“Were yer friends ever returned?”
Scott sniffed and she wiped at her eyes. Her lips trembled and Elsy felt her heart break as she watched Scott swallow another sob. “Nae, they were not. I never saw them again.”
“But why?” Elsy whispered.
Scott turned to Elsy, holding her stare as she said numbly, “There were rumors. Rumors about a rich man living not far from our lands. He-he--” Scott inhaled deeply, “he wanted them for himself. For-for pleasure.”
Elsy stared back at Scott, allowing her words to wash over her. “For his pleasure?” she said numbly, bile rising in her throat, her stomach twisting. Elsy gagged, her hand covering her mouth. She had nothing in her stomach to vomit, but still, she felt ill with Scott’s words, with the implications.
“How old were yer friends?” Connell asked, his tone trembling and dark with anger.
“My age,” Scott whispered. “Some of them even younger.”
Elsy lurched from the bed, the need to be sick taking hold of her. She gagged, yet nothing left her mouth. Connell reached for her, his hands steadying her as Elsy gagged and gasped for air. “What a vile, disgusting, creature,” Elsy hissed while resting her back against the bed, her body on the cold stone ground.She is so young,Elsy thought as tears prickled her eyes. She stared at Scott feeling the horror overtake her, making it difficult to breathe.Too young.“How did ye escape, Scott?” Elsy asked, her voice a croak as she contained the nausea swimming through her.
“My parents died not long ago, and I was taken in by my aunt, who thought me an annoyance. I knew she wouldn’t miss me, so I took my cousin’s clothes and dressed as a lad. Men have more ability to travel. They get around easily, without question.”
Elsy nodded. She was taken away with how bright Scott was, how the girl knew what it took to survive, to live day to day. Elsy wondered what she would do if she was in the same predicament. If she would become the victim, or the survivor.
“I’m so sorry,” Connell whispered as he moved to Scott, taking the young girl into his arms, and giving her a tight hug. Scott clung to Connell, burying her face into his chest as she sobbed, her cries making Elsy ache. “I will never let anything happen to ye,” Connell said gruffly. “Never. I will keep ye safe and I will not tell a soul of yer secret. Ye have my word.”
Elsy smiled as she watched the pair, as she watched Scott nod her small head. The little girl slowly pulled away from him, her attentions turning to Elsy. “Will ye stay with me, Elsy?” she asked meekly. “Please, will ye? Yer the strongest lady I know and yer the only one who fought to keep my secret, who cared enough to see me well. Will ye, please? Can she?” Scott asked while turning to Connell, the girl’s eyes wide and bright as if she was asking her father if she could keep a wild animal she found in the wood.
Connell turned toward Elsy, and her breath hitched at the warmth she saw there. It was the Connell she once knew and loved staring back at her, and she didn’t think she could ever be far from this man. Slowly, Elsy rose from the floor, using the bed to help her up.
“Aye, she can,” Connell breathed as Elsy stepped in front of them.
“I will,” Elsy found herself saying, moved by the adoration she saw glimmering back at her from Connell’s lone eye. And she found her words holding more truth in them than she expected.
