In other words, as far as she was concerned, her life was more or less over.
Still, having been chastised, Isla sat in silent misery for another hour or so, but as she did, her resentment built up within her, fouling the air in the carriage until she felt that it would poison her if she remained.
Isla poked her head out of the carriage window, calling out to the driver: “Thomas! Stop here for a moment, please, and release one of the horses from its harness!”
As the carriage rolled to a stop, Elspeth scowled at her daughter. “What on earth do you think you’re doing, girl?”
“‘Tis gotten rather stuffy in here,” Isla retorted, opening the door and hopping out. “I’d prefer tae ride a while. That’ll give the both of you a bit of time tae talk amongst yourselves about how difficult and ungrateful I’ve been acting.”
That jest caused Lily to giggle in spite of herself, but Elspeth was not amused in the slightest. “Get back in the carriage this instant, Isla! I’ll nae have you reeking of horse and road-dust when you’re presented tae the laird!”
“Aye, wouldn’t want his precious merchandise to arrive soiled, would we?” Isla teased as the untethered horse was brought over to her by one of the guardsmen. “He mightn’t want it then!”
“Isla!”
“Mother,” Isla interrupted, easily hoisting herself into the saddle, “you can deliver me tae Laird Alex, you can force me tae wed him, but you cannae compel me tae get back into thatcarriage with you for the next two hours at least, not for all the gold in the world!”
And with that, she began to ride ahead, forcing the carriage driver and the other guardsmen to hasten so that she would not get too far without escort.
In truth, there was a part of her that hoped they might hesitate a bit longer in catching up—that she might be permitted a few precious moments to herself, to try to cope with the harsh realities of the predicament she had found herself in. She felt like her parents’ insistent nagging about how happy and grateful she should feel about all of this had been clanging in her ears for too many days at a time, and it had given her the most prolonged and splitting headache of her young life.
Now, though, she could lose herself in the ride, pretend that there was no one else in the world except for her and Thistledown, that all of the green and majestic hillsides around them on every side belonged to them alone. The emerald valleys were lush and inviting, and she wished more than anything that she might veer off course and simply ride off the road and into those inviting verdant fields where no one would make demands of her. She wished for a carefree life of beauty and adventure, far from arranged marriages and demanding parents, away from exacting lairds and their clans.
Some space to breathe and merely exist, where no one except her horse expected anything from her.
A mist as delicate as lace crept over the meadows just a short distance away. Butterflies danced from flower to flower, and birds and squirrels frolicked in the grass. Just a minor course correction, and she could be among them.
Then she heard the galloping behind her speed up, and within moments, she had guardsmen on either side of her. Her fantasy crumbled instantly.
Well, no matter. At least none of them would give her a bunch of condescending nonsense about how this marriage was what was best for her, whether she wanted it or not.
Isla craned her neck to look at each of the riders in turn. “Harris! How have you been? Is that knee of yours still giving you trouble?”
“Here and there, my lady,” Harris answered with a smile. “Less so, now that I’ve taken an arrow tae it.”
The others—including Isla—chuckled at his little joke: Totake an arrow to the kneewas a humorous term for getting married, and so clearly he meant that his new bride was assiduous in tending to his aches and pains. It could have been interpreted as a slightly ribald comment, but of course it took far more than that to offend Isla.
“And Rory?” she went on. “How fares your wee bairn?”
Rory nodded his appreciation at her inquiry. “Ach, she’s a treasure, my lady, and no mistake!”
“Aye? Perhaps I should be asking your wife instead, then,” Isla jested, “for nae doubt it is she who is kept up nights with the child’s wailing, while you’re happily spared such tribulations by errands such as these!”
A louder laugh from the men this time, and Isla began to feel cheered up a bit, or at the very least, distracted from her woes.
“What of you, Bron?” she continued. “Were you able to find a new wrap for your sword’s handle?”
Bron shrugged with a sheepish grin. “Figured I’d wear this one out a while longer, my lady.”
“Figured you were too lazy tae bother with it yet, you mean!”
More mirth from those assembled, and Isla joined in heartily.
“So,” she said briskly, changing the subject, “what have you lot heard about this ‘Laird Alex’ fellow?”
The guardsmen exchanged glances, as though uncertain of how much they should tell her.
“Come, come, out with it!” she added impatiently. “If I’m tae be married tae the man, I’d just as soon know what tae expect!”
