The woman stared daggers at Katherine. “She’s a McGregor. They are brutes and killers, and naught flows within their veins but poison.”
These words stung Katherine bitterly, and she noticed that there were other Oliphant clansmen forming a crowd aroundthem. Their numbers seemed to make them bolder in their hatred of her, and they muttered among themselves darkly.
So much for finding a new community for myself, she thought gloomily.They do not want anything to do with me, any more than my father wanted anything to do with them.
“There is no need for ire,” Bryan said slowly. “She does not mean harm to any of ye.”
“No more than her sister did either, I suppose,” a voice in the crowd called out sardonically. Several others chimed in, agreeing.
Katherine began to wonder whether it wouldn’t be safer for them to go back to the castle.
Then she felt a hand on her arm; small, dry, and papery, like the skin of a withered apple. When she turned to look, she saw a very old woman, stooped, her round face covered with deep lines. She was wrapped in a threadbare shawl, and looked as though she might topple with the slightest breeze.
Even so, she smiled brightly at Katherine. “Come, child. My name is Fiona, and my home is not far from here. Take tea with me, and see that we are not all nearly so ill-mannered as my neighbor.”
“That is quite kind of ye to offer,” Katherine replied. “However, I am under guard, for reasons which are no doubt clear to ye. I cannot accept yer generous invitation without permission from my companion.”
“Oh, the good captain will agree,” Fiona assured her with a dismissive wave. “He knows I am a stubborn old thing, and will not take no for an answer.”
“Fiona speaks the truth,” Bryan chuckled. “Arguing with her has never benefited me thus far, and I doubt it shall this day.”
Katherine felt a brief flutter of anxiety at the notion that the old woman might intend to harm her. Bryan’s attitude toward Fiona allowed Katherine to dismiss the idea, though. Herpresence was clearly important to the Oliphants, else they would not have gone to all the trouble of taking her from her homeland.
And if Bryan knew Fiona well enough to trust her, that was good enough for Katherine.
Fiona’s home was a humble yet cozy cottage at the edge of the village. The place was kept clean and pleasant, and Bryan built a fire in the hearth so that Fiona could put the kettle on. The house filled with warmth almost immediately, and Fiona rubbed her hands in front of the flames to warm them.
“Ye have a lovely home,” Katherine said sincerely. “Do ye have any family that stay here with ye?”
“Oh, I had a husband years ago,” Fiona answered conversationally, pouring the tea and serving it. “A son as well. They were good men. Alas, they were killed during a raid by yer clan.”
Katherine almost dropped the teacup in her surprise. “I am dreadfully sorry!”
The old woman shrugged lightly. “Such skirmishes between our two clans were common back then. It broke my heart, but at the time, I was far from alone. There were many other grieving people in town who had lost loved ones in such a manner, and we were there for each other in all the ways that mattered. We got through. We endured.”
“And now ye would have a McGregor in yer home?” Katherine asked, astonished.
Fiona chuckled gently. “Ye didnae kill my husband or son. Ye were not even born yet when it happened. What good would it do to blame ye? How would that serve to heal the rifts between yer clan and my own?” She shook her head. “Nay, such spite only leads to more spite. The violence must end somewhere, and there are only two ways for that to happen. The first is for one clan to exterminate the other completely, down tae the last man,woman, and child. I dinnae have any desire at all tae see such a gruesome outcome to things, do ye?”
“Nay, certainly not!” Katherine replied.
“There it is, then,” Fiona went on softly. “The other solution will only come through kindness, mercy, and forgiveness. There is no other path for us, would ye not agree?”
“I would, aye.”
But I’m not nearly so sure my father would, Katherine added inwardly.
They sat and spoke for a short while longer; mostly about the flowers growing in Fiona’s garden, which were hearty and plentiful. The sweet scent of them drifted in through the windows, and Katherine breathed it in deeply.
Eventually, however, Bryan told her that they ought to get back to the castle. Otherwise, he feared that his fellow guardsmen—to say nothing of Laird Alex—might assume that she had attempted escape after all, and he had gone riding after her, or perhaps that McGregors had come to take her back by force.
It was a difficult reminder of the circumstances of her presence there, just when she had started to allow herself to forget them.
Nevertheless, she came along without complaint, for she understood the wisdom in his words.
She was silent for a great deal of the ride back to Castle Oliphant. Bryan saw that she was deep in contemplation, and though he wished to ask her what was on her mind, he felt it might be better to let her finish gathering her thoughts before inquiring.
At last, she asked, “Why did ye bring me to the village?”
