“Thank you,” she said quietly.
Isobel gave her a grateful look for not digging deeper. “He will be back,” she assured her. “He always comes back.”
Emma nodded her head and finished what she could manage of the porridge, even though her stomach had no interest in it. The empty chair lingered at the edge of her vision. She refused to look at it again.
When she rose, she caught sight of David standing near the wall, half in shadow. His posture was relaxed, but the position was no coincidence.
He asked him to watch me.
The guilt that flashed across his face confirmed that.
Jenny appeared later at her elbow with a cloth to wipe the table. “If ye are finished, me Lady, I will ask the younger maids to come clear the dishes.”
Emma looked from Jenny to David and back. “Are you still heading to the apothecary?”
“Aye. Folks will be waiting.”
“Then I would like to go with you.”
Jenny blinked. “With me, me Lady?”
“Yes.” Emma kept her voice even. “I have time, and I would like to see more of the village.”
Jenny hesitated. “It isnae like the gardens, me Lady. People are ill there. It isnae a place for ye to?—”
“I am aware sick people are not decorative,” Emma cut in, more sharply than she had intended. She softened her voice at once. “I just want to see. I want to help if I can.”
Jenny searched her face, then gave a small nod. “As ye wish.”
They crossed the yard together, and Emma could hear David’s footsteps behind them, not close enough to crowd but not far enough to ignore either. She stopped and turned.
“It is fine,” she said. “I do not need an escort to the apothecary.”
“With respect, me Lady, ye do,” David replied. “The Laird was clear. I am to keep ye in me sight when ye are outside the castle walls.”
“I am not heading into battle,” Emma protested. “I am going to a small house where people cough and ask for herbs. I doubt the feverish elderly are planning to assassinate me.”
“The Laird didnae specify the age or health of enemies.” David’s tone stayed polite, but his determination was obvious. “Only that there may be some.”
Emma stared at him. The urge to argue pressed against a different understanding. Logan had left, but he had leftthis. A guard whose loyalty was not hers. A shadow that belonged to his orders.
“I will not be followed like a child,” she insisted. “It is important that I move freely.”
“Then I will stay near and out of sight. But I will stay.”
The compromise hung in the air.
Emma let out a slow breath. “Very well. Nearby, not hovering.”
“Aye, me Lady.”
They walked on, and by the time they reached the village, David had drifted wide, choosing spots where he could watch them without intruding.
Jenny took Emma down a narrow path between low houses until they reached a small building that leaned a little to the side. The smell of herbs and smoke met them at the door, thick and a bit pleasant.
“Welcome to the apothecary, me Lady,” Jenny said and led her in.
Inside, shelves lined the walls, laden with jars, while bundles of dried plants hung from beams. A low fire burned under a black pot, and two narrow cots held patients. On one, an old man slept, breath whistling. On the other cot, a woman lay awake, eyes tired, skin too warm.
