The children jockeyed for position as he showed them how to ready the bag and turn the handle on the chute to start the flow of flour. Effie had the honor and a flash of metal accompanied the ground oats out.
“What is this?” Boyce’s question rang with feigned surprise. “Did ye see something there?” He closed the chute, reached into the bag, and withdrew an object covered with flour.
“What is it?” both children chimed.
“Why, I dinnae ken.” Boyce maintained his contrived confusion as he dusted it off and held it aloft. “Why it’s…it’s…”
“Treasure!” Niall shouted and grabbed at it while Effie clasped her hands to her heart with wide astonished eyes glued to the necklace.
“A treasure!” Aila sighed dramatically. “How exciting! May I please see it, Mr. Boyce?”
“Now, see? Mistress Marshall asked politely and she’ll be the one to see it first.”
Aye, she’d asked politely. Not only to set a good example for the rambunctious boy but to check herself from snatching it out of his hands. Boyce hadn’t yet mentioned the necklace that morning. She’d been afraid he’d forgotten about it and she’d have to find a way to bring up the subject again.
Instead, he placed it into her hands.
“What have we here?”
* * *
To be honest, Aila wouldn’t have the smallest regret if she never saw Mr. Derne again. As he didn’t frequent the servants’ hall, she’d thought she’d be lucky in that regard. Boyce looked even less enthusiastic than she to find the steward at his door. He caught her eye and directed a pointed look at the “treasure” in her fist with a shake of his head. She slipped it into her pocket before she turned to face the beast.
“Good morning, Mr. Derne.”
Rab, who’d been dozing in a patch of sunlight by the windows, leapt to his feet with a sharp bark that was reduced to a low snarl when she chastised him. Not that she blamed him, Aila felt similarly inclined. He took up position between her and the steward, wary and grumbling.
“Mistress Marshall.” She’d never heard her name drip with such disdain. Derne sneered down at the dog without coming any closer. “I thought I had put you in Mr. Keeley’s charge. As such, I cannot imagine what brings you here when you should be at his side building the duke his castle.”
Aila rocked back on her heels and resisted the urge to say something she ought not. “I believe the architects specified that I was to be put to work as Mr. Keeley saw fit, Mr. Derne sir. He has seen fit to demote me to nursemaid and tend to his children so that he may make greater progress.”
His eyes narrowed on her. Rab’s continued growl was the only sound for a long moment before Derne’s chin bobbed in a stiff nod. “Just so. Mr. Keeley shares my opinion regarding the proper employment of a woman’s skills. Kudos to him for finding a loophole in the instructions provided by the Misters Adam to put you in your proper place. He is to be commended.”
“I’m sure he is,” was her dry reply.
“I thought Mr. Boyce said there was nae such thing as —”
Aila clamped a hand over Niall’s mouth and hauled him up against her side. “Alas, I fear Mr. Keeley’s previous nursemaids have no’ stressed the lesson on how children should be seen and no’ heard.”
Not that she’d put any credence in the saying before, still this was the perfect time to become a believer. The last thing she needed was for Derne to pay any attention to her or the children. Instinct told her she’d be better off without it.
“A grievous failure on his part,” Derne agreed then jumped when Rab barked again. “Take your beasts — all of them — and be gone, Mistress Marshall. I need to have a word with Mr. Boyce.”
The look on the miller’s face said he was no more eager for the steward’s presence than she was. In fact, if she thought the amiable man capable of hatred, she would say that was what she saw written there. “Mr. Boyce?”
A misstep it might have been to countermand Derne’s orders, but Aila would be damned if she’d leave the kindly miller to face the devil alone if he needed her there.
“On yer way now, lass. The wee ones will be wanting their meal, aye?”
Aila nodded and held Rab by the scruff as he lunged for the steward’s ankles. Derne kept well out of reach until they were at the door. She gestured for the children to run ahead and offered one last look of sympathy to Boyce. He waved her away with a taut smile and she made a reluctant departure.
Something was not right here. Hadn’t Boyce mentioned the previous day that he’d feared they were Derne when he’d heard their arrival? Why was Derne pestering the miller? And coming to the mill to do it? He struck Aila as the sort to summon people into his presence, as if he were the king himself.
“Who is that man, Aila?” Effie asked in subdued tones as they followed the path back to the castle.
“Aye, he’s terrifying,” Niall added.
“That man? He’s evil incarnate. That’s what he is.”
