So, she had thrown herself into tidying up the hut that the healer had left behind, finding her own herbs and supplies to set up a worktable. It had been Iona that had offered to help her set it to rights, and now the young lass was showing promise in becoming a healer one day herself. “Wot time is it?” Ferra asked as she put away the lavender bags meant to help bring about sleep.
“It’s half past noon, mah lady.”
“Oh no!” Ferra cried out, wiping her hands on her apron before peeling it off. “I’m late!”
“Go on!” Iona urged as she looked about the mess on the worktable. “I can put it up, mah lady, err, Ferra.”
“T-Thank ye,” Ferra stammered, hurrying out of the hut and back to the keep. Shamus had asked if she would sup with him at luncheon today, and Ferra had been so engrossed in her work that she had let time slip away.
Stepping into the keep, Ferra no longer felt like she was a stranger. Servants and warriors alike greeted her as she hurried past, and she was starting to notice the small things about her new home, things that made her heart warm, such as the warm fire that never seemed to go out, no matter the time of the day. Or the brightly woven tapestries on the walls that she had learned were generations old.
Ferra could have this place be her home if only she could find some common ground with her husband.
Sighing, she looked about the great hall for her father-in-law, not finding him seated at the table. “Where is the laird?” she asked the passing servant, her arms laden with linens.
“He is above stairs, mah lady,” the servant said quickly. “In the young laird’s chambers.”
Ferra drew in a breath. He was with Kaiden, the man she had been aptly avoiding for the last two days. The memory of their kiss was still haunting her, however, and not only on her lips.
It was in her dreams, her thoughts, and perhaps in her nightmares if one would consider it just so. What should have been one of the most important times in her young life had truly turned into something that tasted like bitter disappointment. Ferra didn’t know what had made Kaiden pull away from her, but it had only made her crave so much more.
“Mah lady?”
“Forgive me,” Ferra told the servant, realizing she was still standing there. “Thank ye.”
The servant bobbed and moved on with her duties as Ferra forced herself to turn toward the stairs, her feet feeling like they were encased in stone themselves. Could she face him now?
She would eventually have to, of course. Her wounded pride was no reason to stay away from him, and he was going to need her help if he meant to leave his chamber.
Perhaps this was the first step.
So Ferra summoned her courage and walked up the stairs to the second landing, locating Kaiden’s chambers, with the door partly open. She heard a curse, then a crash, before she was in the room, finding her husband standing partly against the table, his hands braced on the scarred wood.
“Ye’re up,” she breathed, unable to believe what she was seeing.
He looked over at her. “Aye, lass, I am...but likely not for long.”
Quickly, Ferra made her way over to him, feeling him tremble the moment she placed her hands on his arm. “’Tis far too soon,” she stated as she looped her own arm around his waist. He was wearing nothing but a long tunic on his strong form, barely covering the lower half of his waist, and it was soaked in sweat. It seemed he had been at it for quite some time before she had arrived. “Come, let me put ye tae bed.”
“Nay,” he gasped, nodding to the table near the fire. “We are tae have luncheon together.”
Ferra’s heart doubled in size as she saw the simple fare spread out on the table. “I thought I was tae sup with yer da.”
A shadow of a smile crossed Kaiden’s handsome face. “Nay, lass. How else was I supposed tae get ye here so that I can apologize?”
Ferra decided to get him to a proper place before she questioned his motives further. “Lean most of yer weight on yer good leg. I will help support the rest.”
“I will crush ye.”
She shook her head. “Nay, I’m stronger than I look.”
Together they made their way over to the chairs pulled to the table, and Ferra herself was sweating by the time she helped Kaiden lower his heavy body onto the chair. “There,” she stated, standing back. “Ye made it.”
He poured them both a mug of ale before handing her one. “Aye, but not without feeling as if I have been dunked in a bath.”
“Something else we have in common,” she said dryly as she sat in the seat across from him. “Are ye certain ye are comfortable?”
He grimaced as he stretched out his leg before the fire. “I would be lying if I said so, but it feels good tae be sitting somewhere other than that bed.”
