Aaron turned slowly to look, struggling to ignore the fire in his chest. Edith was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is Edith?” he asked, his lips barely moving.
“She left with Martin,” Scarlett answered, smiling as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world. “Is it nae somethin’?” she added, turning once again to Robert. “Me friend will soon become a healer.”
“Do ye ken what for?” Aaron pressed.
“Nay.” She smiled, entirely unaware of the irritation spreading through him. “But is it nae wonderful? She has a physical examination coming up.”
Wonderful.
“She truly is remarkable,” Robert said.
Aaron looked toward the empty doorway. Edith had scarcely spoken ten words to him all morning, yet she had excused herself from the hall without so much as a word to him, to be with thehealer.
“Aye,” he muttered, the whiskey suddenly tasting bitter in his mouth. “Wonderful.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Me Lady,” Martin said as they turned down a long, winding corridor. “I am sorry to steal ye away on the mornin’ of the fair.”
The noise of the Great Hall slowly faded behind them, replaced by the patter of their footsteps and servants hurrying past as they prepared for the village fair.
Edith laughed softly. “Nay,” she said, glancing at him. “Ye didnae steal me away.”
A small smile touched Martin’s lips. “Lady McLaren might disagree,” he said. “Ye seemed busy with the clanswomen when I came into the hall.”
Edith’s lips curved slightly.
She had been teaching the women how to make simple herbal teas to keep their children from getting the flu. She had notrealized Martin had witnessed it, and from the look on his face, she could tell that he was proud of her.
Her fingers curled into her skirt as they rounded the bend.
“Daenae worry about Scarlett,” she said, her chest warming with a pleasant feeling. “She is very understanding.”
More than Aaron.
Edith slowed her steps. If anything, she was grateful for the distraction that Martin’s company offered. Avoiding Aaron’s gaze had been difficult when she had been in the Great Hall, and it had been even harder to keep herself from looking at him.
But she had not wanted to rouse any more suspicion or teasing, especially with Scarlett’s sharp eyes watching her every move.
Martin nodded, coming to a complete stop in front of her. They were nearly at his chamber now.
“There is a matter I thought to bring to yer notice,” he said quietly.
For a moment, Edith assumed the worst.
Surely, he isnae leaving Hallow Castle.
She would not have been surprised if that were the case. Martin was incredible at his craft. And after her last two lessons, it did not seem that Aaron appreciated having him around.
“’Tis about Angus, the cook,” Martin said.
Her brows drew slightly together.
Angus was the youngest cook in the kitchen, a little older than Martin but equally as brooding.
Has something happened to him?
