Ailean eyed her. He’d rather sup with lepers. “No,” he said curtly. “I must find her. Good day to ye all.”
Turning, he crossed to Sgòth and vaulted onto his back. Moments later, he was cantering away from the carpenter’s cottage.
Cods.
He needed to find Fiona. She hadn’t been on the southern road. Where had she gone?
Worry churned through him now.
He’d ask around. Perhaps she’d taken lodgings at one of the two inns here instead of facing her family.
Surely, someone had seen her.
Fiona limped badly as she made her way into Ardnacross.
The sun was high in the sky. It was at least noon, or shortly after. Her belly was empty, although she barely noticed her hunger, for a heaviness had wrapped itself around her, pushing down on her shoulders like a great yoke.
She’d been largely oblivious to her surroundings on the path north. After leaving Dounarwyse, she’d followed it along the rocky shore as the sun rose over the Sound. The morning had been windy and cool, cooler than it had been over the previous hot spell. But she welcomed the cold slap of the breeze on her cheeks as she walked.
She didn’t want to think about what she’d left behind or what a mess she’d made of things. And she didn’t want to think about Ailean either.
She was conflicted. As disappointed as she was in him, as humiliated as she’d felt in that barmkin as his father had challenged him, she also had to take some responsibility. She’d willingly taken his hand and traveled along a path she’d known could only lead to ruin—she just hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself.
Having Ailean’s attention had made her feel special, but it had come at a price.
She stumbled as tiredness caught up with her, biting back a curse as pain lanced up her left foot. Both feet felt as if they were on fire. The blisters had formed and then burst as she walked.Her boots were comfortable enough for day-to-day work, but they weren’t meant for long distances.
However, she’d had no choice.
Pausing on the last brow of the hill that led down to where Ardnacross crouched, she cast an eye over the village. It was smaller than she’d hoped. Windswept, with the ruin of a tower shadowing it to the north.
Unlike Craignure, which was a fishing village and port, Ardnacross was a crofter’s hamlet. Nonetheless, crab cages sat on the shingle shore, and a couple of creel boats had been pulled up above the tide line. Her gaze then slid over the green fields and hills west of the village, as she took in the patchwork of long run rigs and the sheep grazing upon the hills.
The sight of the sheep came as a relief.
Wool was good. It meant she would have yarn and thread for spinning and weaving. It meant there was likely a weaver here already; hopefully, one who needed some help.
Halting, Fiona made her way over to where a lichen-encrusted boulder rose a few feet from the rocky path.
Before entering Ardnacross, she needed a plan. She needed to rouse herself from her numbness. She needed to think.
Unfastening the pouch Tay had given her, she opened it and peered at the contents.
He hadn’t lied. The purse contained mostly coppers. She had a few silver pennies, but not enough for her to set herself up as a weaver on her own here. Not enough to rent a workshop and buy the materials she needed, or to commission a loom to be made.
No. She would need to find work quickly.
Even so, Tay’s kindness made a little of the numbing fog slough away, letting pain through. She swallowed hard to ease the sudden lump in her throat.
What a mess.
Somehow, his generosity made this all harder to bear.
Never had she felt so alone.Used.Her family had only ever wanted her around for the coin she earned, and to Ailean, she’d only ever been a conquest.
Her eyes started to sting, and her vision misted. And then, before she could stop them, hot, scalding tears began rolling down her cheeks. She’d done so well to keep herself together over the past hours. She’d thought she’d be able to continue.
But the moment she’d stopped, the moment she’d taken a deep breath, the dam had burst. The gravity of her situation could no longer be denied, and she was now placing her hopes in the hands of strangers. She’d always been so resourceful, so capable, but she was about to put herself truly to the test.
