by Ava McArthur
“Has she shown any signs?” Lorna asked hopefully, clasping her hands together.
“No, not yet, but there is always a chance.”
Just then, they heard the thunderous clatter of hooves in the courtyard. Niall rushed downstairs just as Colm dismounted from his huge warhorse and marched over to him. He stopped a foot away from Niall, his face crimson with fury.
“Another one, M’Laird?” he roared. “Perhaps I should replace you with someone more competent—like my stable boy!”
Niall folded his arms over his chest to stop himself from striking the clan elder, but his face was a mask of fury as he glared back at him.
“Hamish Bann was destined for a lairdship of his own,” he growled. “He had two children and a bright future. Now he leaves a widow and two orphaned children, and because you are too witless to organize a ceilidh on your own! Why did you have so many peasants in your castle? Do you have no sense at all?”
Niall could think of nothing to say, because in the end, the welfare of his guests had been his responsibility, and he was well aware of it.
Seeing her husband being verbally attacked, Elspeth was about to weigh in with a few choice words of her own, but Lorna held her back. “Having a woman defending him is going to make him look weak,” she whispered. “Do not worry. Niall is no weakling, Elspeth. Watch him.” She almost looked as if she relished what they could both see was about to become a battle.
They watched as the two men shouted and exchanged bitter words with each other before Colm completely lost control and lashed out at Niall, trying to land a blow on the point of his jaw. However, Niall’s reactions were faster; he gripped Colm’s wrist and drove a fist into the man’s stomach. The air whooshed out of Colm’s lungs, and he collapsed onto the stone flags, but Niall was not finished. He grabbed his adversary by the front of his tunic and hauled him upright again, then drew his arm back to administer a mighty blow to Colm’s face that would have shattered his nose. But at that moment, the guards from both sides of the battle dragged them apart.
Colm was clutching at his stomach, but Niall was straining to get out of his captor’s grasp, murder written all over his face. Later, Elspeth realized that if he had not been held back, he would have beaten the clan elder to a bloody pulp.
She had never seen Niall in a state of such fury before, and she felt alarmed, frightened, and utterly astonished. Where had her loving husband gone? Where was the man who made tender love to her every night and looked after her every need? She did not recognize him.
Presently, he cooled down and came to his senses, but Lorna ordered the guards to stand ready behind both of the men in case of a further outbreak of violence.
“Did you come here just to insult me?” Niall demanded.
Colm was still clutching his stomach, but the furious fire had not gone out of his eyes. “No!” he barked. “I came to offer my help. You have a problem, and as your clan elder, I want to help you solve it before anyone else dies. And this is the thanks I get!” He turned away, looking disgusted.
“Then perhaps you should be a little more polite,” Lorna suggested, walking up behind them and holding a glass of whiskey in each hand.
Immediately, Colm bowed and looked embarrassed. “I beg your pardon, milady,” he said in a penitent tone. Lorna looked him up and down once, then walked away with Elspeth.
Once alone, the two men faced each other across the table in the big dining room, and gradually, their hostility evaporated.
“Who would want you dead?” Colm asked, spreading his hands in puzzlement. “We are at peace with all the clans in this part of the country, and you have taken care of the English problem. Is there anyone else you can think of?”
Niall shook his head in baffled resignation. “I have been cudgeling my brains to think of anyone, but truthfully, I can think of no one.”
“Someone within the clan?” Colm speculated. “Who could benefit from your death?”
“Only my cousin, Drew, and his two brothers Iain and Bruce. But we are like brothers. We grew up together. It cannot be them. Anyway, they could not get here in time to celebrate with us last night.”
The two men sat in silence, thinking for a moment. At last, Colm sighed. “I can think of no other help I can give, but if you should ever need me or any of the other clan elders, please do not hesitate to send for us. Next time, perhaps we should welcome each other a little more warmly, though.”
The two men grinned at each other, and then Colm’s smile faded. He looked down at his hands, which were twisting together. “How is your mother?” he asked, avoiding Niall’s eyes.
“She is well,” Niall replied, his eyes twinkling. “But you are welcome to ask her yourself.”
“I am worried about her safety,” Colm said anxiously. There was an awkward pause, and then Colm rushed onwards. “She is a good woman, Niall. She is kind, intelligent, and generous to a fault.”
“She is indeed,” Niall agreed, “and you are not the first man to say so.” He looked at Colm keenly and saw him wince. “If you think so, why not court her?”
Colm smiled, abashed. “She is a fine lady, and I feel...unworthy of her.”
Niall shrugged. “Then it is your loss,” he said carelessly. “But I have never known her to bite unless she was defending her children.”
Colm stood up and took a deep breath. “I am afraid,” he said, ashamed. “A man like me who has faced Sassenachs in battle!” He shook his head.
“The power of love,” Niall declared, laughing as he patted Colm on the shoulder. “Better men than us have been overwhelmed by it.” He smiled and led him towards the parlor, where Lorna and Elspeth were sewing.
Colm smiled nervously, bowing. At an almost imperceptible jerk of the head from Niall, Elspeth stood up and excused herself. She looked at Niall with a question in her eyes.
“We will see you at dinner,” Niall announced, smiling wickedly.
Then Elspeth understood.
14
Blackberries
From the moment Hamish had been murdered, Niall had ordered Elspeth and Lorna to be guarded every moment that they were not with him.
“I am having your food prepared by trusted servants, as you know,” he said tenderly, “but I need you to smell everything before you eat or drink it, and if anything seems strange to you, then you must have it thrown away. Do the same with your perfumes and the oils you put on your skin and have Catriona check inside your clothes, too. You may think that I am fussing like an old woman, Elspeth, but I am not having anyone else who is dear to me taken away from me. Promise me, love.”
“I promise,” she said earnestly, taking his strong hands in hers and kissing them. “Please do the same for me.”
“I promise.” She had become so important to him that he could not imagine being without her, and yet he could not bring himself to say he loved her.
What is wrong with me?
He kissed her and wished he could stay by her side to protect her for the rest of the day, but he knew his trusted guards were by her side, and they would let no harm befall her. He mounted Rex and left the castle for the Inverness Horse Fair, where he hoped to buy a beautiful mare for Elspeth’s twenty-first birthday. He pushed the whole matter of his cousin’s death to the back of his mind; it was a rare warm autumn day. He was amidst all his best and most faithful friends, and he was going to enjoy it if he could.
Despite the rare spell of good weather, Elspeth spent the day in her chamber with Catriona, sewing and chatting. The constant presence of a guard at her back was beginning to weary her and make her tense and irritable, and her chamber was the only place in the entire castle where she could obtain some measure of privacy. She had even begun to eat her meals there.
Darkness had just fallen, and it was almost time for dinner. She asked Catriona to go and fetch it, together with a cup of willow bark tea, since she did not want to step outside her chamber for even a moment. She wondered what had happened to Niall since he was usual
ly home before dark. However, he always traveled with Stuart these days, so she had no cause to be anxious about his safety. Both of them were accomplished swordsmen, but despite this, she was worried.
Elspeth was beginning to experience a slight painful throb above her eyes, the beginning of a headache Catriona thought had been brought on by worry.
Perhaps Niall’s horse had cast a shoe, or he had stayed longer than he had expected with his friends, Elspeth mused. She did not begrudge him his time with them; it had been a grim few weeks, and he deserved to be able to let off steam by doing all the things that would either bore, shock, or terrify her.
She smiled at the thought of some of his more outrageous exploits, which usually ended up with deep cuts, grazes, bruises, or a combination of all of them. He had not yet broken anything, but she reasoned that it was only a matter of time since he was covered in the scars of former battles, and she had no doubt there would be many more to come! Still, men have to be men sometimes, even if they are half-animal! She laughed aloud at the thought.
Just then, there was a soft knock at the door. Thinking that it might be one of the servants, she opened it to find Maggie on the other side. She smiled and curtsied, then held a goblet out to Elspeth. It held a dark purple liquid that was fragrant with the scent of blackberries. Elspeth’s mouth watered.
“Milady,” Maggie said pleasantly, “M’Laird asked me tae bring ye this so ye could drink it just before dinner. He says ye have been havin’ some stomach troubles. This has a wee bit o’ physick in it that will help.”
This was true; Elspeth had occasionally had a stomachache just before she ate, but it usually disappeared after her meal. It had never bothered her enough to seek medication for it, but Niall was incredibly kind and hated to see her in any distress at all.
She smiled as she took the goblet from Maggie and thanked her, but sensed that something was wrong.
Niall would not have sent something like this for her; he had told her to be extremely wary of anything she ate and drank, and the healer was able to lay her hand on any amount of poisons and other noxious substances.
Elspeth looked into Maggie’s eyes and saw the truth as she urged Elspeth to drink. “I will try it,” Elspeth said as she put it down on the table. “I am having some wine at the moment.”
I wonder where Catriona is? she thought suddenly, realizing that her maid had been away for far longer than it took to bring a dish from the kitchen. She must have been delayed somehow, and Elspeth wished she would come back and rescue her from the precarious situation in which she found herself. She had sent her guards away, thinking that she was quite safe inside her chamber, but perhaps she was just being fanciful; it had been a disturbing few weeks, and she might be reading too much into everything.
The cup smelled of blackberries and honey, but there was something else underneath it—a slight aroma of garlic that seemed faintly familiar. It took her a moment or two to remember, but suddenly the recollection came to her with stunning clarity, and she was back in the unbearable heat and stuffiness of Craig’s sickroom. There had been a disgusting mixture of noxious stenches in the room that day—vomit, feces, stale urine. But the main one had been the one she could smell now. She did not know what the poison was, but she knew that she must not take a sip of it under any circumstances.
“Ye must drink it while it is fresh, milady,” Maggie said, her gaze firmly locked on Elspeth’s. “Otherwise, it wilnae dae ye any good.”
“I am not to eat or drink anything from anyone ’til Niall is here,” Elspeth told her coldly. “Those were his instructions, and I am obeying them. He is my husband and the laird of this castle.”
There was a pause before Maggie spoke again. “Indeed he is, milady,” Maggie agreed, giving her a twisted smile. Suddenly, she looked like a different person. “But there are others who are more fit for the title, an’ deserve it mair. So ye are comin’ wi’ me, an’ I will make sure that the man who should be the laird becomes the laird.”
“I will not drink this, and you cannot make me.” Elspeth’s voice was grim as she tipped the goblet up, then deliberately emptied its contents onto the floor, ruining a priceless Turkish rug in the process.
Maggie looked down at the mess on the carpet, and when she looked up, her eyes were black with hatred. “Ye think no’?” Maggie gave Elspeth an evil smile, and a little dagger seemed to jump into her hand as if from nowhere. “Ye either come wi’ me, or I will kill ye where ye stand, milady.”
“I will be no good to you then, will I?” Elspeth said defiantly, although her stomach was a jangling mass of terror. She had never, ever been so scared. The point of the knife dug into her flesh; not enough to tear her clothes or pierce her skin, but enough to cause a stinging pain.
“Maybe no’,” Maggie agreed, “but I have killed before, milady. The first time was terrifyin’, but the second no’ sae much. Funny thing about killin’ is that it gets easier the mair ye dae it. In fact, ye get a taste for it, an’ it becomes...fun. Dinnae fool yerself, milady. I may just kill ye for sport.” There was a gleam of madness in her eyes.
“You are insane!” Elspeth cried, horrified. “You will never get away with this!”
“Maybe I am, milady,” Maggie said, as she dug the knife in with a little more pressure. “But when ye are dead, it wilnae matter, will it? I will be the lady o’ the castle an’ ye will be cold in yer grave, lyin’ beside yer husband.”
“You will not harm him!” Elspeth’s voice was a low hiss, but it trembled with fear and rage. “I will have you hunted down and killed like the vermin you are!”
Maggie threw back her head and laughed heartily. “An’ how are ye goin’ tae dae that, milady?” she sneered. “Fae the tomb? I think ye had better come wi’ me. Maybe if ye are very good, I will let ye live for a wee while, but dinnae make a cheep or this dagger is goin’ up tae the hilt between yer ribs! Now ca’ off yer guards if ye want tae see Catriona again.”
Elspeth’s heart gave a leap of fright. “What have you done with her? Have you...”
Maggie gave Elspeth a twisted smile. “Maybe,” she replied. “Maybe no’. But can ye take the chance? One thing is for sure, my lady. If she is no’ already deid, she soon will be if ye dinnae play along. Do we understand each other?” Her eyes were dark but gleeful.
“Yes,” Elspeth nodded. “But I despise and loathe you with every particle of my being, Maggie McGraw.”
Maggie pretended to yawn. “I will lose a lot o’ sleep over that, milady,” she replied sarcastically. “Now go, an’ call off the guards. Remember Catriona.” She pushed Elspeth out of the door and walked downstairs with her. She tucked the knife back in her pocket, no longer needing it for Elspeth’s cooperation. She had Milady McLaren right where she wanted her.
A short while earlier…
Catriona smiled at the cook as she went into the kitchen. She was well liked among all the staff since, unlike many ladies’ maids, she had no airs and graces. As soon as she entered, the delicious scent of fresh blackberries assailed her nose, and she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes to savor it better. Blackberries grew wild everywhere around the castle, and they were delicious even when they were not quite ripe.
“Mmm…” she moaned in delight. “Who has been out an’ about pickin’ my favorite fruit?” she asked, licking her lips.
Heather, one of the youngest of the kitchen maids, giggled and pointed to a gangly redheaded youth leaning on the door jamb. “Jimmy,” she answered, blushing. It was well known that the two of them were walking out together. “He has picked tons o’ them, and there is mair juice than ye could drink in a month! There is honey in this an’ it tastes smashin’. Help yerself, Miss Catriona. Dae ye think milady would like some?”
“Aye, I am sure she would love some!” Catriona said eagerly. “She aye drinks wine wi’ her dinner, but I am sure she would be glad o’ a change.”
Just then, Maggie came into the room. She too sniffed the air ecstatically as she scented the fruit
. “My mouth is waterin’!” she announced, laughing. She eyed the pitchers of fresh fruit juice, rubbing her hands together and giggling. The cook gave her a playful punch on her arm.
“One cup for yerself, Maggie,” she warned. “The jug is for milady an’ Miss Catriona.”
“Of course,” Maggie said solemnly. She poured out a goblet for herself and one for Catriona, who was waiting for Elspeth’s tray to be prepared. No one noticed the tiny pinch of powder that dropped from her hand before she gave it to Catriona, who drank while she waited, then finished it and picked up Elspeth’s tray. Just as she left the kitchen, Maggie came up behind her and put an arm around her waist.
“I want tae show ye somethin’!” she said excitedly, her eyes twinkling.
“Show me after I take milady’s tray up tae her,” Catriona replied.
“It will only take a wee minute!” Maggie said, laughing. “Come on! I have been keepin’ it just for ye. Ye’ll love it!”
Catriona sighed and cast her eyes heavenwards, then put the tray on a table. “Show me then.”
Maggie clapped her hands and led her away towards the service entrance, where the castle’s supplies were delivered. Catriona was beginning to feel distinctly dizzy, but Maggie was tugging her along by the sleeve of her dress. It took a few moments for the realization to dawn on her that she had been drugged, but by then it was too late.
“Maggie...” she began. “I am no feelin—”
“Shush, Catriona,” Maggie said soothingly. She looked around to see that no one was looking, then opened the door of a large store cupboard and pushed Catriona in before shutting and locking the door and pocketing the key.
Catriona tried to cry out, but she could not make a sound. She felt the world collapsing around her, heard a great bang, then darkness closed around her...and she knew no more.
15