Chapter 4
Chapter Four
As the morning stretched on Elspeth took no pleasure in attending to her duties as the clan’s head chamber maid.
In the past she had always enjoyed the work, but recent events had made even walking through the stronghold’s passages a fearful task.
At least now she had a friend who worked at her side, which only a few moons past she never would have reckoned—especially as the friend had ever and always been an adversary.
“You’ve heard talk of the giantess outsider that arrived in the night?” Una asked Elspeth as they stripped the linens from the laird’s big bed. “They say she’s three ells tall and weighs near as much as a mare.”
“They need Healer check their eyes and brains, then.” Elspeth frowned at the other chamber maid as she dropped the bundled linens into the big laundry basket. “Doubtless she’s only a big lass, like a dairy maid from the midlands. Dinnae spread such gossip.”
“You ken I only tell you such. None of the other wenches shall ever again stoop to speak with the likes of me.” Una shoved a strand of dark hair under her cap before she adjusted the placement of the two big pillows.
“You dinnae look well today, Els. Your eyes are red, and you sound as if you didnae sleep well—or you wept all night again.”
“Och, ’tis naught,” she assured her.
She didn’t want to talk about her quandary, which involved Kelso, her former clansman lover, Benedict Miller, the clan’s healer, and Ulf, a hunter who had come into Dun Talamh from the outside like her.
Kelso had been revived from his death earlier in the spell trap’s time cycle, but instead of forgetting all that had occurred he remembered being Elspeth’s lover.
She, on the other hand, had since Kelso’s death pledged her love to Ben and Ulf, who like her had declared they wanted her as their wife.
Her former lover also wanted her. On top of that most of the other vassals disapproved of her desire to wed two men, and disliked her for being different with her dark brown skin and tightly curled black hair.
She’d ended up sleeping in the seneschal’s work room, but she had inconvenienced Farlan, and that had to end.
Why couldn’t she decide what to do?
“You should tell the lad about your declaration at the binding ceremony,” Una prompted softly.
“Tell Kelso that just after he took an arrow to the head and died that I pledged my heart to two different mortals at once, aye.” She pressed her fingers to her throbbing temple.
“’Twould free me to go to my husbands, I reckon.
Only we’ve no’ yet married, and how may I turn my back on the lad so cruelly?
The few vassals who dinnae despise me shall beg the laird toss me to the stables.
” She stopped and winced. “Forgive me, lass. ’Twas unkind to remind you of such. ”
“’Tis the truth.” Una, who had been driven out to work in the stables after making an unkind remark about Farlan’s injured lover, had changed a great deal since the unpleasant experience.
Now thinner and more watchful, she’d learned to guard her tongue and show genuine appreciation for her position as the newest chambermaid.
“I’d yet be the selfish, conniving witch if no’ for your kindness to me. ”
Elspeth heard the loneliness in her voice, which tugged at her own weary heart. Although Grace Johansen had publicly forgiven her, every other female vassal still treated Una as if she were riddled with pox.
“Shall I move into your chamber and share it with you, then?” she asked, although it was not what she truly wanted. “We may keep each other company.”
The other chambermaid smiled. “If ’tis your wish, ever you’re welcome.”
They worked together to finish tidying the chamber, and then Una volunteered to take the linen basket to the laundry for washing.
That left Elspeth to check all the hearths and ensure each chamber had enough wood for the coming night, something the damaged enchantment had not always been restoring at dawn.
The alterations in the magic that governed their world had grown more frequent and widespread, and caused shortages and no end to more troubles and work.
It was when she slipped into Chieftain Darro’s old chamber that someone came up behind her, pushing her in before closing the door with a small slam.
“Una, you shouldnae—oh.” She looked up at Kelso McKeran’s handsome face and swallowed a groan of dismay. “Lad, you startled me.”
“You seem more afraid than surprised.” He walked up to her, making her backstep until her skirts collided with the chieftain’s bed. Big and hot-blooded, he radiated heat like a banked hearth. “Why do you retreat from me? Do I scare you now that I’ve returned from the dead. Do you reckon me a slog?”
“Of course no’,” Elspeth said, keeping her tone brisk. “’Twas so brave, sacrificing yourself to protect the laird. I’m happy you’re restored to life again. No one shall ever call you a monster.”
“I think you lie now to my face.” He tilted his head as he studied her.
“Aye, ’tis why you avoid me of late. You never feared me when I took you to the garrison hall to spend all your nights in my arms, lass.
Why dinnae you come to me after the evening meal now?
I’ll prove I’m only the man you once trusted and loved. ”
She hadn’t explained anything to Kelso yet, and although she wished to, every word that came into her head seemed like a hard clout: I’m in love with two other men.
I wish to share pleasures with Ben and Ulf.
I never loved you, Kelso. Indeed, I only used you to keep myself from them.
That she hid her sentiments from him had proven almost as torturous as his return to life.
“I reckoned you’d need time to recover,” she murmured, and then gasped as he pushed her onto her back. “Lad, ’tisnae the time for such.”
“Aye, only ’tis what makes such so sweet, eh?
” He slid his hands up under her skirts, running his palms along the outsides of her legs and slipping them under her arse.
“Shall I fack you here, then? I didnae drop the bar. Anyone may enter and see me with my cock in your quim. Mayhap even the laird and his lady.” He gave her a fetching grin. “You’d enjoy such, wouldnae you?”
Although Elspeth had no desire for him, she considered relenting and allowing him to do what he wished with her.
Kelso had always been a passionate man whose demanding desires no longer stirred her, but he wouldn’t hurt her.
It had been months since she’d shared pleasures with him, and her body ached with long-denied desires.
She then thought of the men she truly loved, and what they would think if she gave to another what she had thus far denied them.
I cannae give in to him.
“You’d best release her, else I cosh in your thick skull, Clansman,” a tight voice said from the chamber’s threshold.
Kelso glanced back at Una, who stood with a length of firewood in her hands, and his smile turned into a smirk. “Ah, your wee helper’s come to rescue you. Shall I fack her while you watch, then, lassie? She’s said to be a wild thing under a man if she chooses.”
The wood fell from the other chambermaid’s hands, which shook as she bent to pick it up again. When she straightened Elspeth saw her face had gone bright pink.
“I’ll run for the nearest guards,” Una offered, her voice unsteady. “They’ll drag the bastart away to be judged by the laird.”
He chuckled. “For embracing my lady love? Think again, lass. Every guard in the keepe, they’ve seen me escort the lass to my chamber.”
“’Tis all right, Una,” Elspeth told her. “I’m in no danger from Kelso. ’Tis time we settle matters between us. Go on and take the linens down to the laundry. I’ll see you at the morning meal.”
Una scowled at the clansman before she reluctantly retreated and closed the door.
“I reckon she fancies me,” he said with a chuckle. “Do you want her with us? You can use your mouth on her chebs while I shaft her. Doubtless she’d enjoy that much as–”
“Enough.” She shoved at his chest, hard and sudden enough to send him staggering back and giving her the chance to roll across the bed and rise on the other side.
“You shallnae speak to me thus, nor Una. We’re no’ your property.
Before you took that arrow for the laird, I meant to tell you ’twas over between us.
” She saw his jaw tighten. “As you suspected, aye.”
“I recall how wet your wee quim grew when I spoke of the healer and the hunter facking each other. You wished to put yourself between them so much you allowed me take you while you dreamed of such.” He spat on the floor. “You’d sully yourself to serve as their hoor in truth?”
“Wife.” She would not permit him to scorn her or mock the strange and beautiful love she’d found with Benedict and Ulf. “The three of us love and wish to wed. I’ve declared myself their wife before the other vassals and the clan. The thing, ’tis all but done, Kelso.”
He made a contemptuous sound. “A female cannae take two husbands, and time, ’tis running out.
You’ve but to look out and see the world collapsing around us.
We may no longer depend on the morrow, or waking from our slumbers.
” He held out his hand. “You ken I can make you happy. ’Tis natural and good between us. Come to me.”
“No. We’re done,” she repeated. “If you touch me again I shall report you to the War Master for forcing yourself on me.”
Elspeth watched Kelso turn on his heel and stride out of the chamber, kicking the door shut behind him.
Only when his footsteps faded did she start to tremble with nerves.
The guard had been a lustful lover, but not once had he spoken to her in anger or tried to force her like this.
Then again, she had never denied him what he wished until now.
What if Kelso went to confront or even harm her loves?