“Ye are afraid for the wee ones already?” Raini said, gazing at her. “’Tis not something ye can hide.”
Kali shook her head. “How could I not be? Look at their sweet faces. Eager to please. Desperate for attention. As innocent as lambs.”
Raini chuckled, then her expression turned somber. “There’s nothing innocent about these children—that’s been stolen from them.”
Kali held her stare, considering what the old woman meant. “I am pained by the fact they need to steal to eat and clothe themselves. But there are other facets to innocence, Mistress Raini.”
“Ones these children doona have the luxury to experience. Look upon the eldest girls, would they no’ be better served by marrying young so a husband could protect them? And the eldest lads, should they no’ go into service as soldiers or servants so they can eat and have a roof over their heads?”
Did Raini want to hear the hard truth about the ways of the world or the content of Kali’s heart? “If I could do anything…”
“Ye can.”
“I am little more than a prisoner here, but I will try.”
“Ye are so much more than ye give yerself credit for, lass. Open yer heart, and the rest will make sense later.”
Kali wanted to believe her, wished more than anything that someone valued her opinion and would honor her ideas by helping put them into practice. And as she scanned the faces of the nine children looking at her with shining eyes and smiles on their faces, she pledged to do whatever it took to help them.
…
Adam had just finished breaking his fast in the morning when Sam accosted him outside, dragging him away from the keep and toward the stables. “Guess who had guard duty last night?”
“Ye did, fool.” Adam wondered if his friend had been drinking too much. “I should know. I assigned yer duty schedule, remember?”
“Aye, well… I did as ye asked and followed yer fire-haired woman once she left the tower.”
Adam’s interest deepened immediately. He wanted whatever details he could get about her character so he could set her free from that tower… “What are ye waiting for? Tell me.”
“She is a kind lass…curious and bold, I think. For instead of finishing her tour of the gardens, she followed the orphans down the hill and to the burn, where the lot of them gather every night.”
“Aye? And what did she do with the children?”
“Won their confidence, then invited them to dine with her in the tower.”
“All of them?” Adam could not imagine so many children inside the tower room where Kali now lived with her maid. Or that she had enough food to fill their young bellies.
“Aye. There is more news.”
Has she sprouted wings and flown to heaven where she belongs?For the more he heard about her, the more Adam thought she could not be of this world. And not simply for her unusual beauty, but for her generous nature. One who had so little, offering to share with these children… Well, it made his heart ache even more for her situation.
“The witch was seen going into the tower but never coming out.”
“I am sure Raini wanted to meet her. And she is no witch but a healer.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Ye have called her a witch many a time, my friend.”
“And regret it today. For I know the plight of Lady Kali now. No woman should be called such unless there is irrefutable proof she has cast spells or caused harm. And as educated men, we know witches are as imaginary as selkies.”
“Selkies?”
“Aye.”
“Ye have me support on denying the existence of witches, but selkies? The wee beauties that fill me dreams? I willna let you deprive me of those long-legged, silky-haired creatures for one moment.”
Adam chuckled. “God bless whatever woman ye fall in love with, Sam. She will never live up to yer expectations.”
“Perhaps not, but I will live up to hers.” He extended his arm and made a tight fist, suggesting he was overly large below the waist.
