“Well then, tell her to take yer place for the day and make sure she has enough elixir to keep him quiet or better yet, get that shifty-eyed manservant of his to do something other than chase after dairymaids.”
Once again, Emer was impressed by how omniscient Caillen was while appearing so relaxed and careless, but when he rolled his eyes to the ceiling in a joking manner at the thought of his brother still lying in bed, she could not help giggling.
He smiled, “I ken, lass, I’m a rotten brither, but I’ve never had time for that kind of die-away airs on board ship.”
Emer suggested, “P’raps if ye were to tell me sister instead, me Laird, um, she would take the order from ye a bit more seriously...”
Caillen watched her narrowly from underneath his dark lashes but said smoothly, “As ye wish. Where do ye plan on spending the day?”
Emer felt there was no harm in telling Caillen where she planned on spending the whole day. She had no more friends in the castle and sometimes felt the Highland mountains would freeze over before Davinia would forgive her.
“I’m going to find that folly ye told me about.”
* * *
Emer felt it would be polite to inform Gawain she would not be attending on him. The sentry at the door had been dispensed with, so she scratched on the wooden panel and heard Gawain command his visitor to enter.
Gawain had given up staying in bed in favor of lying on the chaise longue. It had been brought into the bedchamber, and he had his feet propped up on one of the satin cushions.
“Oh, it’s ye,” he said when he saw her enter, “I dinnae ring.”
Unperturbed by his dismissive way of talking to her, Emer said calmly, “I’ve been given the day off, sir, because yer brither’s travelin’ to Lachlainn. Me sister will be taking me place today because I want to go walking in the glade yonder,” when Gawain spun his head around, she hastened to tell him, “dinnae fash, sir, she is just as good at nursing as I am.”
Gawain flapped his hand in front of his face as though warding off a fly, “Never mind about that! Why in hell’s name are ye going to take the day off for when ye should be following Caillen into town? Are ye lazy or stupid or what? Ye swore an oath to me ye’ll help me discover what he’s up to...and,thisis how ye repay me?”
Emer was tired of Gawain’s moods. After days of loitering in Caillen’s shadow, she had found no evidence to back up Gawain’s obsessive distrust of his brother. It was starting to irritate her, and she realized that Gawain could be as charming as he liked to her in the future. There was something about him that set her teeth on edge. Davinia was welcome to daydream about him all she liked-Emer was rapidly beginning to consider Gawain more of a nightmare.
She sighed, “Fine! I’ll ride after him on Bessie and see where he goes in Lachlainn,”
Gawain immediately broke into a wreath of smiles.
“But,” Emer continued, “once I’ve seen where he goes, I’m returning back here. I dinnae care what ye considered me oath to entail, sir, but it sure dinnae mean I give up me days off!”
“Gawain looked penitent, “I beg yer pardon, sweetest Emer, I dinnae mean to snap yer head off, it’s just that me leg has been paining me today and the medicine does nae seem to take the aching hurt away.”
Emer looked at Gawain’s long-suffering expression with a calculating gaze.
It could be he wants me to add more poppy extract to his medicine, or it could be he loves to manipulate the people who make it their business to cater to his every whim. I get the feeling that Gawain didnae hear the word ‘nay’ much when he was a child.
Gawain shifted uneasily underneath Emer’s shrewd regard. She bobbed a curtsy and went down to the stables. Caillen’s tall stallion, Menzies, was still in the stall, but she knew it would not be long before its rider came out of the keep and mounted it.
Emer quickly bridled Bessie and put the old saddle on the small pony. Then she hunkered down in the fresh straw she had laid out in the tiny stall, keeping the top of her head out of view but realizing she would look incredibly foolish if Caillen was to stick his head into through the hatch and look down.
She was wearing a particularly fetching bonnet for what she thought would be a delightful day’s excursion. Spring was just a memory, and high summer had arrived, bringing with it endless days of sunshine and gentle breezes. The occasional squall would blow in from the coast, and then the fluffy, white clouds would turn grey and heavy. But the rain only served to cool down the hot soil and make the wildflowers bloom in glorious color.
To think I have to spend half the day spying on Caillen. It makes nae sense. This is the last time I do such a thing for Gawain. There are enough dratted spies in the castle without me becoming one of them! He can make it up with Davinia and ask her to do his bidding in the future.
Her mind thus resolved, Emer heard Caillen’s determined stride enter the stables, and his deep voice ask the groom to saddle up Menzies for the day. She listened to the sound of the heavy animal being led out to the courtyard, and the incessant ‘tink, tink, tink’ of workmen’s hammers in the background, industriously busy inside the keep.
Caillen gave his horse the command to break into a trot, and the sound of hooves disappeared outside the stables and into the courtyard.
Emer gave it a minute and then followed.
Chapter Eighteen
This was the first time Emer was making the trip into Lachlainn. She spent the initial part of her journey alternately admiring the scenery and then wishing her excursion was under different circumstances.
It was a painful undertaking. She would urge the little palfrey into as fast a trot as Bessie was able to give, but the tall black stallion in front of them seemed to pull ever further ahead. At first, she was able to see horse and rider as a small dot on the horizon after she turned a corner, but after the third corner, she rounded it only to find the road empty as far as the eye could see.
