Candace Robb: A Cruel Courtship

‘Let’s go without,’ said Margaret. ‘Dame Bridget is attending Fergus, and the fire is too hot.’

She watched how wearily Hal moved and hoped some air would calm him enough to sleep.

‘You don’t know me well, Hal,’ she began when they were out beneath the eaves.

‘Did Roger?’

The question caught Margaret off guard and she laughed, not a happy laugh. ‘No. You probably know more about what I like, what I fear, what I want than Roger ever did.’

Hal stopped, his head tilted, listening. ‘It’s even quieter now.’ He sniffed. ‘They’re lighting fires down in the valley.’

Margaret closed her eyes. ‘I don’t want to know what’s going on down there. Not right now.’

‘Maggie?’ a voice came from the wynd.

‘James,’ Hal said, disappointment clear in his voice.

Two men appeared around the corner of the house, stepping into the pool of light from the lanterns. James had brought Aylmer.

‘Dame Margaret,’ Aylmer said with a nod of his head.

Margaret rose and forced herself to look into his eyes. ‘I heard you’d been kept at the castle.’

James joined her.

Aylmer nodded once. He looked thin and haggard, and instead of cockily meeting her gaze and holding it, he lowered his eyes. This was a changed man.

‘Why are you here?’ she asked, slipping her arm around James for support.

‘I wanted to tell you how sorry Roger was that he’d hurt you, how determined he was to find a way to win you back to him. I was honoured to be his friend, and I made certain that Peter Fitzsimon died knowing it was for Roger’s life.’

‘Tell me what happened to my husband, Aylmer.’

‘Didn’t Ellen come to you and explain?’

‘I want to hear it from you.’

He described the incident much as Ellen had. ‘I have cursed her over and over for choosing to leave just then, but in my heart I know that Fitzsimon would have found another opportunity to kill Roger — he merely took advantage of the moment.’

‘So you did kill Peter. How did you find him?’

‘I was watching for him, but that lad was faster — Ellen’s brother, mad as a hatter to take on a fighter of Fitzsimon’s skill, I thought. But he gave it his all and managed to badly injure him. I let Fitzsimon crawl to the shed and get some rest. I wanted him quite clear in the head when I killed him. I wanted him to hear me when I told him why he was dying.’

Margaret bowed her head. ‘I suppose I should thank you,’ she said when she’d recovered her voice. ‘For Peter, and for sending Ellen to me.’

Now Aylmer looked up. ‘He disgusted me, how he preyed on her family.’

She nodded. ‘What will you do now?’

‘Return to the Bruce, tell him how the battle went, what a fool Surrey proved to be, how worthy Wallace and Murray are.’

‘I hesitate to invite you into the hall,’ said Margaret. ‘Because of Ada …’

Aylmer nodded. ‘James told me that Fitzsimon was the son of the mistress of the house. I’ll not disturb her. I’ve done what I came to do.’

She stepped out of James’s arms and took one of Aylmer’s hands in both of hers. ‘God go with you, Aylmer. Thank you.’

He bowed to her and withdrew. When he’d disappeared down the wynd, James said, ‘He’s a good man.’

Margaret nodded. ‘You will fight together.’

‘What?’ James looked baffled.

She had not intended to tell him so soon, but her heart was so full she had no room for lies.

‘The moment you said he was a good man, I saw you with him. As if I’d moved forward in time. You will fight alongside him.’

James glanced back to the wynd, then stepped closer to Margaret, putting a hand on each shoulder and looking into her eyes. ‘You have the Sight.’

‘I do.’

‘How long have you known?’ His tone was almost accusing.

‘I’m not sure — I did not want it. But I saw Roger’s death long before you told me of it.’

James shook his head as he stepped back. ‘God’s blood, Maggie.’ He sank down on one of the benches beneath the eaves and put his head in his hands.

Margaret remembered Hal and looked around, but he had vanished. She sat down beside James.

‘Murray is badly wounded,’ said James, lifting his head. ‘Things will fall heavily on William’s shoulders now. But Lennox and Stewart hid in the woods near the pows and followed the English as they retreated. So the nobles are openly supporting William now.’

‘Then there is hope.’

James nodded. ‘And much to do. Are you- Will you still work with me?’

‘When I am ready, I will, Jamie.’ Margaret turned to look at him. ‘This is a power that must be guided. I must learn how to do that.’

‘Your mother never did.’

‘No. But I shall. I’ll seek out Great-Aunt Euphemia. Ma fought learning from her, but I intend to learn. I’ll not let it ruin my life, make me a shade of what I might be, a pawn for someone to manipulate.’

‘You’ll go off to the west? Now?’

‘When Fergus is recovered.’

‘I must stay with William,’ James said.

‘I know, Jamie.’

‘What of Dame Katherine, Roger’s Ma? Will you not go to her?’

‘Yes, Celia and I will go there together, and then I’ll leave Celia with her.’

‘You’ll go alone to — where is Euphemia?’

‘Kilmartin.’

‘You can’t go alone!’

‘I won’t. I’ll find an escort.’

James rose. ‘We’ll talk of this later.’ He leaned down, tilted her chin and kissed her. ‘I love you, Maggie. We’ll find a way through all this.’

‘I pray that we do.’

He sighed. ‘But there is work to be done. I understand Andrew is at the kirk. I want to know what he’s seen.’

‘Go. I’ll sit here a while longer.’

He drew her up to him and held her tightly. ‘We will find a way to be together, Maggie.’

For the first time, Margaret believed that might be true. ‘God watch over you, my Jamie,’ she whispered.

When he was gone, Margaret sat down, leaning her head against the wall of the house and closed her eyes, waiting for her head to stop spinning.

Someone sat down beside her and took her hand.

‘Oh, Hal, it’s all a muddle,’ she moaned, falling into her old easiness with him. ‘Did I ever tell you that my ma has the Sight?’

‘Murdoch talked of it. He thought she was mad.’

‘I wonder what he’d say if he heard I have it?’

‘He’d tell you to make use of it.’

‘You’re right. That’s just what he’d say.’

They sat quietly for a while, hand in hand.

‘I mean to go to my great-aunt in the west and learn about the Sight.’

‘You cannot go alone.’

‘I know.’

‘Would you let me escort you?’

It was a possibility. And yet his declaration had changed things between them. ‘I could use a good friend and companion. We’ll talk when Fergus is better.’

She rose, and so did Hal. Without a word, he gently kissed her on the cheek, and then retreated to the kitchen. Margaret stepped into the hall, uncertain whether she should sleep or watch over her brother.

Dame Bridget sat snoring in a chair near him.

‘She says he’ll make it through the night, you can be sure of it.’ said Celia as she rose from her stool beside Fergus.

‘God be thanked,’ said Margaret, crouching down to kiss her brother’s forehead. She needed help rising.

‘It’s bed for you, Mistress,’ said Celia, holding her firmly. ‘You’re worn to the bone.’

‘Bless you, Celia, you are a blessing to me.’