. No’ without ye. I’m stayin’ here with ye.”
Frederick looked ill at the thought of sending her away. “Aggie, there is nowhere for ye to stay. The keep is all but gone, left to ashes and cinders. ’Tis no’ safe fer ye now, not until we find them.”
Elsbeth came to Aggie’s side then. “Aggie, please. Frederick wants only to make certain that ye and Ailrig are safe.”
Aggie knew that keeping her safe was Frederick’s first priority. Still, she could not imagine not waking up to him each morn, not seeing him each day. The thought made her stomach tighten with dread.
“Ye’ll get to see the lands where he grew up, Aggie,” John said as he stepped forward. “Ye’ll no find any land more beautiful than Mackintosh lands.”
Aggie knew they all meant well but it did nothing to help mend the ache in her heart. She looked at the faces of those people in the tent. They were looking at her with sorrowful yet hopeful eyes. She knew that Frederick would not be able to focus on finding Mermadak and the others, if he had to worry over her safety.
Reluctantly and with a heavy heart, she finally agreed to go.
Forty-Seven
IT HAD TAKEN weeks of
travel over rough and rugged terrain before they finally reached Mackintosh lands. It took another two days of riding before they reached the Mackintosh keep. With more than one hundred Mackintosh warriors, Frederick’s family, and the displaced McLarens who were offered a temporary home, the procession was large and slow.
While Ailrig loved every moment of the travel and sleeping out of doors, Aggie found nothing exciting or enjoyable about it. Most of it was a blur for her mind was back on McLaren lands, worrying over her husband, his brother and Rose.
Rose had insisted on staying, to help tend to the injured and to do what she could to help rebuild the keep. After a lengthy argument, Ian and Frederick acquiesced, much to Aggie’s consternation and broken heart.
While Elsbeth was a sweet, kind woman, she was not Rose. Rose had been Aggie’s only true friend throughout her entire life. It was bad enough that she was forced to leave her husband and the only home she had ever known, but to leave Rose behind? It was like pouring salt into an open wound.
John had left one hundred of his men behind, to help Frederick search for Mermadak, Donnel and Clair. In an attempt to make Aggie feel better, John insisted that Frederick would find the bastards responsible for the fire and would probably beat them to the Mackintosh keep.
He had been wrong.
The Mackintosh keep stood on an island in the middle of Loch Moy. The massive structure stood some five stories tall, made out of large gray stone. It was an imposing structure to say the least. Mayhap not as beautiful as the Graham keep, but beauty, Aggie reckoned, had not been the intent. This beast of a castle was meant to not only protect its inhabitants, but to also instill a sense of awe and fear in anyone who might be thinking to lay siege to it.
They crossed the loch in long boats, the motion of it making Aggie sick to her stomach. Though they didn’t have to travel far or long, the motion of rocking back and forth was enough to make her lose her morning meal over the side of the boat.
By the time they reached the island, Aggie had retched twice and felt very dizzy. Elsbeth kept a hand on her back as they reached the shore. John was the first one out of the boat, with Ailrig following on his heels. Elsbeth helped Aggie to stand, which in hindsight was not the best thing for her.
The dizziness was overwhelming and she nearly fell over the side of the boat. John marched into the water, lifted Aggie into his arms and carried her all the way into the keep.
“I be terribly sorry, John,” Aggie said as she took in deep breaths. “I’ve never been in a boat before.”
John simply chuckled as he set her on her feet. “No worries, lass,” he said as he handed her care over to his wife.
Soon, Aggie and Ailrig were settled into spacious and luxurious rooms above stairs. Aggie had never seen the likes of it before. She could have fit six of her rooms back home in the one room given her here. Tall, massively beamed ceilings hung overhead. A fireplace as large as the one in their gathering room back home lined one wall. A bed, looking every bit as large and comfortable as the one she shared with Frederick, stood in the center of the room. Tables, chairs, trunks, chests, were placed on all four walls. Rich, thick carpets adorned the floors. Numerous candelabras were placed about the room.
Windows that ran almost from floor to ceiling took up nearly one wall. Unlike the fur covered windows at the McLaren keep, these were lined with heavy glass. Were she not feeling so utterly forlorn, she might have enjoyed the view.
Soon, a fire was roaring in the hearth and a large tub filled with hot water was set in front of it. Women came and went, bringing gowns and chemises and slippers, drying cloths, scented soaps and oils.
They were treating her like a queen, Aggie thought. She felt like crying but was so tired and travel weary that she couldn’t muster the energy to do even that. She was Frederick’s queen and he was not here and it broke her heart.
Numb and feeling quite alone, she did not protest when two maids helped her to shed her filthy gown and into the tub. She paid no attention to their gasps and whispers when they saw her scarred body. They scrubbed her from head to toe, washed her hair three times, before helping her out of the tub.
They dried her hair near the fireplace, showing great care at working all the knots out. Once they were satisfied with their work, they helped her into a silk nightdress and into the bed. Once the last of the maids left the room, she finally allowed herself to cry.
AGGIE SLEPT LIKE the dead and did not wake until after the noonin’ meal the following day. Ailrig was sitting on the bed beside her, wearing a worried expression. When she opened her eyes, she was instantly overcome with a wave of nausea. No matter how hard she tried to fight it, she could not. Rolling over, she found the chamber pot and retched into it.
Ailrig went running out of the room and returned moments later with Elsbeth. “She’s sick, grand mum!” Ailrig exclaimed.
Elsbeth patted his head before taking the chamber pot from Aggie. “Ailrig, go find Nina, the chambermaid and send her to me. Then, go find yer grandda.”
Ailrig nodded his head and quit the room in a hurry.
Elsbeth set the chamber pot on a table, grabbed a pitcher, basin and cloth and returned to Aggie. Setting the items on the table by the bed, she poured water over the cloth and wrung it out. “Ye look a wee peaked, Aggie,” she said as she wiped Aggie’s forehead and face with the damp cloth.
Aggie sighed heavily. “Aye,” she agreed. “I think I just be worried fer Frederick. Have we received any word from him or Ian?” she lay back on the pillows and closed her eyes, hoping the nausea would soon pass.
“Nay,” Elsbeth said. “We’re weeks away from McLaren lands. It will be some time before we receive news, I’m certain.” She rinsed out the cloth and placed it back on Aggie’s forehead.
“Aggie,” Elsbeth said in a low voice. “Are ye certain ’tis worry over Frederick that has been makin’ ye ill these past days?”
“Aye, what else could it be?”
Elsbeth chuckled at her daughter-in-law. “Lass, when were yer last courses?”
Aggie wasn’t truly paying attention, she was too busy trying to get the dizziness to leave her be. “I dunnae. Too much has happened of late,” she murmured.
“Could ye be with child?” Elsbeth asked.
Aggie’s eyes flew open and she turned to look at Elsbeth. “What?”
Elsbeth smiled. “Could ye be with child?”
Her mind raced as she tried to remember the last time she had bled. ’Twas already the end of October. She and Frederick had been intimate for how long? More than a month or was it two now? The fire, the journey here, it was all a blur. It was in fact quite possible.
“I’ll send for a midwife to check ye, Aggie,” Elsbeth beamed.
Aggie’s stomach lurched at the thought. Aye, a midwife would be able to tell her if she was with child. She’d also be able to see that Aggie had given birth at least once before.
“Elsbeth,” Aggie said. “Before ye do, there be somethin’ ye should ken.”
LATER, AFTER THE evening meal, when they were all alone, Elsbeth relayed all that Aggie had told her to John. He sat, much like Elsbeth had earlier, in stunned silence. Elsbeth knew that John would not be angry with the information. But, as she had guessed, he did rant and rave for a time, wishing he could have been the one to kill Eduard Bowie.
“’Tis a good thing the bastard be already dead,” John said as he paced across the carpeted floor of his bedchamber.
“Aye, I agree. Elst we’d all be heading back south to kill him,” Elsbeth said. “I’d be leadin’ the charge.”
“The poor lass,” John said as he ran a hand through his hair. “After all that …” his words trailed off and he shook his head in disbelief. “She be a strong woman, that lass.”
“Aye, she is,” Elsbeth said as she ran a comb through her hair. “Frederick loves her verra much.”
“And she him,” John said as he sat down in his chair in front of the fire. “I could tell that by the way she looks
at him.”
“How do ye think he’ll take to learnin’ he’ll be a father come spring?”
John chuckled as he pulled off his boots. “Well, bein’ this is his first, he’ll act like a bloody fool, much like I did. He’ll insist she no’ leave her bed, will no’ let her lift a finger for anythin’, and will worry himself sick until he holds his babe in his arms for the first time.”
Elsbeth laughed at her husband. “John, ye acted like that every time I was with child.”
He cast a loving look at her. “Aye, I did. But ye have to understand, when our wives are with child, we feel lost. There be nothin’ we can do but worry and fuss.”
“He’ll no’ let her leave here until long after the bairn is born, will he?”
John shook his head. “Nay, he won’t. He’ll be too worried to allow her to walk, let alone travel. That is if he gets here before the babe is born.”
Elsbeth’s brow furrowed with concern. “What do ye mean?”
John let out a heavy sigh. “God only kens how long it will take to find Mermadak, Donnel or that Clair woman. If he doesna find them before winter sets in, he’ll no’ be able to get through the mountains until spring.”
Elsbeth did not like the sound of that. “Well, then, I suppose it’s up to ye to fuss and worry over Aggie, until Frederick gets here.”
John smiled. “Aye. ‘Tis been a long while since we’ve had a bairn in the keep.”
“Just two years,” Elsbeth reminded him. “When Robby and Moirra had their last.”
John laughed heartily at that. “Aye. And two years be far too long a time.”
Forty-Eight
WINTER HAD SET in and still, they had no word from Frederick or Ian. Snow fell across these northern lands, much deeper than what Aggie was accustomed to. Ice formed at the edges of the loch and for days the sun refused to shine and the sky refused to either snow or rain. Gloomy, dark, cold, much like the ache in Aggie’s heart.
Frederick's Queen: The Clan Graham Series Page 47