11
A soft, long groan escaped Ailis as she sat up. Her first concern was for how sore she was and how she had gotten that way. Then her memory flooded in through sleep’s lingering haze, and she cursed. She was back at Leargan. Tossed up in the saddle in front of Malcolm, she had been able to do no more than cling to the saddle as they raced to the safety of the MacFarlane keep. Her fear for the condition of her child had increased with every mile, and so she had made little complaint when Malcolm took her to her old bedchamber. A good rest was not only welcome but needed. Ailis refused to let fear, brutality, or intimidation put her child at risk. If she had to harden her heart to everything, she would.
There was a heavy rap at the door, and she was not surprised when Jaime entered with a tray of food and drink. Once Donald had decided that the man was no threat, then Jaime had become a useful servant again. She studied her friend closely as he set the tray on her lap, then carefully sat on the edge of the bed. It was only bread, cheese, and cider, but she welcomed it.
“We are in grave trouble, arena we, Jaime?” she asked as she slowly ate.
“Aye.” He sighed and stared at his lightly interwoven fingers. “They mean to kill His Lairdship, MacDubh.”
“When?” Her appetite faltered, but she doggedly continued to eat, for her child needed the sustenance.
“Today. I am to bring ye to the hanging tree as soon as ye are done with your meal.”
“They intend to hang him—immediately? No bargains? No ransoming?”
“Nay, but they willna let him die so easily.”
“Hanging isna an easy way to die.”
“True, but ‘tis made all the harder if they plan to whip ye near to death first. As Sir Donald says, MacDubh willna be so bonny soon.”
That was more than Ailis could bear. She nudged the tray aside and slumped back against her pillows. They were going to make her witness their hate as they inflicted it upon Alexander. They were going to make her see his pain. That was clearly to be a part of her punishment, a punishment she was sure to feel for the rest of her life.
“Jaime, I canna bear that! ‘Twill be a torture for me. I will feel every stroke of the lash.”
“Aye, because ye love the man.”
Ailis shrugged and sighed. “Aye, I suppose I do.”
“Suppose?”
“Well, ‘tisna something I wished to think about very much. Alexander meant to use me against Donald, and now Donald means to use Alexander against me. I had hoped to avoid the pain such things would, and will, bring me, I have badly failed in that. Now I fear I might fail in protecting the bairn I am carrying.”
Jaime shook his head as he took the tray and set it on a small table by the bed. “Ye are a strong lassie. Any bairn ye carry will be a strong one. Aye, and MacDubh is strong. Ye will survive and so will your bairn.”
“ ‘Twould be better if we could all survive this.”
“One canna hope for too much. The bairn is the one to pray for.”
“Sometimes ye are wise, my friend. I must go now, aye?”
“Aye.” He walked to the window and turned his back to her, staring down into the bailey of Leargan. “They will come to get ye if ye take too long.”
“I ken it. ‘Twould be best if I could go on my own, show a wee bit of dignity.”
Ailis got out of bed and found one of her old gowns folded neatly at the end of her bed. She quickly donned the soft brown undertunic over the linen chemise she had donned before going to sleep. A widow’s weeds was what she needed, but Donald would never allow that. So she would have to dress in the blue and brown gown and try not to show any emotion. She would not allow Donald to savor her pain. As she finished dressing, she also decided that she must find some way to let Alexander know that she had no willing part in his pain. He might not believe it, but she would feel better if she gave him that message.
“We can go now,” she murmured and gave Jaime a sad smile when he turned to look at her. “Let us hurry so that they have no right to drag us where they please.”
He linked his arm with hers, and they started on their way out to the bailey. Ailis knew she was clutching Jaime’s muscular arm so tightly it probably pinched him, but he made no complaint, and she desperately needed his strength. A great ordeal faced her, and she desperately wished to pass it successfully. If she did, Donald’s victory would be dimmed.
A young maid handed her her cloak, and Jaime helped her put it on before they stepped outside of the keep. The cold still hit her squarely as she walked across the bailey. Donald had waited almost too long to spring a trap. Winter would have a firm grip upon the land very soon. She saw the small knot of people on the small hillock beyond the walls of Leargan and could see by the way they stood that they felt the cold, too. She briefly wished that the biting winds would sweep them all away.
The way everyone watched her as she walked toward the hillock made her painfully aware of how she must look, how she walked, and what her expression must be. It was going to be difficult to hide her fear or pain if so many people were going to study her so closely. She needed a little less scrutiny.
When she saw Alexander, she faltered slightly, but Jaime’s firm grip on her helped her disguise it. Alexander was spread-eagled between two posts. Despite the cold, he had been stripped down to his braies. It was obvious that Donald wanted Alexander to be humiliated before he was murdered.
Her uncle Colin stood beside the MacCordys as if he were the leader. Ailis suddenly realized that he was not, that he had lost his power the moment he had betrothed her to Donald MacCordy. The MacCordy clan ruled at Leargan. Her uncle was simply too blind to see it. Ailis was sure that the MacCordys would never allow another heir to survive. For a sly, treacherous man, Colin MacFarlane had picked his allies with a fatal blindness.
