Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Ithink we’ve been away long enough, lads,” Leo told the group that had come along with him to patrol the outlands. “Back to Castle MacSween!”
The guards gave their customary cheer. They were tired and dirty, the way they always looked after patrolling, but still keen enough to race him home again as he kicked his heels into his horse’s flanks and started the journey back to the castle.
The return ride took longer than anticipated. A storm broke overhead and forced them to find shelter for hours before they could continue on their way.
Leo watched the sheets of rain obscure the landscape in front of him, his thoughts drifting further than he meant to let them. Beatrice’s eyes flashed green and gold in his mind. Her slightly parted lips as he leaned toward her were impossible to forget.
“Are ye all right over there, me Laird?” one of the guards asked, his back pressed against the rock overhang where they managed to take shelter from the rain. “Ye look like ye're dreamin' on yer feet, if ye daenae mind me saying so.”
“I do mind,” Leo growled.
The man was silent for the rest of the ride to the castle.
It was well into the night when they finally made it back. Leo stabled his horse and strode into the castle without so much as a goodbye to the guards. His entire body felt too tense, prickling all over like he wanted to crawl out of his own skin.
What in the world is happenin’ to me?
He couldn’t shake the unease that had sunk its teeth into him. This was not the first time he had returned from patrol dirty, wet, and tired to the bone, but this was the first time he was saddled with a crawling, tingling discomfort he couldn’t place.
I must be worried about Effie being alone.
Just past the main doors, Shona stood like a stone angel in a church courtyard. She opened her mouth to speak, then cleared her throat as if the words had gotten trapped on their way out. Leo grabbed her arm, driven by the anxiety roiling inside him.
“Ye have news for me, lass?” When she nodded, he shook her roughly. “Then spit it out.”
“Effie’s nae well, me Laird,” she informed him.
“Nae well?”
“She’s feverish. She has been since ye left.”
Leo released her and started in his long, assured gait towards Effie’s chambers, but Shona called out from behind him, and he froze in his tracks.
“What did ye say?” he asked, turning his head slowly and glaring at her over his shoulder.
“I said she’s nae in her chambers, me Laird.”
“Then where the devil is she?”
Shona pointed in the direction of Beatrice’s chambers, and Leo took off running.
Whoever Effie was, all he wanted at that moment was to know that his child was safe, not boiling over as a raging fever tore through her.
He threw open the door, with no concern for the noise or disruption he might be bringing into the chambers.
He found Effie in bed, pale and small and sleeping, curled in a half-moon shape and tucked tightly into Beatrice’s side.
Beatrice was folded around her as if protecting her from an attacker, taking the brunt of it if it meant Effie would be safe.
I suppose it is a good thing she is here.
He reached down with a calloused, dust-covered hand to gently stroke Effie’s cheek. He tugged on a loose curl over her forehead, damp with cooling sweat. For a split second, he reached for Beatrice to touch her the same way, but his hand froze before he made contact.
Nay, I didnae mean to. I’m tired and didnae realize what I was doin'.
He stepped back from the bed, not wanting to startle them out of their mutual serenity. The urge he had felt to touch Beatrice gently reignited the odd feeling he had shaken off earlier. It was as if his skin was too tight. His body pulsed as if too much blood was coursing through him.
Closing the door behind him, he left the pair to their rest, ignoring how hard his heart had started to pound in his chest.
Blinking awake that morning, Beatrice had trouble remembering what was a dream and what had really happened. It was only when she saw the pale but no longer feverish shape of Effie beside her that she was able to fit all the pieces together.
“How are ye, Effie?” she whispered in the girl’s ear, brushing her red curls from her face. “Are ye still feelin’ ill?”
“Nay, but I’m tired,” Effie croaked.
“That’s to be expected.”
The soft creak of the door announced Shona’s arrival, who smiled in tender relief at the sight of Effie on the mend.
“Ye gave us a fright there, lassie.” She crouched next to the bed and tilted her head to the side to look Effie right in the eye. “Ye were burnin’ up all night and some of the day too.”
“Beatrice made me better,” Effie said, her voice still weak.
Beatrice and Shona exchanged looks.
Shona gave Beatrice a wink as she slid her arms under the girl to hoist her out of the bed. “She’s a miracle worker, that Bea.”
“When ye have a patient as strong as ye, Effie, there’s nothin' that cannae be done.” Beatrice sat up on her knees as Shona cradled Effie to her chest. “Shona’s goin' to take care of ye from here. Be a good girl for her, all right?”
“I daenae need any more care,” Effie protested feebly.
“I’m takin' ye to the healer so she can take a good look at ye,” Shona explained as she carried her towards the door. She gave Beatrice another wink over her shoulder. “Even if ye daenae need anythin' else because Beatrice made ye better.”
Beatrice heard Effie say something as Shona carried her off, but she couldn’t make it out.
A balmy silence descended on her, a reprieve from the acute tension that had gripped her since the moment Effie climbed into her bed. The girl was on the mend; everything was going to be fine.
But that’s nae really the case, is it?
In the concern and chaos of Effie’s illness, Beatrice had forgotten about the letter she had received the day before.
Her attempt to circumvent the decree would be torn to shreds by her parents, if they had their way.
She knew them well enough to know there would be no peace until she had given them what they wanted.
Just go to Leo. Just tell him and see what he can do. He is strong enough to stop them. That is why ye chose him.
She loathed the idea of having to throw herself on the mercy of a man, but she reasoned that she had done that already when she showed up on Leo’s doorstep, unannounced and unwelcome.
Another snag in her plan, another incident of him being the one to rescue her from a fate she would do anything to avoid.
Unless, of course, there is somethin' already at play and I just daenae understand it. Or expect it.
The thoughts the old women in the kitchen had put in her head wouldn’t be shaken so easily, and after that brief but powerful brush of Leo’s lips in the corridor, Beatrice wasn’t entirely sure if they should be disregarded.
Leo’s absence the day before was felt strongly, a fact that was startling and unsettling.
She had even wondered for a moment if he was safe out there and if there was a chance he might not return.
A slim chance, she assumed, but a chance nonetheless.
There was danger in the outlands that even a man like Leo might struggle to overcome.
She dressed in a hurry and burst out into the hallway, clutching her parents’ letter to her chest. Each step closer to Leo’s study left her knees weaker, the air in her lungs hotter and wetter.
Goodness, I cannae even tell what is causin’ all of this now. Am I worried about the message from me parents or about seeing Leo?
The servants she hurried past stopped to watch her, a few of them nodding to each other with sly, knowing smiles. As much as it bothered her to be a subject of gossip, she couldn’t pay attention to any of that.
Let them talk. I’ve got bigger problems to deal with.
She stopped outside Leo’s study and shoved open the door without so much as a knock. She lunged forward, waving the letter in front of her, her breath escaping her lungs in jagged bursts.
“Leo,” she gasped as she crossed the threshold, then stopped dead at the sight before her.
Leo was not alone in the study. The entire council was there, and they were all staring at her like she was a madwoman let loose in the castle, destroying their clan and thundering through their peace.