“Do ye think it was the bath that brought the fever on?” she asked as she watched him reach for the handle of the door.
“Nay, I doubt that. For all we ken, it could have aided in it leaving ye so quickly. Nay, I think Annys is right. Ye have just carried too much all on your own for far too long.”
Mora thought on that as she rose to get dressed, moving slowly until she felt certain she was steady on her feet. Her mind was inclined to drift to the sweetness of his kisses, the way they made her feel, but she forced it to stay on the matter of what had caused her to swoon like some weak maid. She would think about Gybbon, his kisses and caresses, later. And those feelings much later than that, she decided. It would be important to know if she would refuse or accept them, but there was time for all that later.
He was right; she had been carrying a lot of weight for a long time now and had had little time to deal with all of it. There was her grief over her parents, her added grief over the likely fate of her brothers, and being the head of a household, a household her thieving cousins thought should be theirs. There had been no time to sort out any of these concerns, and it had been exhausting her. It was a shock to realize her own cousins were willing to kill off her entire family, people who had always been kind to him and his family, just to take back what their grandfather had willingly and legally given to his youngest son.
Somehow, she had to get their father, her uncle, to heed her. She had not seen the man for a fortnight or more, but perhaps he had improved to where he could, and would listen to her. Jolene was certain the mon was being poisoned. Mora could not bring herself to disbelieve that, but did wonder if Robert’s brothers knew of it.
If not, then she needed to try and do something to save them, especially Murdoch. She knew he had no knowledge of his brother’s crimes. She could still see that look of horror on his face when Robert had openly admitted to killing and stealing from her parents. She was not as certain about Lachlan and Duncan and their part in all of it.
She finally yanked off her night shift and began to get dressed. A quick look at her wound was enough to tell her she had done it no harm when she had fallen. It was ugly but not infected at all. Mora took a moment to dig out the cream Jolene had packed for her and rubbed it on her wound.
Mora was going to have to ask Jolene how she made it. It soothed the itch of healing that still bothered her occasionally, and she was certain it was easing the scarring such a wound could leave her with. There had been no poisoning in the wound, either. This was a salve she definitely wanted to be able to make and always have at hand.
* * *
Leaving the bedchamber, she headed down the stairs, going carefully and keeping a firm grip on the rail at the side. She could hear that the morning meal was being put out and almost laughed when her stomach rumbled softly. It was all so wonderfully normal and she hungered for normal. Normal and calm. She gave a start when a hand gently grasped her by the arm.
“Sorry,” said Annys. “I had thought ye kenned I was following ye.”
“I thought ye were already down there. I could hear that the food was being served.”
“I had to go change my gown. Bit of an accident in the kitchens.” Annys looked at her. “So ye are feeling better?”
“Aye. Much. E’en put Jolene’s cream on my wound myself and decided I need to learn how to make some. It is marvelous.”
“It is, and I keep meaning to do the same, but she keeps giving me some so I forget. Sigimor’s people are doing better?”
“Aye. He just felt the need to get Jolene and his son away from there.”
“If I had suffered what he went through when he was a young mon, I would have done the same. But what about his twin girls?”
“At one of their kinsmen’s with about seven nursemaids to, as was said, keep them out of trouble.” She grinned when Annys laughed heartily. “They cannae be that bad, can they?”
“Aye, they can, but they are adorable. I have only met with them once and they were younger, but e’en then I could see it. They are definitely Sigimor’s girls.”
“I seem to have met with so many people since Gybbon came into my life.”
“And there are more to come if ye stay in it. Many more. And they are already planning on whom to get in touch with to try and find out what happened to your brothers.”
“It would be wondrous if they could and e’en more so if they were found alive.”
Annys patted her arm. “Keep that hope.”
* * *
Niall Ogilvy groaned and rubbed his backside when his brother David had them stop for a brief meal. “Why are we rushing there?” he asked.
“Because something is wrong. Verra wrong. I ken it and need to ken what it is.”
“If ’tis trouble we are galloping toward mayhap we should have brought some of the other men.”
“I ken where they are. Made certain of it before we left them. Have their promise to come and help if help is needed.”
Niall stopped the pacing he had begun to limber up his legs and sat down to look at David. “Ye are truly worried.”
“Someone tried to kill us, Niall. We cannae forget that. I dinnae e’en need to look at the scar I have to keep it in mind. Except for the French we were fighting, there was no one o’er there who kenned us weel enough to want us dead. And did it ne’er trouble ye that we got no news from home? That our parents or sister ne’er once sent us word to ask about us or tell us about them? They can all write.”
