Chapter 26
Dinner started simple. They gathered around the table, Lily chattering on and on about her goat and Blossom, before she asked him to help her name her goat.
“After dinner,” he promised.
She beamed from ear to ear. “Thank ye, Da!”
Then the coughing started. Kenna firmly patted the spot between her shoulder blades.
“It’s all right, dear,” she cooed softly. “The food will go down.”
Lily shook her head. “Nay, I’m nae choking, Grandmaither.” Then she doubled over, complaining that her stomach was hurting.
Dougal jumped up from his seat, while Skye and Kenna immediately rose to tend to her.
“I’ll go fetch the healer.”
He had never ridden so fast in his life. When he returned, he demanded that everyone except Kenna, Skye, Stephen, and the healer stay away from Lily.
He didn’t trust his servants. One of them was the cause of his daughter’s suffering.
As she tended to Lily, the healer confirmed that someone had poisoned her. Someone had taken the time and effort to poison her favorite dish, which she was the only one who ate.
It was intentional, and Dougal was going to tear whoever had done it apart with his bare hands.
No one had dared to leave Lily’s side, especially Skye. She assured him that he could continue his search for whoever had done this, that Lily was safe with her.
Kenna tried to coax her away, promising that she would take over and watch Lily in her place, but Skye refused. She said that there was nowhere she would rather be.
Until she knew that Lily was safe, this was where she was going to stay. Kenna didn’t argue with her after that and checked on her every now and then.
“She’ll be all right,” the healer said at last, exhausted from working all night.
Dougal swallowed. “Thank ye for saving me daughter.”
“It is no trouble, me Laird.”
Now that he knew Lily was going to be all right, he thought he would not spiral, but he did, imagining what might have happened had he lost her that night.
It had been a close call. No one could deny that.
He found his mother outside Lily’s chamber well past midnight, her face drawn with exhaustion, which she was trying very hard not to show.
All of them were exhausted. Not one of them had gotten a wink of sleep in the time since Lily had been poisoned. How could anyone sleep knowing that she could lose her life at any moment?
He blamed Angus. Who else would go so far as to poison Lily?
After his threat, Dougal did not doubt that it was him, but the thought sickened him.
The man knew the truth. He knew that Lily was his granddaughter, and yet he was still willing to end her life.
But why? To protect his honor, or to make sure Dougal suffered regardless of who was caught in the middle?
“Ye should be resting, Maither.”
“So should ye, and so should Skye, but none of us are doing what we should.” Kenna kept her voice low, mindful of the door only a few feet away. “How is she?”
“Sleeping. Peacefully for the first time since the healer came.” He rubbed a hand over his face, the mask shifting slightly beneath his palm. “The worst of it has passed, the healer says. She’ll recover fully, given time.”
“Thank God for that.” Kenna sagged slightly against the wall, relief plain on her weathered features. “I daenae think I’ve prayed so hard in all me years as I did tonight.”
“Nor I.” Dougal glanced toward the door, unable to help himself. “Skye hasnae left her side, nae once.”
“I ken. I brought her food twice, and both times she barely touched it, her eyes never leaving Lily.” Kenna studied him carefully. “She loves that girl, Dougal, despite yer arrangement.”
“I ken it well enough.”
“Do ye?” Kenna’s gaze sharpened. “Because from where I stand, it seems ye’ve nae yet found the words to tell her so, nor to ask what it might mean for either of ye.”
“This isnae the time, Maither.”
“Nay, perhaps it isnae. But it will be sooner than ye think, and I’d rather ye be prepared for it than caught unawares.” Kenna sighed, softening. “Ye should send her to bed, Dougal. Daenae let her sit in that chair until dawn breaks.”
“She willnae go easily. Ye ken how stubborn she is.”
“Aye, I ken it well, which is precisely why it must be ye who convinces her. She’ll listen to ye where she’d argue with anyone else.
” A faint, knowing smile touched her mouth despite the weariness in her eyes.
“Go to her. Make her eat something proper, and see that she rests. She’s exhausted herself near collapsing, and it’ll do Lily no good to wake up and find her fallen ill from neglecting herself. ”
“And if she refuses?”
“Then ye’ll simply have to be more persuasive than usual, will ye nae?” Kenna’s smile widened slightly at whatever expression crossed his face. “I’ve seen the way ye look at her, Dougal. I daenae think persuading her will prove so very difficult, once ye set yer mind to it.”
“Maither.”
“I’m only saying what I see.” She patted his arm, the gesture familiar and grounding after the horror of the day. “Go on, then. I’ll sit with Lily a while longer. She’s nae in any danger now, and Skye needs looking after every bit as much as she does.”
Dougal nodded, some of the tension leaving his shoulders at the certainty in her voice. “Thank ye, Maither.”
“Go,” Kenna said again, gentler this time. “Before ye lose yer nerve.”
As expected, Skye did not want to leave Lily’s side, but Dougal wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Not this time.
She protested when he pulled her up by the arm and led her out of Lily’s room and to her own, which was down the hall.
She tried to pull away, but she was weak from not sleeping and eating properly.
The stubborn lass could barely fight against him, much to his amusement. His grip wasn’t even that firm.
He led her up the stairs, one hand steady on the small of her back, and didn’t stop until they’d reached her door.
Skye had a frown on her face. It couldn’t be more obvious that she was not pleased with him at the moment, but he was not going to back down. She needed to take care of herself after using all her energy to watch over Lily. He did not know how else to express his gratitude.
“Ye need to eat,” he urged, nodding toward the tray a maid had left by the hearth. “Ye’ve had nothing since Lily was poisoned—daenae even try to deny it. Ye havenae eaten except a few bites of toast.”
“It’s food,” Skye protested.
Dougal rolled his eyes. “Skye, do ye really want to have this argument with me right now?”
“I’m nae hungry, Dougal. I daenae have much of an appetite.”
“Eat regardless. Lily would want ye to take care of yerself, and ye ken that.” He pulled a chair close, waiting until she sat before he’d allow himself to relax slightly. “I willnae leave until ye’ve had something. Ye are stubborn, but ye have yet to see what true stubbornness is.”
Skye picked at the food, if only to placate him, and he watched every bite as though it mattered a great deal.
He felt relief wash over him. At least, she had eaten enough to fill her belly. That was all he cared about.
“Now,” he said, once she had pushed the plate aside, “a bath. Ye’re still shaking, lass, whatever ye claim.”
He drew it himself and tested the water’s temperature with his hand before helping her out of her gown, careful, unhurried, nothing of the hunger from nights before in his touch. When she sank into the warm water, some of the tension finally left her shoulders.
“Thank ye,” she said quietly.
“Ye neednae thank me for that. I should be the one thanking ye for everything ye have done since Lily fell ill.”
“I was scared, Dougal. Really scared. But I couldnae allow meself to show it. I was afraid that if I did, I would be letting Lily down.”
His jaw tightened. “I shouldnae have let the bastard leave alive.”
“Ye think it was Angus.”
Dougal bit back a growl. He didn’t want to direct his anger at Skye. She was not to blame. In fact, she was the one who had kept him sane throughout the whole ordeal. Without her, he didn’t think he would have been able to keep his head straight.
“I ken it was him, or someone under his command. Who else could it be?” He knelt beside the tub, his forearms resting on the edge.
“I’ll have every soul in the kitchens questioned by morning.
Every servant, every guard who’s come and gone this past fortnight.
The person who poisoned Lily is going to die by me sword. I can promise ye that.”
Even Councilman Ewan had come round asking after the details, wanting to ken exactly what the healer had found and whether Angus was suspected. Dougal had thought little of it at the time. Ewan sat on his council and Lily's safety was the whole Highlands' business he claimed.
Skye went still, the water rippling faintly around her. She drew in a slow breath.
“Are ye finally afraid of me, lass?”
Dougal had assumed long ago that she was no longer afraid of him, but he hadn’t dared to ask again since the day Angus visited. But things were different now. What had happened to Lily had put things in perspective for him. In a way, at least.
Skye searched his face, seeming to consider the answer. “Nay,” she said. “I’m nae afraid of ye. I havenae been afraid of ye for a long time.”
He swallowed, unable to muster up one word in response.
“I only wish—” She broke off.
Dougal shouldn’t press her, but he needed to find out what she was going to say. The urge was too strong to ignore.
“Wish what?”
“It’d be easier to think of ye as a person, and nae as a Lion, if ye removed yer mask.”
He went quiet, nearly tearing his gaze away. “Nay, lass.”
“Why nae?”
“Because then ye’d think me a monster.” He rose, putting distance between them before she could argue further. “Rest now. I’ll have someone bring more water if ye need it.”
He left before she could say anything else, the door softly clicking shut behind him.
The one thing he would never do was remove his mask. Should Skye ever see what lay beneath it, any fondness she had towards him would vanish in an instant. She would finally see him as a monster, just like everyone else in the Highlands did.