by K. E. Saxon
“But ‘twill take some time. Mayhap even a moon.”
Callum’s heart ached and a lump formed in his throat, but he’d be damned to a fiery hell before he let that stop him. “Fine.”
This was what he wanted, what needed to happen. He’d get over her after a time and he’d go on about his life as he had been doing before...before he...God’s Bones! Before he met fey Mai in the cave that day. He would. He had to. ‘Twas for the best.
* * *
Daniel found Branwenn in the solar with Bao, wringing her hands and pacing. But she was dry-eyed, praise be. He hadn’t made it two paces into the chamber before she said, “Is he fevered?”
“He’s not in his right mind, this is certain. But nay, he’s not fevered.”
“Does he truly hate me? Believe me faithless?”
Daniel sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Aye, he does.”
“But why? Why does he believe so easily I’d betray him?”
“Because.... Did you allow the Norman to bed you as a bargain to keep Gaiallard from meeting Callum in the trial?”
“Nay! Is that what Gaiallard told him?”
Daniel nodded. “Aye. And truth be told, it crossed my mind that you might have done such to save Callum’s life.”
Branwenn bit her lip then nodded. “Aye, I suppose I might have, if I truly thought Gaiallard would follow through with such a bargain. But I knew him too well. He’d not, and in the end, I would have only compromised my marriage by doing so. Besides, Gaiallard had no desire for me in that way. None at all.”
Bao stepped forward and placed his arm around his sister’s shoulder. “I find that hard to believe.”
Branwenn snorted. “Believe it, for ‘tis truth. You may ask Alyson if you do not believe me. He spent most of his time at Pembroke wooing a Norman lady by the name of Caroline de Montrochet.
“Callum said you met the Norman in the woods—that others saw you with him,” Daniel asked. “Is that true?”
Branwenn sighed. “Aye. That part is true. But...I didn’t meet him there on purpose. I...” She sighed. “I followed Alyson. She’d been very quiet since her brother’s arrival, so when I saw her leaving out of the gate to the keep with such, I know not, furtiveness? I decided to see what she was about.” Branwenn crossed her arms over her chest. “It didn’t take long for me to find out: Gaiallard was waiting for her in the wood. He grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her toward him, then he began shaking her.”
“That bastard!” Bao growled, and then: “Tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”
Branwenn shrugged and gave him a sheepish look. “Aye, I suppose I did. But, Bao! I could not allow the man to harm her—and there was no time to get aid!”
“What happened then?” Daniel asked, his voice low with suppressed anger and fear.
Branwenn turned and looked at him. “I ran up to them and yelled for him to release her.” She shrugged again. “Gaiallard let her go and then he rounded on me.” She shivered. “He grinned and said, ‘Ah, my soon-to-be-wife. Do you disapprove of my visiting Alyson? She is my sister after all.’ I told Alyson to flee and she did.” Branwenn paced toward the window and stared out at the blackness of night that enveloped the courtyard below. “We only traded a few barbed words before I, too, fled.”
The two brothers exchanged glances filled with both relief and irritation and then Daniel said, “I’ve told Callum that the contracts will be voided; that he may have that for which he asks.”
Branwenn whirled around. “Daniel!” She rushed up to him and grabbed his hand in both of her own. “Nay!”
Daniel brought his other hand up to cup her cheek. “List me well, wee one. ‘Tis not as you believe. I told him ‘twill take at least a moon to do the deed. This will surely give him the time he needs to recover and see the error in his judgement. But, for now, I thought it best for his recovery to allow him to believe we’d do his bidding.”
Branwenn squeezed his callous-roughened hand. “My thanks, brother.”
“Now, tell me what this ‘proof’ is that he says is undeniable.”
Branwenn began to tremble. “Nay.”
The look of terror in her eyes broke his heart. Not knowing what else to do to ease her, Daniel wrapped her in his arms. “‘Tis something regarding your frame, Callum said. Something of which only a lover could know.” He gave Bao a questioning look.
Bao’s brows slammed together as he tried to think to what Callum would be referring. All at once, he knew. His eyes widened. “I believe ‘tis—”
Branwenn jerked out of Daniel’s embrace. “NAY! Say naught more.”
Bao crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a short nod. “All right.”
Daniel’s brow lifted as he drilled his brother with a steady gaze.
Bao shrugged. “‘Tis for Branwenn to tell, and it appears she has no desire to do so.”
Daniel rested his palms on her shoulders and gently turned her to face him. “Is it so awful then? Something you will not tell me of, your own brother?”
Branwenn gave him a pleading look. “I beg you, try to understand. ‘Tis simply too privy a thing, too horrid.”
Daniel glanced at Bao, who shook his head in disagreement, and then brought his gaze back to Branwenn. “Horrid?”
Branwenn’s face crumpled and she lifted her hands to cover it. “Aye! Horrid! Please, do not press me more to tell you.”
Daniel sighed and kissed the crown of her head. “As you wish. I’ll leave the matter be.”
Daniel felt her shoulders relax beneath his palms. She dropped her arms to her sides. “My thanks.” Looking first at Daniel and then at Bao, she said, “Whatever am I to do about Callum?”
“Give the man a bit of time to heal. Then we shall see how set he truly is against remaining wed to you,” Daniel said.
“Aye,” Bao agreed, “‘tis certain that once he’s had a few more days of recovery he’ll not be of the same mind. He’s sure to see the error in his reasoning then.”
“I pray you are not wrong,” Branwenn said.
* * *
An hour later, their worried sister at last appeased and gone off to attempt a word with Alyson, the two brothers settled by the hearthfire in the great hall. Their ale tankards filled almost to overflowing, they each took a long pull before resting the base of the vessels on their knees.
“This proof that Callum has worries me,” Bao said, breaking the companionable silence.
“Aye?”
Bao sighed and pressed his thumb and forefinger against the lids of his tired eyes. “There is no way—and believe me, I’ve been trying to work one out this past hour—that the Norman could have known of this thing unless he’d...well, he’d had very close, intimate contact with the lass. It’s on the portion of her body where only a lover would have access, do you ken?”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “Then, pray brother, how ever do you know of such?”
“Get your mind out of the gong pile,” Bao said. “I raised her from the day she was born, remember you that? ‘Tis common practice to see a babe in the bare when one bathes her or changes her swaddlings, you old lecher.”
Daniel settled back in his chair. He ignored his brother’s insult. “So, ‘tis some birthmark of which he speaks, then?”
Bao scrubbed the back of his neck with his palm and shook his head. “Nay, I’ve told you more than I should have already. Branwenn will be hurt if I say more.”
Daniel took that as a ‘yes’. “So, you think our sister did allow the Norman to bed her?”
Bao growled low in his throat. “I know not! I want to believe her, but, as I said, I cannot see how the man would have known of it otherwise. For, as you saw yourself, the lass will not speak of it—to anyone. In fact, as far as I know, ‘tis only I and the old nurse I hired to live with us as she grew that knew of this”—he shrugged—“thing.”
Daniel sighed and rested his head on the chair’s back. He gazed up at the raftered ceiling, his mind in chaos.
“So, Callum’s accusation is valid.” He lifted his head, a light of determination in his gaze as he looked at his brother. “But even the Norman admitted she only did so in an attempt to save Callum’s life. Tho’ ‘twas folly on her part, her motive was pure. Surely, in time, Callum will see that.”
Bao nodded. “Aye, let us pray so.”
They were both silent a moment, lost in their own musings. Finally, Bao shook his head, saying, “Nay. Nay, I simply do not believe she did this thing—at least not after she wed Callum—priest’s blessing or no. Nay, I think she must have had some contact with the man while she was in Cambria. Mayhap while they were betrothed and together at Pembroke. What say you?”
Daniel studied his brother a moment as he worked this out in his mind. He nodded. “Aye, that makes much more sense.” He leaned forward. “Is it possible that naught more went on than, ahem, preamble? Would he have seen this thing in that case? For, Callum has been quite sure these past moons that he...well...that Branwenn had been an innocent, prior....”
Bao chuckled in spite of the dire subject of their conversation. “You truly cannot bear to think on our wee sister as a woman grown, with desires, can you?”
Daniel couldn’t help it. He cringed. “Nay. So let us keep to the general and not the specific, all right?”
With a nod, Bao said, “Aye. And, aye to the other, as well. ‘Tis more than possible that the Norman might have acquired this knowledge during the”—he choked back a laugh but it came out as a snort—“preamble, did you call it?”
Daniel drilled him with a steady glare. “‘Tis glad I am that I can offer such amusement to you, but would you mind concentrating a bit more on the subject at hand? It is our sister’s shattered hopes of which we are speaking, after all.”
Bao immediately sobered. “Aye, you are right.” He cocked his head to the side. “Have you noticed how quick Callum is to compare our wee sister to that viper to whom he was wed, Lara?”
Daniel took in a deep breath and slowly released it. “Aye, I have. And I know not how to reason him out of it, for he has a demon riding his back. ‘Tis something he alone has the power to overcome within himself. Naught we say will make him see with different eyes. Not this time; not without proof that the Norman lied.”
Bao nodded. “Hmmm.” After a moment, his spine straightened. “God’s Bones! I cannot believe you would think I’d bedded my own sister!”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I was jesting!” He shrugged. “A wee bit.”
“Arse.”
“‘Tis better to be the arse than the hole.”
Bao shot to his feet. “Mayhap ‘tis been too long since we met on the field. What say you to a bit of a wrestle, brother?”
“‘Tis black as pitch outside!”
“Naught that a few torches will not amend.”
Daniel stood. “Let us to it, then. I admit, giving you a good trouncing will be a pleasant way to end this horrid day.”
Bao strode towards the door. “Worry not, old man,” he called over his shoulder, “you’ll no doubt be aided to your bed in only a few moments time, for it shan’t take more than a move or two for me to knock you on your arse.”
Chalmers, Maggie and Lady Maclean entered just as Bao said the last.
“Oh, my, are you two at it again?” Maggie said.
Chalmers chuckled. “Leave them be, my dear. ‘Tis good practice and they’ll not do too much damage to themselves, I trow.”
“Aye, and after the events of the day, I’m sure they need a bit of exercise to calm them,” Lady Maclean said. She touched her fingers to her daughter’s wrist. “Besides, you know well how warriors do enjoy testing their skills.”
Maggie stepped away from her husband, making a clear path to the door for Bao to go through. “Aye, I suppose you are right, Mama.”
Bao dipped his head to her and strode out, with Daniel not three paces behind him.
* * *
Later that night, near the chimes at midnight, Branwenn silently stepped across the threshold of Callum’s bedchamber. After quietly closing the door behind her, she rested back against the hard, rough wood and gazed toward the closed canopy of the bed.
She’d sworn to leave Callum be. To allow him to recover before speaking to him again, but she found she just couldn’t do it. Not knowing that he still had no knowledge of the babe he’d put in her womb.
And, surely, once he knew, he’d stop this talk of voiding the contracts; he’d realize how wrong he’d been in his belief that she’d been with any other but him. And then they could begin building their lives together as they’d planned.
She tiptoed over to the side of the bed and spread the drape back with her hand enough to see the dark outline of Callum’s large form.
“Get out, whore.”
Branwenn sucked in a breath, both in surprise and anguish at the epithet he continued to use for her. She began to tremble, but she resolutely held her ground. He’d change his mind soon enough, when he knew.
“And on the morrow, hie yourself to one of your brothers’ holdings, for I will not have you sullying my home another moment. You disgust me. You and that vile patch you sport.”
Branwenn’s heart twisted. Her eyes misted, but she blinked the moisture away. Not this night. She’d not give in to her weakness this night. “You said you liked it—that you wanted all our bairns to have it, and now there just may be—”
“‘Twas a lie, my dear. Just as you lied to me about your lack of experience. What a fool I was to believe you innocent when you inveigled me to speak of the act of coupling in detail that day. ‘Twas more likely some cunning ploy used to entice me that you use on all your men.”
“Callum! How could you think such! ‘Tis not true, I swear it.”
“You swear it? Truly? And what good are vows from you when you so easily break them—only one day after you gave them!”
Mayhap she had been in Bao’s trade in Perth, Callum suddenly thought. Bao had vehemently denied it when he’d asked him that very question last year, but now Callum was no longer convinced. She was much too bold for a true innocent. Why, she’d nearly devoured him that day in the cave. Sucked him dry. The Norman’s vile words still haunted him, made him ill. Aye, that was no act of a true novice.
And she’d seduced him as well. In this very bed he lay upon now. How bold she had been, teasing his cock with that hot mouth of hers and then straddling him and taking him inside her. Like a veritable proficient. Had she truly been a virgin? Mayhap that had been an act as well.
“I love you, Callum. And you said you loved me, many times. Do not do this to us, I beg you.”
Callum closed his eyes against the enticement of her standing so close to him that he could smell the sweet rose scent of her, feel the seductive heat of her lovely body, ripe and ready for the taking, if only he’d reach out his hands and accept what she offered. But not again. He’d not be made the fool again by another deceitful wife. Not now, not ever.
‘Twas a struggle, but he managed to say in a bored tone, “As it turned out, ‘twas a rather fleeting desire I bore for you, not love. Now, you only vex me with your simpering and mewling. Leave me to my rest.”
Branwenn choked back the cry that rose from deep inside her. She turned and fled, all thoughts of telling him of their babe driven away by his cruel words and stubborn disbelief.
* * *
CHAPTER 18
“My dear, you’ve not had more than a few bites of meat this whole eve! Are you not well?” Lady Maclean asked Branwenn.
‘Twas a fortnight since the joust; a fortnight since Callum’s horrid accusation and her subsequent flight from his chamber. “Aye, I feel well, Grandmother. I’m just a bit tired. This feast started so early this day and now ‘tis surely nearing the chimes of compline.”
Lady Maclean patted her hand. “Well, the players are about to perform; that will surely wake you a bit. I know how you enjoy their antics.”
Branwenn gave her a tired smile. “Aye, I’m sure y
ou are right.” After that terrible night when Callum had denied his love for her, Branwenn had followed Daniel’s advice and allowed him to convalesce with no further contact from her.
“Ahh! Here they are,” Lady Maclean said. “This should be quite entertaining, for it looks as though they’ve got one of the younger players dressed as a lass. ‘Twill be a story of two lovers no doubt. I do so enjoy that type of play.” She leaned close to Branwenn and said, “‘Tis such a shame that the others could not be here to see this. But Maryn and Jesslyn would not be swayed. They wanted to return to their babes—and who could blame them?” She chuckled and gave a bit of a shrug. “And ‘tis a good thing, I trow, that Bao left as well, for even I was beginning to worry over his and Daniel’s desire to compete with each other over the slightest thing.”
Daniel had evidently heard his grandmother’s last comment, because he laughed good-naturedly and said, “Not the slightest thing, Grandmother, I assure you. I’m sure I’d give him the last turnip, if he wanted it, for example.”
Lady Maclean chucked him on the chin. “Aye, but only because you have no real liking for them! You cannot fool me, my lad.”
He gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged. “Mayhap.”
While Daniel and Lady Maclean continued their lively banter, Branwenn squirmed on her stool. Some mad compulsion that she had yet to overcome made her look in Callum’s direction for the thousandth time that eve. Her heart shot into her throat when her eyes were instantly swept up in the green fire of his own. He smirked and dipped his head to her in snide greeting before turning back to the other young clansmen—his friends—whom he sat with at one of the soldiers’ trestle tables below the dais where the family’s table was located. Branwenn quickly turned her eye back to the performers.
The play started with a song. Two of the players, one male and one dressed as a female, danced toward each other. Then, as the two stood facing each other, the music stopped and the man said:
“Why if it isn’t the beautiful Mai. What’s brought you to this cave, oh fey one?”
A feeling of foreboding filled Branwenn. Mai? Cave? Fey one? She shook her head. Nay, ‘twas a strange stroke of chance. Surely. But she straightened on her stool and watched closely the rest of the scene in any case.