‘Aye, and I got to bow and scrape, and all the time the master shoves his hand up my skirts, his bony fingers probing and pinching me. And many’s a time I had to relieve him of his lust.’ She made an obscene gesture with her hand and smirked. ‘Until he got too sick to have urges. Still think my life wasn’t so bad?’
Lowri shook her head. What could she say? The lass was right.
‘I laboured like an ox, dawn ‘til dusk, for Fallstaff’s nasty daughter, who gave me no thanks, nor kind word. I must empty her chamber pot, wash her clothes, and comb her hair. God, how it disgusted me when I had to wash out her bloody rags when her courses came. And they did not come often. ‘Good luck with getting a son on her, Donald Drummond, I used to say to myself.’ The rest of the day, it was all, ‘Yes, Mistress, of course, Mistress, right away, Mistress.’
‘You hated her,’ said Lowri.
‘Briony Fallstaff was plain and spiteful, a bony, bosomless hag. And she, such a haughty bitch. I learnt her airs and graces, I did. It’s not so hard to be a lady. Just look at everyone as if you have a nasty smell under your nose. She was so jealous of my looks, was Briony Falstaff, coveting my youth and beauty, sucking it dry.’ Her smile was sickly and dreadful as she said, ‘But all that good breeding got her nowhere when that ship went down.’ She jabbed a finger at her chest. ‘I got the upper hand in the end.’
‘What happened on the night of the wreck? What did you do?’ said Lowri.
‘I was bored and lonely that night. The bitch was asleep in her cabin, insensible from the brandy she took to ward off seasickness. I put on her wedding dress. I wanted to pretend I was rich and spoiled, if only for a moment. And that dress was so fine, so silky, and it looked a good deal better on me than on her. Then the ship started to lurch in the storm, and I heard the crew shouting. There was no time to change. I went above. I saw the lights ashore, then a flash of lightning, and the rocks. One man told me to go below, so I went to the cabin and stuffed my pockets full of jewels, coins, gold necklaces, and trinkets. I put one necklace on. Then she woke and saw me in her wedding dress. She saw the pockets bulging, the jewels at my throat, and she came at me like the furies, and that was that.’
‘That was what?’
Briony’s face changed from delicacy to menace. ‘I knocked her down, hard, and she hit her head. She just lay there. Next thing I knew, the ship lurched to one side. Sent me flying. So I got out of there, quick as I could.’
‘You left her behind?’
‘Aye. Why would I take her? It was every man or woman for themselves. Next thing, I am standing in the rain, freezing cold, watching us surge to our doom. Next, I am in the water. It’s dark, and the waves keep swamping me. I can’t stay afloat. The dress is dragging me down, heavy with all the loot I took. So I emptied my pockets.’ She gave a sobbing kind of laugh. ‘Dropped all that loot to the fishes, I did. If I’d have hung on a little longer, I would have had it to start a new life somewhere, and been free as a bird. But I didn’t reckon on Cullen rescuing me. Thought I had to drop it all or go under.’
‘So you lied to us all along.’
‘Aye, and what of it? Do you want me to grovel and beg forgiveness? Are you going to call me a whore again?’
‘I wouldn’t dare,’ said Lowri.
‘Good, for I can slit your belly open like a pig’s. God knows, I’ve slaughtered enough of them in my time. My father was a butcher, you see. I was brought up wallowing in blood and entrails. Poverty is a dirty, slimy business. Do you know how hard it was to connive my way into the Fallstaff household, what I had to do?’
A chill ran down Lowri’s spine. ‘I don’t think I want to know, Briony.’
The lass smirked. ‘A tale for another time, perhaps. Let’s just say, I am good at pretending. I suppose, you’ll not be taking me back in after this.’
‘No.’
She shrugged. ‘Flint Butcher it is, then. The man is swollen with lust. He can be worked upon. I can use my wiles on him.’
Briony made to storm past, but Lowri stood her ground. ‘Be careful around Butcher. He is worse than you can imagine.’
‘He wants me with a vengeance, and he has money, so I can endure a bit of roughing here and there. He’ll be flattered when I say that I chose him over that Drummond oaf. Now, get out of my way.’
‘Wait. What is your real name?’
The lass smirked and shrugged. ‘You may stick to calling me Briony. It suits me better. I have a new life now. I’ve left that filthy old man, his slow-witted daughter and that servant’s life behind, along with the name my shiftless father left to me.’
The lass had a frightening look in her eye – wily but crazed. She really believed she had been reborn in the wreck, that she was a new person. Lowri pictured the lass like a giant leech, crawling over Briony Fallstaff’s skin and sucking the life out of her. She grabbed Briony’s hand. ‘Stop. Please. You cannot keep this a secret. If you lie to Butcher, he will know it.’
‘Donald has already gone back to the ship in high dudgeon. He’ll be gone on the tide, with Butcher none the wiser. And if you spill my secret, I will gut you, bitch.’
‘Don’t be a fool!’
Briony lashed Lowri across her face. The sting of it made Lowri loosen her grip, and Briony ran. Lowri thought of following, but the lass was swift-footed and was already heading down the hill towards the tavern, holding her skirts high, pale legs flashing, hair flying out behind her. It was as if Briony Fallstaff had disintegrated before her eyes.
‘Good riddance,’ shouted Lowri after her. But her stomach clenched at the thought that she and Cullen had not seen the last of Briony. Her sinister presence would still linger in Larne if she married Butcher. What a horrible merger of malevolence, depravity and greed, that would be. Lowri tugged her shawl around her and went back to the inn. All was quiet. Cullen slumped on the bed, head in hands. He looked up when he heard her come in. Lowri sat beside him and took his hand.
‘Briony has run off. I could not stop her, and I have a tale to tell,’ she said.
When she had recounted Briony’s story, Cullen stood up and began pacing. ‘I cannot believe we held that viper to our bosom.
