“Could I speak with you in private?” Allyson murmured as her gaze shot between Elizabeth and Edward, and the nervousness she’d been able to control threatened to weaken her knees.
“Of course.” Elizabeth led the trio to a chamber Allyson realized was a solar the couple shared. “What’s happened, Allyson? Why are you alone?”
Allyson unwrapped her scarf and loosened the cloak before she looked at Elizabeth. She took a fortifying breath before launching into her tale of woe. “Do you remember the Gordon twins?” Elizabeth nodded but looked ill at ease at the mention of the brothers who had tried to seduce her into being their mistress more than once. “Your brother-by-marriage ordered me to marry Ewan. He made his decree known only a few hours after I discovered him and Eoin leaving Lady Bevan’s chambers together. Tucking in their leines and grinning. The cad taunted me in the passageway and then threatened to pass me between him and Eoin.”
“They wouldn’t, Allyson. They wouldn’t dare,” Elizabeth whispered, but her objection rang hollow in her own ears.
“Why wouldn’t they? They’d just done that very thing with Lady Bevan. To make matters worse, Ewan admitted in front of the king, my father, his father, his brother, and me, not to mention the other men present in the Privy Council, that he had no qualms about forcing me into his bed and keeping a leman, too. None of the men seemed nonplussed by his declaration. None cared about the shame that would bring upon me. None cared that I--” Allyson choked out the last words as the tears she’d controlled for the past day overwhelmed her. Elizabeth pulled her friend into her arms as she looked at her husband. She and Edward knew Allyson couldn’t remain. They were in no position to gainsay Edward’s brother when it came to alliances the king demanded between clans. Furthermore, Culcreuch wasn’t their home. They were guests with an open invitation, but that arrangement came from Robert, not the Galbraiths. They weren’t at liberty to extend shelter in another laird’s home.
“Allyson, did you run away?” Edward knew the answer, but he needed to be certain. He watched as his wife’s friend nodded but continued to sob against Elizabeth’s shoulder. He wished he could plow his fist into Ewan Gordon’s face, but the young man wasn’t there, and it wouldn’t do Allyson any good. “Does anyone know where you’ve gone? A friend? Your maid?”
Allyson straightened and brushed the tears from her cheeks. “Nay. I didn’t tell anyone. I don’t want my maid punished for my choices, and beyond that, I don’t trust anyone else.”
Elizabeth exchanged a knowing glance with Edward before tucking stray hair behind Allyson’s ear. She wiped a wayward tear from Allyson’s chin before offering her a reassuring smile. Allyson responded with a weak smile of her own, but her sobs had subsided.
“Let’s get you settled into a chamber, and in the morning, we can decide how to proceed,” Elizabeth offered. Allyson stared at her for a long moment before nodding.
“You’re sending me back, aren’t you?” Allyson shrank into herself as the thin hope she’d pinned on making her way to Edward and Elizabeth evaporated.
“We’ll discuss it in the morning. Nothing’s decided yet,” Edward reassured.
“You haven’t decided whether you’re returning me personally or just sending your guard as my escort. I shouldn’t have come.” Allyson turned toward the door. “I shouldn’t have involved you.”
“Allyson, wait. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, you can’t go back out in the night alone. You’re tempting fate. Stay the night, rest, wake up with a clear head, and we’ll decide what to do.” Elizabeth squeezed her hands before leading her from the solar. The trio walked in silence until Elizabeth showed Allyson the chamber where she could pass the rest of the night.
“Should we post a guard?” Elizabeth murmured as she and Edward made their way to their chamber. “She will run again.”
“How do you know?”
“Because, Eddie, it’s what I would do.” Elizabeth frowned as she weighed her words. Her husband was protective to a fault, and while his possessiveness never kept her from doing what she wanted, it could overwhelm anyone on the receiving end of his ire. “Both Gordon twins made offers to me over the years, and they never had aught to do with marriage.Everyone knows both men are womanizers. Laird Gordon may be a good man and a good leader, but he hasn’t done aught to hide his mistresses over the years. The apples didn’t fall far from the tree. Neither Ewan nor Eoin believe in the sanctity of marriage, and while it shocks me to hear Ewan threatened to mistreat Allyson, it doesn’t surprise me he did naught to hide his intention to keep a leman. Eddie, I know most women aren’t as fortunate as I am to marry a man I love and who loves me, but no woman deserves to enter a marriage where her groom will flaunt his infidelity in her face. And no woman should be forced to accept a man who has already admitted he has little regard for her wellbeing.”
“Beth, what you and Allyson have said concerns me, but neither you nor I are able to thwart Robert’s plans. I’ll travel back to Stirling with Allyson and speak on her behalf to my brother, but I can’t promise he’ll listen.”
“I’m coming, too.”
“Nay.”
“Aye. Eddie, she’s my friend. I’ve also experienced the Gordons’ less-than-honorable advances and can speak to their behavior. She needs people on her side, and who better to accompany the king’s brother than a former lady-in-waiting who also happens to be the king’s sister-by-marriage?” Elizabeth placed her hands on her hips and challenged her husband to argue with her. Edward shrugged and rolled his eyes, his capitulation coming without an argument. “But you still haven’t answered my question about whether we should post a guard. I’m afraid she’ll bolt before daylight.”
“She can’t. None of the guards will open any of the gates to her that early. And if she tries to saddle her horse, at least one of the stable hands will notice and notify me.”
Elizabeth looked doubtful, but nodded as she climbed into bed.
Chapter Six
Allyson dropped the satchel on the floor beside the bed and collapsed onto it, too exhausted to do more than remove her outerwear and boots. She pulled the covers from the far side over her and wrapped herself in them like a cocoon. Her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, and her tired eyes were dry and scratchy after crying. Despite feeling worn out, Allyson’s mind wasn’t as depleted as her emotions and her body. She contemplated how to slip away from Edward and Elizabeth before they arranged to return her to court. She once more considered heading toward the Sinclairs and seeking sanctuary with them through her friend Isabella Dunbar, but she remembered two factors that would prove impossible to surmount. She couldn’t travel into the northern Highlands alone, and she’d made more than one inappropriate comment about Magnus and Tavish Sinclair in front of the women they married. She doubted they would receive her warmly after jesting about what laid beneath the men’s plaids. Besides that, Isabella had a husband now and a baby on the way. Allyson dropped off to sleep when her mind gave up its resistance, but she had no new plan in place.
Allyson woke with a start to an owl hooting while sitting on her window ledge. The animal had moonlight behind it, and it appeared to be observing her. It was an unsettling feeling, as though the bird saw in her chamber and into her soul. Roused from slumber, Allyson lay on the bed contemplating her options. She could remain at Culcreuch until Edward escorted her back to court. Once she was there, she had the choice between running again or accepting the marriage. She refused to make that choice because she refused to return to court. This created a choice between running away from Culcreuch before everyone began waking or trying to slip away from Edward and his guards while they were on the road. She had no doubt Edward would track her and drag her back to court, kicking and screaming if he had to. As the realization that she needed to leave soon settled into her mind, she considered how she might leave the bailey wall with no one notifying Edward.
It had been dark when she arrived earlier that night, so she had no way to tell if the village outside the keep had a stable or livery. She wouldn’t assume it did, which meant she needed to decide whether she would try to sneak a horse out of the bailey or leave on foot. Allyson could travel farther and faster on horseback, but she imagined she’d be more difficult to track on foot. She wouldn’t be able to decide until she made it outside and surveyed the bailey.
Allyson climbed out of bed and gathered her meager belongings before opening the door a crack. She’d feared they would post a guard outside her chamber, but there was no one visible in the passageway. She slipped down the stairs to the Great Hall but avoided the main doors and entered the kitchens. She eased through the side door and looked around the bailey. There were guards on the battlements, but there was no one in sight on the ground. She hid in the shadows as she crept through the alley between the back of the outbuildings and the retaining wall. Two guards stood on the wall walk above the postern gate, both facing away from the keep. Even if she opened the gate, they would spot her as soon as she passed through it. This ended the option to take a horse through that way. She glanced toward the portcullis, but it wouldn’t open for several hours, and by then, she would be too noticeable. Any attempt to leave through the main exit would draw too much attention. She looked along the side of the keep to where she glimpsed construction work being done on the retaining wall. She inched her way toward the site, praying there might be a crumbling hole in the wall that she might sneak through. She realized it was an unlikely event, but she hoped, nonetheless. While she didn’t find a hole in the wall, she found a ladder propped against it. She knew that section of the wall butted up to the shore of a loch, so there were few guards in sight, and that portion of the wall would be difficult for the guards to see in the dark. Allyson saw her only option for escape.
She scaled the ladder with her skirts tucked into her waist before rolling onto the wall walk. Allyson waited for the alarm to go up or for a guard to rush toward her, but all remained quiet. She grasped the ladder and yanked as hard as she could. She was close to falling over backwards when she discovered the ladder was far lighter than she expected. She pulled it up and away from the side of the wall until she passed it along to the other side. She looked over the edge and found there was a small strip of dirt between the wall and the edge of the loch. She lowered the ladder and wiggled it several times to ensure it wouldn’t shift too much. Allyson scampered down to the ground and caught her breath as she looked around. She glanced back at the ladder and winced. She couldn’t push it back up and over the edge, nor could she leave it propped against the outside of the wall. That would be an invitation for anyone to breach the keep’s defenses. She tucked as much as she could under the foliage that grew along the shore.
I can travel southwest to Glasgow or northeast to Edinburgh. Glasgow is closer and the opposite direction from Stirling. Which way is southwest, though? The sun won’t rise for a few more hours, and I have no clue how to use the stars to navigate. I admit it was a large dose of luck that got me here, but now what?
Allyson had ridden west from Stirling with no need to turn north or south, which meant the gate must face east. She walked along the length of the keep until she came to the eastern wall, and from there, she turned to face her right. She would have to travel west until she reached the far shore of the loch, but then she would adjust her course and turn south, then eventually southwest.
