Chapter 31
LADY MAIREAD
YE HAE BEEN A GOOD HUSBAND
The thick door drew shut with a thud. The rain outside was loud, making it difficult tae hear.
The guards had allowed me tae come speak tae Wilfrey, who was sitting uncomfortably on the stone ledge.
I took one look at him, and went tae the door and called out. “I need some wine and two cups.”
A guard approached. “Wine? I canna give the prisoner wine.”
“Ye are going tae tell Lady Mairead that ye winna give her husband a cup of wine when he has been nearly killed in a duel? I hae had an appalling day, ye ought not cross me.”
The poor guard nodded and left for wine.
I sat down beside Wilfred on the bench. “We will need tae speak verra quietly, there may be people around listening.”
“I agree.” He swung his legs off the bench and sat up.
The guard returned with a bottle and two cups.
I took them through the window, pulled the cork on the bottle, and poured wine in both cups.
I passed him one and sipped from the other.
He drank and moaned happily. “I needed that.”
“Aye.” I raised my cup, and said, very quietly, “Tae Wilfrey, ye hae done me and m’family a great service today.”
He chuckled and raised his arm and looked down on the bandage. “And almost got killed. Will I survive it?”
“Likely.”
“It is cold in here.”
“Dungeons are constructed tae be a trial, and though tis summer, the weather is dreich.”
“I did not expect to be in a dungeon, when I offered….”
“What did ye think would happen tae ye?”
He chuckled again. “I have no idea. I will have a lot to think about my decision-making skills when I am shivering down here and everyone else is warm in the castle.”
I sipped from the wine. “Here is the good news, Wilfrey, upstairs will be chilled and damp as well. By now all the windows hae been opened for the Earl’s soul tae depart, else we will be haunted dreadfully. That is the last thing anyone wants.”
He placed the cup beside him and I watched him from the corner of my eye, admiring his jaw line. I did like him greatly. Especially his strong jawline.
“Thank ye, Wilfrey.”
He nodded, looking down at his hands. “You are welcome.” He exhaled. “I have never had to touch a dead body before.” He whispered, “Or stab one. But…”
His voice trailed off.
“What were ye going tae say, Wilfrey?”
“I suppose having done this will improve my craft.”
I scoffed. “Ye might want tae speak tae God about thoughts like this.”
“That is why I did not want to say it out loud.” He asked, “How much trouble am I in?”
“Some.”
“Define ‘some.’”
“His son John is coming tonight. He is generally more pleasant than his father.” I turned the cup in my hands. “He has also been trying tae get out from under his father’s thumb for thirty-five years, so his grief may be — measured.”
Wilfrey considered this. “That… sounds good.”
“Aye, tis.”
Another silence.
I said, “Also, he daena like Balloch much, there might be a way tae talk him from taking over.”
Wilfrey raised a brow. “That might be helpful.”
“It could be.”
He said, “And you think… she is safe from…?”
“I believe so, aye. I am grateful tae ye. Ye saved her life, all our lives.”
“I should probably have a story.”
“Ye hae a story. Ye went up there because his insults demanded ye protect my honor. He drew first and ye defended yerself.”
“That’s true, exactly that.”
“Aye, I ken tis, that is all that matters. May God hae mercy on his soul.” I drained my cup and placed it down.
“He insulted me in front of not only ye but the whole household. Ye went up tae demand an apology as was yer right as my husband. He lost his temper, as he always did, as everyone in this castle has witnessed a thousand times, and he drew on ye. And ye fought him with yer blade.” I smoothed my skirt. “Tis practically a ballad.”
“It is practically a play.”
I gave him a smile. “Practically Shakespearean.”
He chuckled, softly, the exhausted kind, the kind that has nowhere else tae go.
I watched him as he stopped laughing and looked at his cup again. “What a day this has been. I am a time traveler, went to challenge an Earl, covered up a,” he whispered, “crime… ended up in a dungeon in the eighteenth century.”
“Ye still like this century now that ye are in a dungeon?”
“My admiration for the year 1710 has grown thin.” He held out his cup for more wine, saying, while I poured. “I could have just accepted the insult, many men would have. If I had never gone up there—”
“Then Lizbeth would be here in this dungeon, Wilfrey, she is a mother, a sister, my daughter — this would be a terrible fate for her, I am glad ye went up, I am relieved we found her. Ye were heroic.”
“How about we wait until I am clear of the gallows before you call me heroic, there are many hours to go where this narrative might fall apart.” He looked down on his hands again, turning them over as if seeing the skin for the first time. “We could leave now? You could go get Sean—”
“I would ask Liam, he is helpful and winna argue as much as one of my sons.”
“Ask Liam to let me go… we could leave and never return.”
“Aye, Wilfrey, we could. But I worry, if ye arna here tae answer tae John about what happened, he might begin looking elsewhere. What if he suspects Lizbeth? I think we need tae stay, at least until John hears yer story, so he winna hae a doubt, then I will get ye free, ye hae my word.” I looked around the dungeon.
He clenched his jaw. “I have your word?”
“Aye, I winna leave ye tae the gallows, tae the whims of John — ye think I might?”
“You have proven to be diabolical.”
“Tae others perhaps, but not tae ye. I am nae that black-hearted, and I like ye a great deal. And even if I dinna like ye much, I would never let John harm ye, ye are mine. He canna hae ye. I hae just been pleading with Magnus, he has assured me that he will do anything for yer cause. Nae one will let ye hang.”
He chuckled. “A king’s word, I suppose I will take that as a good sign.”
“He means it, he is grateful tae ye, his sister means a great deal tae him and now he has agreed tae produce yer movie. This is all verra good news.”
“My movie will be about a man who offers to take a fall without a plan. It will be a thriller.”
“I daena much like thrillers, I prefer movies with a good guy and a villain and car chases.”
He laughed.
I poured more wine in my glass. “It dawns on me that this is the problem with the Earl, he never understood his place in the hierarchy. I am much higher above him—”
“Past tense, that was the problem with the Earl.”
“Aye, I accepted his insults for forty years, trying the sensible approach. I daena recommend it. And tonight he has been ended. I would raise a toast, but twould be unseemly.”
He looked at me, then said, “I am sorry you had to deal with that for forty years. Someone should have stuck up for you.”
“Magnus did once, well… not Magnus, a branch of his older self, we called him Auld Magnus, he called my first husband out tae the courtyard tae fight over his treatment of me. My husband was dead soon after.”
“How did he die?”
Images flashed in my mind of Lowden, pressing on his chest and belching as he collapsed tae the ground. I shook my head of it. “Tis nae important, the only important thing was I was finally free. For that I can raise a glass.”
We both held up our glasses and took a sip.
He passed me his cup. “I probably should not drink anymore, I need to keep my wits.”
“I just daena ken what ye were thinking, ye had tae ken twould be a risk, ye had tae ken that this is life and death.”
“It did not cross my mind. I only wanted to help. I have the skills to help. Maybe I wanted to prove myself to King Magnus and… I am relieved he will keep me from the gallows.”
“He will do everything in his power—”
“He is a king, I just saved his sister, he can definitely save me.”
“I daena ken, Magnus has little power here, he is called a bastard, he has been disrespected much of his life.”
“I should have known that before I did something this foolhardy.”
“Ye ought tae hae been wiser, aye, tis easy tae see that the Earl was the seat of power, and that my family has been powerless, here by his good grace. I told ye this, many times. Yet still ye…”
“I stepped in and took the fall for your daughter.”
“If ye hang I will never forgive ye.”
“If I hang I will never forgive you.”
I laughed. “Well, since I like ye, and ye hae been a good husband, I will do my best tae save ye from this.” I drained my cup, put it down, and went to the window, looking out at the last grey light fading from the sky, the rain relentlessly pouring down.
Not a torch flame tae be seen. Somewhere in the castle above us a door opened and closed, the ordinary business of the day going on around us, as it always went on, because castles daena stop for anything, even the death of an earl.
Especially not the death of a cruel earl. Though I supposed some loved him.
Likely his son would be upset.
Still looking out the window I said, “John arrives tonight. Any time now, and I will be giving him yer account of it.” I turned from the window. “Ye ought tae try tae rest before he arrives. I will send someone with food.” I moved to the door.
I paused, then looked back at him. “Wilfrey?”
He nodded, as if he knew what I was going tae say.
“I daena ken how I will ever repay ye, thank ye.”
“You are welcome, Mairead, though we shall see how I feel if they send me to the gallows.”
“I will do everything I can tae keep ye from it, I love ye.”
“I love you too, Mairead.”
I banged on the door and the guard let me go.