“My father’s men are coming here, right now. We are to stay here and await Owen’s instruction,” Heather concluded, braced for any reaction that Edith might have. However, she was not anticipating the eerie calm that followed.
“I didnae want to believe it,” Edith murmured, staring blankly ahead at the flickering flames. “I suspected it, but… I didnae want to think ill of that man. I thought he might wantmedead, which was why he asked to “meet” with me, but what faither is despicable enough to kill his own son?”
Heather nodded. “I am struggling with that same question.”
“I am sorrier still for yer beloved,” Edith added. “I’d bet all the coin I have that yer faither is marchin’ here under the pretense that his daughter was kidnapped by a barbarian, and has been forced into a marriage, against her will.”
Heather’s eyes widened in alarm. “Pardon?”
“He’s a schemin’ wretch, Heather. Do ye nae think he’ll use yer letter to his advantage? He’ll have summoned his bannermen with that letter. There’ll be more than justhismen marchin’ here, ye mark me words,” Edith explained, with that same tone of flat, unnerving calm. “Ye inadvertently gave him “proof” that he didnae have before.”
Dread sank like a rock in Heather’s stomach, as she realized the possibility in Edith’s words. Of course, her father would use the letter to get what he wanted—namely, his wayward daughter, back under his control. He had proven himself to be a master of opportunity, and she had just given him one that he would never be able to resist.
“What can I do?” Heather whispered, trembling in fear.
Edith smiled stiffly and put an arm around Heather’s shoulders. “There’s nothin’ ye can do, Sister. It’s too late. Yer faither will be here by nightfall, I imagine, when he’ll strike against yer beloved. If the castle falls, he’ll take me, he’ll take ye, and he’ll nae hesitate to execute yer beloved. Me death will likely follow soon after, while ye… I daenae ken what he’ll do with ye, but it willnae be pleasant.”
“How can you be so calm?” Heather’s heart threatened to explode from her chest; it was beating too fast.
Edith shrugged. “I daenae have anythin’ to fear, I suppose. Yer faither already took almost everythin’ from me. Besides, I have notions of what I’ll do if he reaches me.”
“What do you mean?”
She smiled sadly. “As I say, I have nothin’ to fear.” She stood up and urged Heather to stand, before ushering her toward the door. “Now, ye best gather yer belongings, if we’re to be moved to safer quarters. I imagine yer beloved will put us deep below the castle, so we daenae get caught by any projectiles.”
“Can I not stay with you awhile?”
Edith patted Heather lightly on the back. “Nay, Sister. I need a moment to meself, to gather me thoughts. Ye’ve told me a great deal this day, on top of a great deal of other misery. I would see to me grief by meself, but we’ll see one another again soon, when Owen gives his instruction.”
Realizing that her sister-in-law was merely pretending to hold herself together, and likely needed time and space to weep as freely as she pleased, Heather pulled the woman into a tight embrace.
“You have me, now. I know it is not the same, but please understand that you will never be alone. You are my sister, and you are cherished,” she told Edith, hugging her close.
Edith hugged her back. “As are ye, Sister. I’m glad to have found ye, and I only hope that we will have more time to get to ken one another. If there is any way, ye will nae suffer as I have done.”
Holding one another for a few minutes more, Edith finally broke away and nudged Heather through the open door of the chamber. Sharing a heartfelt farewell, Heather made her way up to her own chamber, where she would have to decide what to take down into the castle’s underbelly with her.
Left alone, and driven half-mad by her own unrelenting thoughts, evening had fallen by the time Heather began to wonder if something was wrong. Owen had not yet returned for her, and the world seemed unnaturally silent beyond her chamber window.
Curious, she approached the pane and looked out upon the glittering loch. There, in the dying light, she saw a figure moving furtively around the curve of the pebbled shore.
A gasp escaped her throat. “Edith… no!”
In that moment, she realized how foolish she had been. Of course, Edith would not sit idly by while her husband’s killer marched toward the castle. After all, she had threatened to kill her husband’s murderer with her bare hands. Perhaps, she still planned to do just that.
“If there is any way, ye will nae suffer as I have done,”Edith’s words came back to Heather, with much darker, more dreadful connotations. How could she have missed the tone of revenge in her sister-in-law’s voice?
Without hesitation, Heather flew from the room, sprinting down staircases and hallways as fast as her legs would carry her. Not once did she think about pausing to find Owen, and inform him of what had happened, for she could think of only Edith. The woman had to be stopped before she did something irrevocable.
So, she raced onward, cutting through the elegant gardens and passing by the woodland that flanked the loch. She stumbled a little as she reached the pebbled shore and struggled around the outcrop of wall that kept the castle safe. The water was colder and deeper than she had expected, forcing her to swim—or, rather, flail—until she reached solid ground again.
Nevertheless, she pressed on, hoisting up her wet skirts as she chased after the sister she had only just begun to know.
I will not lose anyone else to that bastard of a father. I will not,she vowed, keeping Edith’s distant shadow in her line of sight as she ran. It was the least she could do for the brother she had not been able to protect.
26
“M’Laird!” Sawyer burst into the council chamber, where Owen was deep in discussion with the members of the gray guard. A vanguard had already been sent out to greet the Englishmen in a clash of swords and musket fire, but final preparations were still being decided.
