“And if it’s not?” Euan asked.
“Just pray it is.” Victor sighed.“Otherwise, I’m back to needing to make a vaccine, which is harderand will take much longer given what I have in this time to workwith.”
“How long until you ken the answer?” Jamesinquired.
Victor shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“We should leave now,” Veronica piped in toLachlan’s relief. “The faster we get home, the faster my brotherwill have an answer for you.”
“I’ll send a messenger,” Lachlan offered.“The soonest.”
The old laird nodded. “My son and my menwill check the rest of the huts on the morrow,” he vowed on a sigh.“Leastways, Godspeed in your travels. I await your messenger.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Veronica could tell something was botheringLachlan, but she had no idea what that something was. She frownedthoughtfully at him as he stripped off his clothes and climbed intotheir bed. She wanted to know what was wrong, but didn’t wish tocome across as a nag. When he blew out the candle on his nightstandand made no move to have sex with her, she sighed. What on earthwas going on?
As much as she hated admitting it toherself, her feelings were definitely smarting. Was he upset thatshe had killed that eater instead of him? Did he feel emasculatedby her? It was difficult to conjecture on how a medieval warlordwould feel about the day’s earlier events. Still, Lachlan knew whathe was getting before he chose to marry her. If he’d wanted a weakwife then he should have picked out a different bridealtogether.
The next morning, Veronica woke up when theroosters started crowing. Setting aside the covers, she got out ofbed and, at the sounds of swords clanging, padded over to thebedroom window. She moved the heavy drapes aside then shivered atthe wintry weather blasting her in the face. She worked her handsup and down her arms, trying to warm herself, teeth chattering, asshe scanned the grounds below. There he was.
Lachlan was fighting five of his own men,shirtless and wearing only a kilt and boots despite the bittertemperature. His muscles bulged, growls accompanying every strikeof the sword. He took his men down one by one, emerging as theclear victor when all was said and done. Even from the window shecould see his labored breathing, yet he barely rested a few secondsbefore ordering, “Again!”
Freezing, Veronica closed the drapes andquickly made her way to the fireplace. She warmed herself for a fewminutes before throwing three additional logs into the fire,stoking them with a poker. Once they began to burn, she set thepoker to the side of the hearth and quickly dressed. She chose avelvet, emerald-hued bliaut with a braided golden rope around herhips and dyed green shoes on her feet. She kept her amber curlsunbound, but chose a head bangle with a big emerald crest setagainst her forehead to complete her ensemble. Glancing into thepolished silver looking glass, she decided she was presentableenough.
Leaving her bedroom, she ignored thesoldiers posted at either side of the doors and made her way toVictor and Catriona’s bedroom. The soldiers, Douglass and Cameronif she remembered correctly, followed her in silence. She didn’tknow why Lachlan had posted both of them to guard her in the firstplace this morning. He knew she could take care of herself. Sheknocked on Victor’s door; Catriona answered the knock. “Come in,sister,” she said with a smile. Veronica did so, shutting the doorwith Lachlan’s men on the other side of it.
“I keep trying to lure Victor from hisstudies that we might break our fast in the great hall,” Catrionatold her. “Mayhap you’ll enjoy better luck than have I.”
“It’s not advisable to starve your wife,Victor,” Veronica said, shaking her head as she walked towardswhere he sat at his desk. “Surely you can stop long enough toeat?”
Victor, hunched over one of his gadgets andstaring into what she could only presume was an oddly smallmicroscope of sorts, said he’d be ready soon. He was smiling atwhatever it was he was looking at. “It’s definitely the pig fat,”he said, finally looking up at the women. His grin was contagious.“I have no idea why or how, but it’s the pig fat.”
“How can you be certain?” Veronica asked,for once curious about his scientific reasoning. She again foldedher arms and used her hands to warm them. This room was chillierthan her own. “Tell us.”
“Like I said, I don’t know why.” He pushedhis glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It could be any number ofvariables. What’s important is that we now know, for whateverreason, it’s the pig fat.”
“Give me a little more to go on than that.Just a little.”
“Basically when I looked at the dead brainmatter under my AI scope, it was just that—dead. When I added adrop of liquified pig fat onto it, boom! The cells beganregenerating.”
“Fascinating,” she murmured. “So the fleshon me from the eaters wasn’t infected until you burned it downwith—”
“—Boiled pig fat. Exactly!” Victor stood up.“I’ve got to tell Lachlan about this. Then he can send a messengerto the Campbells right away.”
She knew Lachlan had promised to send amessenger as soon as they had an answer, but sending men out on anerrand during the maelstrom outside? “You already told them not touse pig fat for fueling fires.”
“Just to be safe,” Victor assured her. “It’sbest they understand I know for a fact it’s pig fat—or maybe justliquified pig fat—so they definitely don’t resort to using it.”
That was hard to argue with. “True.”Hopefully Lachlan’s men were accustomed to riding in snowstorms.Her husband was outside wearing nothing but a kilt and boots soperhaps native Highlanders weren’t as affected by the coldtemperature as she was.
“Well this is wondrous news, aye?” Catrionaasked.
“Very,” Victor told his wife. He smiled ather. “I’ll get dressed so we can go eat.”
“Wait a second,” Veronica said, jabbing afinger at the AI scope. “How are you going to kill that shit?”
Catriona gasped at her curse word. Veronicacocked her head a bit. “Don’t be scandalized. Lachlan is used to myfilthy mouth. Please get used to it too.”
