“Ye would dare to lay a hand upon me?” Laoghaire retorted, well aware that in the castle’s pecking order, the wife of an earl stood head and shoulders above a mere knight. Nephew or not.
Rather than answer the question put to him, Sir Galen looked her directly in the eye and said, “Sunset . . . and don’t keep the earl waiting.” Admonition given, he then gestured to a middle-aged woman who was slowly making her way down the flight of stairs that led to the expansive, four-story keep. “The castle châtelaine, Dame Winifred, will now see to your comfort.”
With that, Sir Galen pivoted on his heel and took his leave. However, he’d taken no more than a dozen steps before he came to a sudden halt; at which point, he very slowly turned his head to peer back at her. As their eyes met, Laoghaire had a strong urge to make the sign of the cross, to protect herself from that piercing gaze.
“Like ye, I am not particularly fond of the earl’s kinsman,” Diarmid said in a lowered voice. “But ye’d be wise to keep a civil tongue. Sir Galen is a fierce warrior and does not strike me as a man much enamored of spirited women. Do not give the knight a reason to break ye.”
Laoghaire made no reply, annoyed with her cousin’s tiresome fault finding. Although her brother had also cautioned her to keep her distance from the Dark Knight for an entirely different reason: Until she gave birth to a male child, Sir Galen de Ogilvy was the Earl of Angus’s sole heir.“The temptation to ensure that he inherits the earldom may be too great,”Iain had warned.
Just then, a dried leaf blew across the bailey. As she turned toward the keep, Laoghaire dismally acknowledged that her life was no different from the fluttering bit of debris.
For I, too, am being blown about by a force over which I have no control.
CHAPTER TWO
Upon hearing the somber clang of the chapel bell as it rang the hour, Laoghaire emerged from the keep. Sunset was only a few moments away.
Resigned to her fate, she pulled up the hood of her wool cloak to ward off the drizzling rain. Dyed a deep shade of vermillion and lined with white ermine, the beautiful garment had been a parting gift from her brother. She then lifted the hem of her silk kirtle and slowly began the descent down the long flight of stone stairs. Since she didn’t bring a female attendant with her when she traveled from Skye, she was alone.
In truth, she preferred it that way. Earlier, the castle châtelaine, Dame Winifred, and her daughter, a widow named Melisande Jardin, had assisted her with bathing and dressing. The two women were clearly highborn, for they chattered like magpies to one another in French, the language of the Lowland nobility. Because Laoghaire didn’t speak French, she could not understand what was being said, though she intuited that most of it had to do with her upcoming nuptials to the earl. She’d also been the subject of much whispering amongst the many servants she encountered, the earl maintaining a large household.
Again the chapel bell sonorously tolled.
It sounds like a death knell, Laoghaire thought with no small amount of trepidation as her breath caught in her throat.
Not for the first time, she tried to calm her nerves by reminding herself that the Earl of Angus was aged, and because of that he could not live forever.
Soon enough I shall be set free.
Although how aged the earl was remained to be seen, Laoghaire having yet to set eyes upon her betrothed husband. The man clearly could not be bothered with such formalities.I am nothing more than his fourth brood mare.The earl had gone through so many wives, had so many marriages, that what others deemed a holy sacrament had become commonplace to him. A blessing in disguise, she supposed. Hopefully, once his seed took root, he would forget about her entirely.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, four menservants stood at the ready, holding a canopy aloft. Each of them wore a black patch on their tunic that was emblazoned with a red rampant lion. Diarmid, attired in his best plaid, stood beneath the canopy waiting for her.
“Laoghaire, there is something verra important that I must—”
“I have no mind to hear it,” she said over the top of his voice, emphasizing the rebuff with a brusque wave of the hand. The two of them had not spoken since their arrival several hours ago. After spending the last week in Diarmid’s constant company, she’d been glad for the respite. “I’ve had enough of yer carping and endless exhortations.”
“Nonetheless, ’tis vital that ye—”
“Silence!”
At hearing her stern rebuke, the two menservants holding the front end of the canopy peered worriedly over their shoulders at her.
“If ye wish me to go through with this ceremony, cousin, I bid ye be quiet,” Laoghaire continued, her nerves frayed from the many days of strenuous travel. At that moment she felt as though she were traipsing along a steep precipice, mere inches from the edge. She needed the silence to collect herself, so that she could buttress her inner resolve and perform this horrendous act that her king had commanded.
His cheeks flushed with heated color, Diarmid opened his mouth to speak, only to clamp his jaw shut in the next instant.
“We may now proceed,” Laoghaire said to the menservants.
“Yes, milady,” one of the canopy bearers replied in a deferential tone of voice.
With that, they made their way at a slow, measured pace, the chapel located on the other side of the bailey.
Laoghaire assumed that her cousin had intended to upbraid her again for the earlier clash with Sir Galen. She readily acknowledged that she made a mistake in engaging the knight in verbal combat. But Diarmid had nothing to fear on that account. Henceforth, she would be the very picture of ladylike prudence, a model of womanly grace and decorum.
As the chapel came into sight, Laoghaire took a deep, stabilizing breath before she silently recited a quick prayer.Lord God, bless the pathway on which I have been ordered to follow, for it is not one of my choosing. Moreover, it was a path from which there could be no turning back; the Bruce’s marital edict must be obeyed. But, oh, how she wished her future could unfold assheenvisioned it, and not as the king had decreed that it must.
All too soon the entourage came to a halt outside the chapel doors. On each side of the arched doorway there was a pair of elaborately carved columns, the entrance a flagrant display of the earl’s vast wealth.
