Adam frowned.“Through…prayer?”In his experience, it was rare for a man of science to put much faith in miracles.
“Nay.She stitched up a knife wound.A wound I was goin’ to cauterize.I’ve ne’er seen such skill, such beautiful work.”
Adam was struck speechless.Surely that wasn’t true.He’d seen Eve at the alehouse.She’d nearly fainted at the sight of blood.
The physician shook his head in wonder.“She knew what herbs to use.And how to wrap bandages.She may not be a physician, but she’s had a lot o’ practice, healin’.I believe sheisa nun.”
“What difference does it make now?”
“Because I don’t think ye want a woman o’ God to come to harm…from either side.”
That was true.
Adam stated what he now suspected.“You know where she’s gone.”
The physician nodded.“I think she’s fled back to her convent.”
If the physician had known Eve like Adam did, he’d never dream she belonged to a convent.
Still, the man had a point.It made sense Eve would find a safe place to go.The convent she’d mentioned before, where she had friends among the sisters, was near Mauchline.He’d told her the king wouldn’t attack nuns.It seemed a convenient and likely place of refuge.
“Thank you,” Adam said.
The physician caught his arm.“Ye’ll keep her safe, aye?”
“On my honor as a Rivenloch.”
He’d keep her safe.If she was willing to allow it.At the moment, his was probably the last face she wanted to see.
The best way to infiltrate a nunnery was as a visiting monk.Convent sisters always showed deference to their holy brothers.And it didn’t hurt that, disguising himself as a man of God, it would be harder for Eve to publicly vent her rage upon him.
As he trudged through the forest toward Mauchline, he practiced his explanation in a contrite murmur.
“I apologize, Eve.But ’twas a necessary deception I had to employ in the course of avoiding a war.”
That sounded good.It would impress her.
“You should be proud, Eve.You played an instrumental part in resolving the conflict between Laird Fergus and the king.”
That was good as well.Eve would have a story to tell for generations to come.
“I asked the king to keep you hostage, Eve, because I care for you, and I knew it was the place you would be the most safe.”
Aye, that was the one.That would soften her heart.
“It may make you glad to hear the king rewarded me with silver for my negotiations, Eve, and I delivered the coin as restitution to the alewife.”
Even better.Eve would be relieved to know he’d sought justice so selflessly.
Then he sighed.
All of them were true.Yet the words sounded like feeble excuses for his wretched behavior, even to his own ears.
He feared her heart would never heal from the damage he’d done to it.And if that happened, he didn’t think he’d find happiness again.
He was still brooding over what he would say when he arrived at the convent.It looked old, but well-kept, standing in a broad clearing of the wood.A stone wall surrounded the close, with bare-limbed fruit trees peering over the top.
When he passed through the gates, he saw several nuns toiling in the yard.Some were pruning the trees.Others tilled small patches of soil by hand.He perused their faces.None of them were Eve.
