Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
The ride home didn’t take as long as Beatrice had expected it.
It was funny that they had felt so far away the night before as they tangled in the warm bed at the inn, trapped in a storm that had ambushed them like an assassin.
With Leo’s men around them and the steady sound of horses galloping at a glorious pace, they came up to the castle ahead of whatever threat was held in those darkening clouds.
“One of the men took off ahead of us to deliver the good news,” a guard told Leo as they drew closer to the gate.
“Aye, there is most certainly good news,” Leo rumbled.
Beatrice wrapped her arms more firmly around his torso, clinging to him in excitement rather than fear.
We can only hope so. Have we forged the destiny we wanted to, or has our fate already been decided?
When Leo had held her in the woods and asked her if they dared to move forward in love, there had been no other concern in her mind. What she wanted was at hand, and she was ready to grasp it fully with him.
As they returned to the castle, she couldn’t help but wonder if other machinations had gone on while they were away, or in the time while she was sweating out poison and lying on the brink of oblivion.
If me parents have messed things up, we may nae have the future we think we do.
Her father had been so dead set against the marriage to Leo, and her mother, though softer in her protestations, was too weak to change his mind. Not that she had tried so hard.
Beatrice loved her mother, but she was all too aware of how malleable she was to others’ demands.
Especially if those demands keep her safe as well. Me mother has as good a reason as me father to want me married off to an old dobber who has as much coin as he does wrinkles.
It was too late for her to give herself over to someone she didn’t love.
Not after Leo’s confession in the woods, not after seeing his naked figure eclipse the fire at the inn.
She wouldn’t live a life without love, and she would never surrender to a marriage where she was asked to exist without passion.
To her surprise, she wanted Leo to take her to bed right that very moment. She had felt the need before, but it had never been as intense as it was right now.
“Daenae worry anymore, mistress,” one of the guards said, trotting past the two of them to the gate. “Ye are safe now. We willnae let anyone else hurt ye.”
“What was that all about?” Leo muttered.
It must be written all over me face. I must look sick to death with worry, unable to think straight.
“He’s just being polite,” Beatrice answered, doing her best to push down the images flashing through her mind.
As the parade of men and horses clip-clopped their way into the courtyard, a small group of servants and family members came pouring out to watch them.
Beatrice heard the cheers as she and Leo entered the castle, and she wondered how she had ever thought that she could leave here in such a cavalier fashion.
I really thought I could just disappear into the night?
She watched the bright faces of the people she had only known for a short time.
I really thought that none of these people deserved to ken where I had gone? Deserved a chance to say goodbye?
She was angry at herself for a moment when she spotted Shona in the crowd, her hands clasped together as if in prayer. The maid was smiling and crying at the same time, as relieved to see Beatrice safe as Beatrice herself was to be safe.
All the hurt she had felt that morning when she thought she had been left alone, abandoned in a cooling bed tucked into the depths of the woodland, seemed foolish to her now. People had been worried about her. She had been missed. She had been loved. Still was.
Leo dismounted and then reached up to help her down from the horse.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Effie came barreling out of the crowd, her bright eyes and mop of curly red hair as perfect as Beatrice remembered.
The girl stretched out her arms as she ran, wrapping Beatrice in the tightest hug someone so small could manage.
“Bea, we heard what happened!” she exclaimed into Beatrice's ear as she clung to her. “We were so worried that ye’d be lost for good.”
Her small, fragile body was shaking in Beatrice's arms, and Beatrice realized with a stunned agony that the little girl was crying, sobbing so loudly that the force of it rattled through Beatrice's chest.
A sob rose in Beatrice's throat as she thought of how close she had come to never seeing the little girl again, to losing the future they had been planning separately in their minds. Swallowing hard, she bit back her tears.
“It’s all right, Effie. I’m here now.”
“I was so worried about ye, Bea. I was scared ye were dead or hurt so badly.”
The poor child has lost so much as it is, and now she has to reckon with a traitor in the family as well.
But Beatrice kept all of that to herself, at least for the time being. The only thing that mattered was that the three of them were together again.
Effie has plenty of years ahead of her to understand that her uncle was a snake capable of terrible deeds.
“Give her some air, lassie. Give her some air.”
Beatrice glanced up from her crouched position to see Violet looming over her, an expression of fascination and quiet pride across her strong features.
Violet extended a hand to help her up, Effie still holding onto her as the two women faced each other.
They stood as equals for a moment, and Beatrice was warmed by the thought that Violet was not only concerned as she would be for anyone, but she was also concerned because of what Beatrice meant to her now.
“I cannae tell ye how scared I was out there, Violet,” Beatrice said, not sure what Violet knew already. “I never want to be lost in the woodlands again.”
“Aye, that’s nae a place for a lass to be on her own, unless she kens her way around.” Violet raised a finger in the air as if giving a lecture. “And she has a weapon on her.”
Beatrice let out a faint laugh and nodded in agreement. “I’m glad to be back here, Violet.”
“Aye, we’re glad to have ye back.” Violet jerked her head towards Leo.
“Some poor lad scared into delivering a message by this one came screaming up to the castle and said Laird MacSween needed all available riders to head to the woodlands. I am nae ashamed to say that I was worried ye would turn up dead.”
“Have some faith in me,” Beatrice laughed.
She and Violet embraced, and there was a familiarity between them that she had only started to understand before everything had gotten messy.
She was there when I was poisoned. She kept watch while I battled through it. She loves me like a sister, and I am about to be part of her family.
It was still odd for her to think that soon she was going to take the name of this clan, to become Lady MacSween.
Effie beamed up at her, Violet kept a hand on her shoulder, and Beatrice felt truly and honestly at home.
Leo was addressing the crowd, thanking them for their concern and their help. The men on horseback glowed with purpose, with wild energy born out of the mission and their achievement. There were mentions of traitors, betrayal and evil doings.
Beatrice's breath caught in her throat when she saw her parents huddled together at the edge of the crowd. Her mother could barely lift her face to meet her eyes, and her father stared through her as if she weren’t even there.
They daenae look happy to see me safe. Like they couldnae care less that I might be dead in the woods.
But then she saw what her father held.
In his hand was a piece of crumpled parchment, her fate written in black and white on its coarse surface.
If her father had gotten what he wanted, then she and Leo had come too late.