When the door scraped open, she cursed herself for not crawling across the floor to draw the bar across it.
“Ye missed supper.”
Oh, hell, it was Rory’s sister. Catriona would not be dismissed as easily as a servant.
“O shluagh!What are ye doing on the floor in the dark?” Catriona said.
“Let me be,” Sybil said.
The door shut with a click, but Catriona had not gone. Light footsteps crossed the room to the table and a lamp flared. Sybil flinched against the sudden light.
“Ach, it’s freezing in here as well. Your brazier’s gone out,” Catriona said. “I’ll take care of that as soon as we get ye up off the floor.”
When Catriona knelt beside her, Sybil ignored her, hoping she would leave her to her misery.
“By the saints, what’s wrong?” Catriona shook her arm. “Tell me.”
“Your brother doesn’t want me,” Sybil said. “He regrets marrying me already.”
“I don’t believe that,” Catriona said. “When ye stood up to him and invited the Munros to stay, I knew ye were the wife he needed. And I’ve no doubt you’re the one he wants.”
“Nay! He regrets ever seeing my face. Ever hearing my name. Ever bringing me here.” Sybil shook her head as she spoke. “He regretseverything.”
Catriona lifted Sybil off the floor and dragged her to the low bench against the wall. After adding peat to the brazier and relighting the fire, she sat beside Sybil.
“If it’s any comfort, my brother is in a dreadful state as well,” Catriona said.
A sliver of hope entered Sybil’s heart.
“He’s not weeping, of course, but he’s so foul-tempered that Alex threatened to throw him into the loch,” Catriona said. “I watched the two of ye dancing last night, and ye both looked so happy. What happened?”
In halting words, Sybil told the story of her escape with Rory, the deception, and the rest, leaving out the intimate parts.
“I should have taken the secret to my grave,” Sybil said. “But once I fell in love with him, I had to tell him. I just had to.”
“Of course ye did,” Catriona said. “I can see why Rory is upset that ye did not tell him sooner, but it makes perfect sense to me.”
It made Sybil feel a wee bit better to have someone see her side of it.
“Let’s get your face washed and fix your hair,” Catriona said. “My mother used to say that will make ye begin to feel better.”
“Mine said that too, but it won’t help this time.”
“Well, my mother also said that wallowing in misery never fixed a thing.” Catriona leaned back and narrowed her eyes at Sybil. “Surely the two of ye can mend this breach.”
“I don’t know how to go about it,” Sybil said. “Rory will never trust me again.”
“After all ye went through to get here, ye seem like a determined and resourceful lass to me.” Catriona patted Sybil’s knee. “My brother is bullheaded, for certain. But you’ll find a way.”
Would she? Sybil had maneuvered through the politics and hidden undercurrents of court using the assets God gave her—her wits, her charm, her beauty. But what use were those in winning Rory’s trust and forgiveness?
“Come, lass, where’s your pride?” Catriona said with an encouraging smile. “Most of the clan believe you’re just a weak Lowlander. They’ll expect ye to give up at the first bump in the road. Ye want to prove them wrong, don’t ye?”
“We Douglases may have our faults,” Sybil said as she dried her tears, “but we are persistent.”
Sybil straightened her shoulders. She would fight for Rory and her place as his wife. She had to. He might believe he could set aside their marriage, but she never could. She took a vow before God to be Rory’s wife until death.
She would never let him go.
