Chapter Twenty-Three
Lachlan watched his wife pace aboot Victor’s
bedchamber as they all awaited his verdict. Victor was seated at
his bureau, gazing into one of his future mechanisms. He added
boiling tar to the flesh he’d collected from the resurrected dead.
Veronica continued to pace as Lachlan stoically took in the scene.
His mum and sister were seated at the small table within the
bedchamber.
“For the love of the saints, Victor,” Moira
finally harrumphed. “Just tell us did it work or does
that…that…abomination still live?” She patted her silver-streaked
raven hair. “’Tis unsettling to have that thing in my home.”
“Really Victor,” Veronica added. She stopped
her pacing and placed a hand on her hip. “Either it’s dead or
alive. Which is it?”
“Everybody give me a minute,” Victor said
distractedly, his attention on his work.
It had taken two days to gather the
ingredients for the tar and boil it down to Victor’s
specifications. ‘Twas another day afore they figured out how to get
a wee bit of tar up to Victor’s bedchamber whilst keeping the
sticky stuff still boiling. Many attempts later, here they now
waited.
In truth, Lachlan was feeling as anxious as
his mum and wife, though mayhap for differing reasons. Douglass and
Cameron were yet to return after all. Whether due to the snowy
conditions outside or a decimated Campbell holding he dinna ken. He
needed to be prepared for both scenarios. If the boiled tar dinna
work then Victor would have to concoct something else. Lachlan
prayed to the saints it worked for he dinna wish to be further
delayed.
At last his brother-within-the-law looked up
and turned in his chair. “It works,” he said, a smile forming on
his lips. “It’s definitely dead.”
“Praise the saints,” Moira muttered,
crossing herself.
“Aye,” Catriona concurred. “’Tis an evil now
gone from here.”
“You’re absolutely certain?” Veronica asked.
“Like one hundred percent?”
“Yes.” Victor nodded. “One hundred percent
certainty.”
Lachlan frowned thoughtfully. “’Tis good,
that. Now that we ken how to kill their flesh I needs must go to
the Campbells and find Douglass and Cameron. Mayhap ‘tis but the
harsh winter keeping them gone, but—”
“Not until morning,” Veronica pleaded with
him. “I will go with you tomorrow, but it’s cold enough during
daylight much less riding out as the sun is setting.”
Lachlan dinna wish to have this argument.
“My warriors have been gone three days and eves. I must leave the
soonest.”
“You know I’m going with you whether we
leave tonight or tomorrow morning,” Veronica said, frowning.
“There’s little sense in leaving now. I don’t mean to sound cold,
but what’s done is done. One more night isn’t going to matter. Not
to mention it’ll be safer for us to go during the daylight. If
anyone at the Campbells has turned, they are easier to kill when
the sun is up.”
“She speaks the truth,” Victor said, looking
at Lachlan. “When they come back from the dead, they are more like
animals—predators—than humans. They hunt better than humans can at
night because they see and hear and smell better than we can.”
Frustrated, Lachlan half-sighed and
half-growled. “Fine!” he barked. “We shall ride in the morn.”
Veronica’s relief was palpable. Mayhap ‘twas
better this way if it eased his wife’s mind a wee bit. “I promise
you have made the safest choice for everyone involved.”
He inclined his head, but said nothing.
“We’ve yet to supper,” Moira chimed in. “Let
us retire to the great hall lest we keep the servants up late into
the eve.”
He dinna feel like eating. He wanted to
ride. Leastways, Veronica’s peace of mind remained his priority.
“Fine. Let us eat.”
*****
Because of the late hour, supper was more
private than usual with Finn and Ramsay being their only guests.
Veronica realized her husband didn’t want her to go with him to the
Campbells tomorrow so she reminded Lachlan under her breath that
she would follow him anyway if he didn’t take her. “There’s no
sense in fighting me on this.” He threw her an irritated look, but
eventually grunted a concession.
Finn and Ramsay must have overheard the
exchange for they were grinning at Lachlan’s discomfit. She felt
like throttling the duo, her husband’s best warriors or not. She
didn’t know if they realized it, but their reactions were upping
the likelihood that Lachlan would lecture her later on behaving
like a proper wife in public and she wasn’t in the mood for another
session of it.
Fortunately, Victor picked that moment to
excitedly share what he’d learned about the virus by bringing Finn
and Ramsay up to speed concerning the boiling tar. Veronica made no
move to hide her smile as her brother droned on and on—and on and
on!—concerning every detail regarding his discovery. My how the
tables had turned. Now she was the amused one and Lachlan’s men
looked miserable. Good.
“For the love of the saints, mon,” Ramsay
finally grumbled out. “We dinna ken a thing you’ve said save the
boiling tar kills the dead come back to life!”
Veronica smiled fully, showcasing her neat,
white teeth. The action was not lost on Lachlan who secreted away a
small smile of his own.
“My husband is verra passionate aboot his
work,” Catriona defensively harrumphed. Her spine straightened
regally as she chastised Finn and Ramsay. “Were it not for my
Victor, like as naught we would all be the dead come back to
life.”
“Were it not for your husband,” Finn
grumpily mumbled, “we wouldna be needing to battle the risen dead
to begin with.”
Veronica’s smile dissolved. The table grew
so quiet you could hear a pin drop. “Are you saying you wish Victor
and I had never come here?” Veronica murmured.
“Nay, milady!” Finn quickly assured her. He
must have seen Lachlan’s furious expression for his face reddened.
“I’m just tired. I dinna ken what I was thinking when I said that.
Please forgive my insolence.”
“I know you were the one, Finn, who set fire
to the infected flesh on my clothing with boiling pig fat,”
Veronica said, her eyes narrowed in challenge. “Had you just burnt
it down in a normal fashion, we wouldn’t be sitting here having
this conversation!”
Lachlan thumped his fist on the table. “Let
us all take hold of ourselves. It doesna matter who did what at
this point. All we needs must think on is retrieving Douglass and
Cameron, whether from the snows or the resurrected dead.”
Veronica sighed as she broke from her
defensive stare. She didn’t understand why Finn’s words had
bothered her so sorely, but they had. Perhaps it had something to
do with the fact that this was the first place that had felt like
home to her in years. Victor likely felt the same way. As a
consequence, to hear someone infer that the Gunns would be better
off had she and her brother never came to the past was more than a
little hurtful. Still, she typically let people’s bullshit opinions
slide off her back. She should have this time too.
“You’re right,” Veronica said with forced
cheer. She stood up, causing the men to as well. “If you’ll excuse
me, I’m going to my room for the night. Don’t stop eating on my
account.”
“You see what you did, Finn,” Veronica heard
Catriona chide in a hushed voice as she headed for the stairs.
“’Twas a needless comment on your part.”
“Quite needless,” Moira added. “You will
apologize again come the morn.”
The last thing she heard from the group as
she finished climbing the stairs was Victor boasting that everyone
would be happy about his and Veronica’s arrival after he finished
his next project. “It’s called a bidet-toilette,” her brother
announced. “Let me tell you all about it.”
The collective group groan that followed
Victor’s proclamation brought immense satisfaction to Veronica. She
grabbed a torch from beside one of her bedroom’s doors and took it
inside to light candles around the room so she could see. After
placing the torch back in its resting place, she shut the bedroom
doors for a final time. Maybe she was being childish, but she hoped
her brother carried on about the bidet-toilette until Finn’s ears
bled.
*****
Lachlan found his wife in her hellion attire
practicing her Kalari. Her proficiency with stabbing weapons was
impressive indeed. Folding his arms across his chest, he stood in
the bedchamber and merely watched. She was concentrating on her
poses, jumps, and kicks so mightily that he dinna ken if she even
realized he was near. After a time, he cleared his throat on
purpose to make certain she was aware of him. Veronica stopped
mid-kick and stood upright.
“You finished supper?” she asked, her
breathing a bit ragged.
“Aye. Some time ago.”
“I see.”
“I talked with Finn,” he told her. “For what
it’s worth, the mon feels terrible that he injured your
feelings.”
“He didn’t injure my feelings,” Veronica
said, looking at the floor. “He just…” She glanced up. “…injured my
feelings,” she admitted.
Lachlan snorted at her bemused confession.
“Would you like a bath, wife?”
“You know what?” She sighed, her hands
flying to her hips. “I hate to put Maisie out, but yeah, I do want
one. Besides, I’m sweaty.”
He winked. “I prefer you sweaty. Usually
that means I’m riding you like a madmon.”
She said nothing to that, didn’t even crack
a smile, which worried him a bit. He hoped she would not allow
Finn’s thoughtless comment to ruin her mood for the whole of the
eve. Her happiness mattered to him, he knew. It mattered
sorely.
Thirty minutes later, Veronica sat in the
hot waters as Lachlan washed and then brushed out her long hair.
She had the faraway look of a woman with something on her mind.
Rather than pry, he decided she’d tell him aboot it when she felt
ready.
“I love you, Lachlan,” Veronica
murmured.
He stilled. Had he heard her correctly?
“I mean it,” she quietly said, raising her
knees to wrap her arms around them. “I should have told you a long
time ago, but I want you to know it before we leave in the
morning.”
His heart thumped pleasurably in his chest.
“I love you too, wife.” He had wanted for so long to hear those
words. Now that he had, Lachlan desired to pick her up, take her to
their bed, and surge inside her, yet she seemed to have much on her
mind.
“I have a bad feeling about what we’re going
to find at the Campbells,” she admitted. “I can’t begin to describe
how tough of a battle this will be if even just a few of their clan
has turned.” She sighed. “You saw how fast they are with your own
eyes.”
“Aye. ‘Tis why I’ve practiced sword fighting
so harshly these past days.”
“I know. I mean, I figured that was
why.”
“All will be well, wife.” He frowned as a
thought came to him. “Please tell me you are not fearing for my
safety.”
“No, no!” She sighed again. “Okay, yes. But
not because I don’t know how skilled you are. It’s just… how do I
explain myself?”
He worked the lilac soap o’er her back afore
rinsing it off. “I dinna ken, but please do.”
She could appreciate that. She didn’t like
her skills being questioned either. “I’ve been killing those things
for years. You have no experience in this. So, yeah, I’m worried.
The same way you’d be worried if I went into battle with you
against a rival clan.”
“’Tis sweet do you worry. ‘Tis mayhap
insulting,” he grumbled, “yet also sweet.”
“I mean no insult.”
“Aye. I ken that. ‘Tis why I dinna put you
o’er my knee.”
“Over your knee?” Her introspective mood
seemingly shifted. “That’s kind of a hot mental image.”
“Hot?”
“Sexy.”
“Truly?” He shook his head. His wee wife was
always full of surprises. “You wish for me to spank you like a
child?”
She looked o’er her shoulder and grinned.
“Yes I do. Like I said, that sounds very hot.”
He couldna help but chuckle. “Then so I
shall this verra eve.”
Veronica gazed at him and smiled. “I really
do love you.”
Lachlan’s eyes softened. “And I really do
love you too.”
Later that eve he placed her o’er his knee
and spanked her soundly. His wife reacted like a wench driven mad
by passion. He fucked her so hard he dinna think he’d be
able to walk the next morn much less she. But then, an hour later,
he made sweet love to Veronica. Long, slow, and genuine loving.
‘Twas wondrous. He fell asleep hoping she was already pregnant.
*****
Veronica’s sleep started out a bit fitful
that night, worried as she was about tomorrow’s events. Maybe it
really was just the snow keeping Douglass and Cameron away, but
deep down inside she doubted it. Highlanders, especially warriors,
were accustomed to training in the conditions outside much less
riding their horses from here to there.
Snuggling closer to Lachlan, she forced her
thoughts to calm using meditation techniques Master Anjali had
taught her while learning Kalari under her tutelage. It helped. It
took a while, but eventually she succumbed to the restful slumber
she needed if she was to be useful to Lachlan tomorrow.