“I was just thinking about that. He and the MacCordys made it so that there was no other choice. Just death or victory. Of course, in their arrogance, they had not expected to lose.” She paused just before they started up the stairs to their chambers to order a hot bath for Alexander. “So, ‘tis all over now.”
“Aye, ‘tis all over.”
Nothing more was said as they went up to their bedchamber. Ailis helped Alexander shed his armor and, as soon as the hot bath was delivered, the rest of his battle-stained clothing. Unlike many a time before, she was not stirred by the sight of his naked form. She was too concerned with assuring herself that there were no serious injuries. It was not until Alexander was dressed in his braies and sprawled comfortably on the bed, sipping a tankard of wine, that the silence between them began to grow a little awkward. When a maid delivered a tray with some bread, cheese, and apples, Ailis took it to the bed and sat down next to Alexander. The way he was watching her began to make her very nervous.
“It was a victory for ye?” she finally asked as she cut off a piece of cheese and put it on her bread.
“Aye, Leargan belongs to the MacDubhs again.” He paused, then added, “I wasna the one who killed your uncle, lass.”
“It wouldna have mattered if ye had been the one. I would have kenned that it wasna a murder but a fair fight. There is but one thing I need to ken—he didna suffer, did he? I truly dinna understand why that should matter to me, yet it does.” She shrugged and gave Alexander a faint smile.
“He was the last of your close kin. ‘Tis a bond that is hard to break.” He told her how Colin had met his fate.
“Killed by his allies. Somehow there is a strange justice to that. When I was with them, I began to see that he had lost his power, that the MacCordys were the masters at Leargan. And ‘tisna so strange that word of who had fathered my child should be such a surprise to him. Even his poor befuddled wife felt that he had become more vague and dark-humored. He never came to see me, either, so a good look at my shape wasna able to rouse him to the facts. ‘Tis a shame about William, I think.”
“Wasna he the younger son? A somewhat witless fellow?”
“Aye, a wee bit slow, but I dinna think there was any real harm in him. He was but a pawn, pulled and pushed about by his father and brother. And what of Malcolm?” She tried to sound only politely interested but was not sure she had succeeded when Alexander gave her a sharp penetrating glance.
“Malcolm survived, but I believe he is good at surviving. He never joined the battle, but withdrew from it altogether ere his kinsmen took to the field. When the battle was done, we talked for a brief time. He asked to keep what little his kinsmen had given into his care, and I agreed. Then he said that we must come and see him in Edinburgh whenever we might chance to travel there.” He watched her closely and realized, with a flicker of alarm that she was purposely not looking his way.
Ailis inwardly cursed Malcolm in every way she could think of even as she struggled to remain calm and only mildly interested. “Why should we chance to go to Edinburgh?” She wondered if the answer to her dilemma was just to ignore Malcolm completely. After all, she would find it very difficult to fulfill a promise to a person she never saw.
“I have a house there just as Malcolm does. It seems we both have some business there, and we like to go oversee it now and again. In a few days we shall travel to Leargan. After we put matters to right there, we shall travel on to Edinburgh. ‘Tis a journey I make every year. Have ye ever been to Edinburgh?” he asked, and she shook her head. “Ye will enjoy it, I believe.” His curiosity grew as with each thing he said about Edinburgh, Ailis’s mood grew more somber.
As Alexander talked, telling her of the sights and sounds of Edinburgh, Ailis wondered how she could possibly keep from going to the place. She briefly contemplated feigning some illness, but that would only give her a short respite. She would have to be ill whenever there was fine weather and talk of Edinburgh. That would certainly become suspicious after a while. An exerted effort to avoid any place was certain to arouse suspicions. In fact, any continued aversion to any spot would raise questions. Avoiding Malcolm or any place he was was clearly no answer. Neither was there any way to preserve her honor by keeping the promise, yet not betray Alexander by lying with Malcolm.
She put aside the empty goblets and food tray, then huddled closer to a quiet, relaxed Alexander. There was so much he and she could share now, but it would never be. Slowly Alexander had begun to soften toward her, she was sure of it, and now that those who had wronged him were all dead, his bitterness would ease, and things could only get better. Or they would do, she mused with a heavy sigh, if her promise to Malcolm was not poised like a dagger at her throat. That Malcolm would have the audacity to remind her of her promise by mentioning Edinburgh and inviting her and Alexander to come and see him was nearly more arrogance than she could tolerate. Malcolm had known that she would understand what he had meant, that the invitation to his home in Edinburgh was really him telling her where he expected her to rendezvous with him to pay her debt, and he had used her very own husband to deliver the message. She ached to slap the man—very hard and repeatedly.
“Come, Ailis,” Alexander murmured, tilting her face up to his and brushing a light kiss over her mouth. “We were the victors today. ‘Tis a time for smiles, not for such long, dark faces.”
Although she gave him the smile he sought and a kiss or two, she ached to remind him that when some people had the pleasure of victory, it meant that someone else had lost. For every success there was a price. It was a lesson his wife was doomed to teach him.
