Chapter 15
The herbal’s door was closed when Jamie arrived. He knocked once to be polite, then listened.
“Come,” Aftyn called.
He opened the door, not surprised to find Aftyn inside, but so was Braden. “I ken I’ve asked ye once today, but am I interrupting?” he greeted them as he entered.
Aftyn spun about to face him, surprise lighting her face. And something else. “I thought ye had gone to the abbey.”
Jamie didn’t have time to consider what he saw there before Braden stood and moved toward the door.
“I’ll leave ye two to continue yer work. Thank ye, healer. And good day to ye, healer Lathan.”
“I didna mean to interrupt,” Jamie said.
Braden shook his head. “Ye didna. I was just leaving.”
Jamie nodded and turned to Aftyn as Braden left the herbal. “What are ye working on?”
Aftyn colored and turned away, gesturing at the worktable. “I was about to prepare some willowbark for tea. Treating Niall depleted my store to fight fevers.”
Nothing about that simple task should cause her distress, yet her color was still higher than normal. Why had Braden been here and what had they been talking about? Braden seemed in a hurry to leave.
“I’ll try again with the journal, then,” Jamie told her, and moved to the side table, where he kept it with his notes for Aftyn. “What did Braden want? Does his arm still bother him?”
“Only a wee bit. He moves it well and says it doesna hurt, only aches a bit if he uses it too much.”
He didn’t believe that was the only reason for Braden’s visit, but Aftyn had turned back to her work.
Jamie said, “That’s good, then,” and opened the journal to continue, hoping a new day would give him insights into the notes that had frustrated him the last time he attempted it.
He’d spend an hour here, giving him time to win Aftyn’s confidence and find out what he could, then go to the abbey as he’d planned.
A few minutes later, Braden returned. “I apologize for disturbing ye,” he said, his gaze on Jamie rather than Aftyn, who stood up. “My father wishes to speak with ye in his solar.”
Jamie nodded. He’d been expecting this summons. “I’ll be down in a moment. Thank ye.”
Braden nodded and left. Jamie turned his attention to Aftyn. Her gaze was still on the doorway where Braden had been. Her fists were clenched and her face had whitened. “Are ye well, Aftyn? Ye are pale.”
She shifted and turned back to her table. “Nay, I’m fine. I’ve been standing too long in one place.” With that, she sat on the stool she’d been on since Jamie entered.
He let the lie slide by and stood. “Best I go see what yer laird wants. I’ll come back to work on the journal if I have time, but I plan to pay a visit to the abbey today.”
“Is the priest better?”
“Aye. He’s fortunate his robes protected him as well as they did.”
Aftyn nodded but kept her face angled away from him. “Very well.”
Something bothered her. Jamie wanted to stay and convince her to open up to him, but he was out of time. He left the herbal and went down the stairs to the laird’s solar.
The Keith was at his worktable, sunlight streaming through a window onto the surface and a missive that held his attention.
He picked it up as Jamie entered and tilted it more to the light, a slight frown drawing a shallow line between his brows.
Then he glanced up. “Lathan,” he said and gestured to a chair by the hearth.
Jamie went there and waited until the Keith joined him, sitting in the opposite chair.
So this was to be a friendly meeting. At least to start.
“What can I do for ye?” Jamie took the Keith’s cue, but speaking first put him on a more equal footing than waiting for the laird to take charge and open the conversation. Jamie wanted some control, but needed to appear cooperative for as long as he could.
“’Tis what ye can do for my clan, and for all the people in Keith territory.”
Jamie braced himself without moving a muscle, intent on appearing to listen calmly.
“The abbot speaks highly of yer skill.” He waved the missive in his hand, but did not proffer it, leaving Jamie to wonder what it said. “I am prepared to offer ye much to become the Keith healer.”
“What do ye mean?” The more the Keith talked, the more Jamie would find out without agreeing to anything.
Had Aftyn known her father would summon him?
Was that the subject of her conversation with Braden and the reason for the disquiet on her face?
If so, perhaps he had good reason to fear he was running out of time to leave before his companions lives were threatened.
How could the Keith expect him to foreswear his loyalty to his own laird and clan?
And why would he trust him if he did? Nay, when he left here, he intended to go back to being a Lathan warrior, not a healer, except by necessity.
“I mean to convey to ye great honor as the clan’s healer, control of the herbal, a larger, more comfortable chamber than the one ye have now, and coin in an amount we can discuss. For that, ye will swear fealty to me and remain here. Ye will train other healers.”
That was impossible, yet he knew what the Keith meant.
He expected a different clan to have different potions and methods of healing.
And since his had been shown to be more effective than anything Aftyn had been able to do, his would be valuable, indeed.
He wanted to ask why the Keith had not offered to see his daughter trained, but decided to wait before challenging the man.
“Many of my cures are kept within my family and I am no’ free to share them.”
“But ye are free to use them, and ye have done so here, if the reports that have reached me are true. Yer methods are more effective than anything we have. Even the abbot canna decide if yer ways are a gift from God or… well, we willna speak of the other.”
Jamie kept his expression placid. Clearly, the Keith had expected a reaction to that statement. Fear, perhaps, at his veiled threat of witchcraft?
But for the moment, the Keith seemed focused on enticements.
“All that is worth much, as I’m sure ye ken. And Keith will become yer family, so ye may be assured of any cooperation ye require to find what ye need to compound yer potions.”
“Yer offer is generous,” Jamie said, and paused. He could not agree or disagree too quickly. And of course, he could not agree at all. “I am promised to the abbey this afternoon. Perhaps when I return, we can discuss terms.” Jamie counted on the Keith's wish to stay on good terms with the abbot.
“I ken ye and Aftyn have become close. I’ll give her to ye, if ye agree.”
Anger starting to heat Jamie’s blood. “What do ye mean, give her to me?”
“Anything ye wish. Make her yer mistress. Marry her. She means little to me as she is. Under ye…” He paused and snorted at his own double entendre, then continued, “her skills will improve. Perhaps in more than one area, aye?” He laughed.
Jamie did not. “I willna use her like that.”
“As ye wish. Then let me offer another enticement. If ye agree, yer companions are free to return to Lathan.”
“And if I dinna agree?” Jamie’s belly suddenly hollowed out. Had Rabbie and Niall been caught? That could explain the Keith’s veiled hints of witchcraft.
“Two of yer companions have already been taken to the dungeon. Two are missing and I’m told they left the keep at first light.”
Jamie went weak with relief that Niall had not been discovered. Then anger rose, and his strength with it, that Bhaltair and Fearchar were in the dungeon.
“I’ve sent riders to bring them back. Until ye swear to me—before the abbot, mind ye—yer men will remain in the dungeon without food.” So the Keith counted on intercepting Jamie’s men, to keep word from reaching Lathan.
Jamie surged to his feet. “Ye canna starve my men.” And he could not swear before the abbot to follow this man.
In order to save innocent lives, he’d come to terms with breaking the vow he’d made in anger eighteen months ago.
But this? Even made under coercion, this would be a vow he could never break, lest he risk whatever remained of his immortal soul.
“They will have water. They can live much longer without food, so ye will have time to change yer mind.”
Jamie hoped Rabbie and Niall had disregarded his comment that urgency was not required, and ridden like the wind toward the Aerie. “This is how ye entice someone to aid ye? By threatening my men?”
“Yers nay longer. Ye are a Keith now.”
“I am a Lathan. I only agreed to help your healers for…”
“And ye shall continue to do so, though for longer than ye expected.”
Jamie, on his feet, loomed over the seated laird.
But the Keith appeared unworried. A slight sound by the doorway behind him told Jamie the Keith had prepared for his arrival and guards stood by to prevent Jamie from doing what he longed to do—wrap his hands around this arrogant man’s neck and squeeze the life from him.
Then free his men, take Aftyn, and leave this place.
But he could do none of that, certainly not at this moment, perhaps never unless he wanted a war with Keith and its allies. If Rabbie and Niall had reached the Aerie, Keith might get one, very soon.
He fought not to cross his arms over his chest. “Ye have me at a disadvantage.”
“Only a temporary one. If ye swear to me, all will be well, and ye will be well rewarded. Ye have only to decide.”
“I must see to the priest who was burned.” Jamie hoped to divert him from thinking about the other Lathans.
He couldn’t do anything from the abbey except finish with the priest. Even if he took Aftyn with him, he could not return to Lathan without Bhaltair and Fearchar.
He would not leave them in the Keith dungeon.
“Ye may go, but with a Keith escort to ensure yer safety.”
“My safety hasna been at issue before now.”
“Until ye swear to me, that has changed. For ye, and for yer men.”
Jamie kept his hands at his side and did not allow himself to clench them into fists. The Keith knew him as a healer. Best he continued to regard him as such and underestimate him.
As soon as Jamie saw a chance, the laird would meet the warrior.
By the time Aftyn went down to the great hall for the midday meal, the keep was abuzz with the news that Jamie Lathan had gone to the abbey with an escort, and that two of his companions were currently in the dungeon.
No one mentioned the other two, or any names.
His companions—even Niall?—in the dungeon!
Wait, only two of his companions were there. Where were the other two?
She immediately forgot any thought of food.
Her stomach clenched and ice formed in her veins.
Her confession had caused all of this. Jamie under guard made no sense, but he still did his best to help.
Aftyn hoped the burned priest knew what a sacrifice Jamie was making for his sake.
Surely Jamie had to be worried about his men.
And wondering what her father would do next.
She left the great hall through the main door, desperate for fresh air before she passed out or burst into tears. She wasn’t sure which was most likely, but she was ready for either. This was her fault.
She had to get to the dungeon! Niall should not be there. His wound would get infected. He’d sicken again. Dear God, he could die! What was her father doing? Had he lost his mind?
She paced, thankful most of the clan was in the great hall eating, leaving her alone out here, save for the guards on the wall walk whose attention should be directed outside the keep, not into the bailey.
What would happen to Jamie when he returned from the abbey? Would her father put him in the dungeon, too?
She had to think of something. Jamie had done so much for the clan, the abbey, and for her.
He’d made his interest in her clear through his care and concern, his kisses and caresses, and his offers to take her back to the Aerie with him.
He’d said he’d take her wherever she wanted to go for training, but she hoped he meant something more, for what had blossomed between them.
The abbot had given her father just enough information to make Jamie a prize worth threatening. Even worth risking trouble with his clan. She suspected her father had offered Jamie a place as healer and Jamie had turned him down.
He was a good man. She hadn’t wanted to admit her feelings, even to herself, knowing that he would be leaving soon. But then he’d offered to stay, to protect her, and her attraction to him had deepened over time into something more real, more important, and now?
Now she would be forced to help him leave her. To defy her father and do whatever she could to keep him and his men safe, and to find a way for them to escape—and leave her behind.