Closing the distance between them, Fiona smiled at the young girl as she lifted a hand and placed it on her shoulder. “Yet ye stayed by her side all this time and helped me to save her life. Those actions are nae the actions of someone who doesnae care. Ye may not have gotten everythin’ right in the past, but ye are tryin’ now, and that is what matters.”
The glossy look of tears in the young girl’s eyes grew brighter as she turned her head and tried to hide. Yet her sniffles gave her away despite her fierce attempts to quickly clean her cheeks. “I must go now, I shall have yer bath and tea ready soon, Mistress.” She curtsied quickly without turning her head and hurried from the room.
Glancing back at the bed where her friend still lay, unmoving, Eleanor nodded. “I hope they all come around in the end.”
Fiona paused for a moment at the side of the bed and looked at Eleanor, her eyes searching for what she had meant.
Was I only thinkin’ of Iain and Marion?
Her mind knew that she had been thinking of Iain and his feelings toward Marion, but her heart whispered another name entirely.
What does Callum mean to me?
Early morning light kissed her face, making Eleanor blink back her sleep as she struggled to bring the world into focus.
How long has it been?
She raised a hand to her forehead and attempted to block out the light. She could see from her surroundings that she was still in the healer’s chambers below the kitchens, but she could not recall how long she had been asleep.
“Are ye awake, Mistress?” A familiar voice made Eleanor’s eyes shoot open as she sat up straight in bed.
“Marion, is that ye?” Eleanor’s heart raced a hundred beats per minute as the previous day’s events flashed across her mind. There had been a battle, and Callum and Andrew had been wounded, but Marion had almost lost her life. Blinking back herconfusion, Eleanor looked at her dearest friend who now lay smiling at her from the stretcher opposite hers.
Marion’s face was still deathly pale, but her eyes had at least opened. “Aye, Mistress, it is I. I cannae recall what happened, but it feels as if a hundred bags of flour have been placed on me chest.” Her voice was weak.
Quickly coming to her senses, Eleanor rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands and hurried to her feet, making her way to Marion’s side. “There was a battle. Someone inside the castle hurt ye, I daenae ken who it was, but I am hoping that the Laird can find them soon. That is, if he hasnae found them already.”
The Laird.
The term seemed so strange to her after everything that they had been through. She had been calling him Callum for the past twenty-four hours, but that did not erase the fact that her purpose in his life had been served. What would happen to her now that Andrew had been found and the mystery of the stolen land deeds had been solved? Would she and Callum return to their lives and pretend like nothing had happened between them at all?
The thoughts all collided in her mind at the same time. There had been too much happening after the battle for her to ask them, but now that things were more settled, her mind was a whirl.
“Is Iain all right?” Marion asked in a hoarse voice as she ran her tongue over her cracked lips.
“Aye, he came to save us when the battle here at the castle was over. We owe our lives to him; he came just in time to bring help.”
Marion’s eyes grew wider as she stared at Eleanor. “Where were ye and the Laird if ye were nae involved in the battle?”
Eleanor’s lips curved into a sad smile as she shrugged. “I guess there is nay use in keepin’ the truth from ye now that it is all done.” She began to tell Marion about everything that had unfolded, from the night that Andrew had left to finding Callum on the road and coming to the castle, where the rest of the story had unfolded.
“Saints preserve us, Mistress, ye have been through a lot.” Marion took a deep breath, still struggling to breathe despite her utter shock at everything that Eleanor had said.
“Aye,” Eleanor sighed and reached for the pitcher of fresh water beside the stretcher, pouring Marion a glass. “And now there is nothin’ left to do but go back home to Edinburgh.” She lifted the glass to Marion’s lips and placed a hand behind her friend’s head, helping her to drink.
Marion drank long gulps until there was nothing left in the glass at all. She sighed contentedly and lay back down on her pillow. “But, Mistress, does that mean that ye and the Laird neverintended on gettin’ married?” Her eyes searched Eleanor’s face as if she were trying to read every line for a reaction.
Eleanor shook her head, feeling a sad pang in her chest that she could not explain. “Nay, it was all a ruse from the start, and I am sorry that I lied to ye. Ye have been one of the only friends in me life that I could trust.”
Smiling sadly, Marion reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Are ye certain that ye daenae love the Laird, Mistress? I have seen the way that ye looked at him, and the way that the Laird looked at ye. Even that night when he had come to yer chambers. The looks in yer eyes were unmistakable…”
Eleanor’s cheeks filled with color as she looked away. It was true that there had been something that night. They had been together in a way that Eleanor had not known was possible, and even when he had touched her, her skin had burned with the desire of a thousand sparks of fire. But none of that mattered now that the matter had been handled.
Will Callum remember that I will soon be leavin’ now?
Her chest clenched painfully again as the realization of her own feelings came to the surface. She cared for him far more than she cared to even admit to herself. She longed to know how he was doing, but a part of her wondered if he even cared that she was not by his side.
Marion was about to say more, but her words quickly failed when the door to the chambers opened.
