Isla said, “It’s okay, Da, we can fix it.”
He nodded. “That’s what I needed, Isla, a reminder that this too shall pass. Tonight we grieve, and get some sleep, tomorrow we will sweep up.”
Magnus hefted me to my feet.
I said, “I wonder if the register book is safe in the chapel?”
“I daena think I can bear tae look. That will need tae wait for the morrow too.”
We skirted the courtyard trying to stay dry, and ducked into the interior of the castle.
The Great Hall, now pulsing with excited servants, was a cacophony. Lizbeth stood in the middle of it, directing bedding to spots along the walls. The whole place smelled like thick smoke and wet filthy humans. Everyone was damp from being in the courtyard, and almost everyone looked black with soot and slightly singed from battling the fire.
Damp cloths were passed around. Magnus got his face washed and a bit of his hands and arms clean. I was able to get the blood off my chin, which was nice.
Magnus helped me get into a comfortable spot leaning against the wall, with Jack in my arms. Isla was buzzing around the Great Hall talking to her cousins, Archie and the boys werestanding near the men listening to the stories about fighting the blaze.
It was a marvel that the fire had taken minds off the fact that the Earl had died in a duel just hours before, killed, or so they believed, by Lady Mairead’s young handsome husband. A lot of terrible things had happened and somehow it had protected Lizbeth.
She was safe.
John and Henrietta were nowhere to be seen. They must have been hiding up in their rooms, ignoring the request for everyone to sleep here for safety.
Hayley was buzzing around passing out blankets, helping Lizbeth, and finally she came and sat down beside me. One of the servants had come around earlier, offering oatcakes and wine, as they were the easiest bits of a meal to put together. I nibbled a bit of the oatcake, and sipped on a glass of wine.
Hayley asked, “Self-medicating?”
“Ayup.”
“What a day, huh?”
“It started a billion hours ago with a ride in the woods in the rain, and here we are.”
“Magnus had such a plan.”
We both looked across the hall at Magnus sitting on the table, watching in rapt attention as Sean described being taken down to the dungeons.
Hayley asked, “How’s your face?”
“I think, now that the ibuprofen kicked in, that it looks worse than it feels.”
“Looks like hell. You’re going to have so much fun on your date with your guy tomorrow.”
“I wonder why he wanted to do it so badly, I mean I know he was feeling really sad about leaving Balloch, but why was it about us?”
She shrugged. “You guys are the most loving couple I know, you also hardly ever go out, maybe he just thought you deserved a gesture.”
“He is so romantic.”
John and Henrietta walked into the dining room, as if they were lording it over the place. They were not wet. They were not smoke covered. They gestured that they wanted to speak to Magnus. He glared, and then he nodded to a corner, and the three of them came together there. They began a quiet conversation, but at one point Magnus looked furious. Then John’s face grew red. Henrietta stood defiantly, arms crossed, her eyebrows occasionally rising as if in alarm.
Then, finally, Magnus and John shook hands.
Magnus came to sit next to me. Fraoch sat with Hayley. Sean and Lizbeth and Liam came and joined us, forming a large sprawling circle. Magnus put out an arm, I leaned on him.
“What did John want?”
“Now that Balloch has been on fire, he was concerned our deal might not stand. He wanted tae put this terrible trouble behind us, and was concerned that I might back out of m’deal tae fill his coffers in exchange for a burnt down castle. I told him I dinna think I ought tae anymore, as he brought that man, Birk, intae our home and let him steal from us.”
