Sigimor just grunted as he watched Jolene hesitate briefly in the doorway before she walked toward him. “A lady in the dungeon? Hurry and read it, Sigimor.” She smiled when the boy bowed to her, then she sat down next to Sigimor and whispered to him, “Why is there a scullion boy in here?”
“Brought the letter,” he whispered back, and kissed her ear. “After I present ye to these two fools so they can sit down again. Jolene, meet Niall and David Ogilvy, Mora’s brothers who couldnae seem to find their way out of France.”
“Oh! Mora will be so delighted!”
She pretended not to notice the little boy had slid onto the bench next to her and was filling his plate with food but handed him the right utensil as he studied all that was standing around the plate. Jolene knew she should be outraged and order him to leave, but he looked like he could use a good meal, so she said nothing, just made certain her skirts were well away from his clothing.
Then she studied Mora’s brothers. Both were tall, lean, and handsome enough to draw many ladies to their side. The one called Niall had brown hair, but it was liberally sprinkled with red and some gold. David had dark red hair. She could actually see a small similarity to Mora in them, especially in the blue of their eyes.
“Uh, Sigimor, she is English,” said Niall as he sat down, and earned a slap on the back of his head from David.
“I ken it but I decided I would forgive that flaw,” he said, and leaned out of reach when Jolene tried to hit him. “Let me read this letter, woman!”
David watched as Sigimor read the letter and his expression grew darker and darker. He suddenly understood why the man’s name could be enough to unsettle people. That was the face of a man who would ride into a gathering of the enemy and cut them to pieces, then go home, wash the blood off, and bed his wife with no lingering remorse about what he had done.
“Sigimor, what is wrong?” Jolene asked, and lightly rubbed his arm.
“I believe ye will see your sister soon,” said Sigimor, and handed David the letter before turning to his wife. “We will need to ride within the hour.”
Jolene nodded slowly, realizing he meant they might have to fight. She was about to ask some important questions, such as who, why, and where, when there was a sound in the hallway that drew her attention. Several men walked in and she wondered why so many people were coming to see Sigimor so early in the morning. It could not be good.
Her eyes widened as Gybbon, Harcourt, a young boy, and a few MacFingals walked into the room. The MacFingals were the ones who seemed to have made Sigimor’s home theirs, yet they stood with the two Murray men looking as deadly stern as the Murrays did. She did wonder who the young boy was until he squealed and raced toward the two Ogilvy brothers. The Murrays also looked as if they had ridden hard to get to Sigimor. Jolene was getting a very bad feeling about all of this.
“Sorry to disturb ye so early,” said Gybbon.
“Ye didnae rouse us out of bed, so no bother,” said Sigimor. “Lost your lass, have ye?”
“How did ye ken that?”
“She wrote to me. Though it isnae addressed to me, so she may have just been writing to anyone who would be taken the letter. Seems her uncle didnae feel inclined to hear bad things said about his wee boy. He ne’er has listened to any bad said about that son. Sit. Have some food. We will leave, as I have said, within the hour.”
Gybbon sat, setting Mora’s bag down next to him and opening it so Freya could slip out. “Are ye sure we should wait?”
“Aye. Old men do nothing fast. Mon probably hasnae e’en got out of bed. Robert willnae do anything because he obviously would prefer his father to take any blame that might come. Aye, we have time to finish breaking our fast.” He glanced at the MacFingals, who were already devouring full plates of food. “And ye need to let those lads eat or they might be too weak and frail from hunger to fight. And mayhap the boy should go to bed, aye?”
“Can I take the cat?” he asked when Jolene walked over to him.
“Of course ye can. I will see to a box for the animal,” Jolene said as she led the boy away.
When the MacFingals merely looked up from their food and smiled, Gybbon felt a smile tugging at his lips as well. Sigimor did have a skill of making one feel less frantic. He noticed a dark, furious look on the face of one of the young men who had been there when they arrived. Curious as to who they were, although Andrew’s reaction made him strongly suspect they were the long-lost brothers, he looked at Sigimor.
“Ah, forgot to introduce ye. Lads,” Sigimor said to the two young men, “meet Harcourt Murray, Laird of Gormfeurach, and his brother, Gybbon. Harcourt, Gybbon, these two fellows Andrew latched onto are Mora’s long-lost brothers.”
“Why did they ne’er hear from ye?” asked Gybbon, as Jolene returned, having left Andrew in the capable hands of her maids.
“Because someone tried to kill us, almost from the moment we got there. Nearly succeeded once with me. And we wrote. The letters were clearly caught and tossed away before they reached my parents. We ne’er got word from them.”
“Ye didnae question that?”
“Oh, aye, we did. Constantly, but we couldnae find any way they were doing it. When I healed from the third . . .”
“Fourth,” muttered Niall.
“. . . attempt to kill me,” continued David, “we decided to start to make our way home. The attempts to end us continued and I pray it cost Robert a lot of his money. We did get a few men hanged for what they did, but it didnae stop the attempts.”
“Even tried once to get us locked up and hanged,” said Niall. “Fortunately, David was charming the daughter of the mon who would have come after us and she gave us enough warning to get away. Along with some weeping and wailing.” He flinched when David elbowed him in the side.
“Robert has been a verra busy boy,” muttered Sigimor. “Mon is more clever than I thought.”
