Page 99 of The Chieftain
“When ye have a moment, Lachlan, I need a pan of hot water,” Ilysa said, keeping her voice calm.
Brigid’s hacking cough was sapping her strength. Ilysa hummed to soothe her as she rubbed a salve over the little girl’s chest to ease her breathing.
“Feels good,” the child whispered.
Ilysa brushed the damp curls back from her face and kissed her forehead. Her fever was high. She was a pretty, curly-headed thing, but so ill that Ilysa anticipated it would be a long night—and the outcome was uncertain.
***
“I do love Ilysa, for what little that’s worth,” Connor said after letting Alex rant at him for a while. “Now you’d best sit down, for I have worse to tell ye.”
Connor proceeded to tell him about Ilysa’s secret meeting with the MacLeod chieftain. “There’s no getting around it. Ilysa has betrayed us.”
“By the saints, how could ye believe Ilysa would do anything against you, let alone the clan?” Alex said. “She’s been in love with ye from the day we returned from France.”
“She has?”
“Ach, you’re a fool.” Alex gave him a crooked smile. “But then, most of us are when it comes to love.”
“I don’t know what to do about her,” Connor said, sagging lower in his chair.
“Groveling would be a good start.”
“I meant about her treachery,” Connor said. “How can ye believe she is innocent?”
“I’ll admit that meeting the MacLeod in the faery glen is strange,” Alex said. “But there must be an explanation. What did she say when ye asked her?”
“I didn’t.”
“Tell me I misheard that,” Alex said.
“I was afraid I’d believe anything she told me,” Connor said, holding his head in his hands, “despite the facts.”
“Ye should believe her because Ilysa is incapable of doing anything vile,” Alex said. “When it comes to judging people, sometimes ye have to go with your heart, not your head.”
“That’s what Teàrlag told me,” Connor said, rubbing his forehead.
“Ilysa is too brave for good sense. Don’t forget, she stayed at Dunscaith to spy for us while Hugh held it,” Alex said. “Hell, she probably thought she could talk the MacLeod out of fighting for Trotternish or some such foolishness.”
Connor wanted to believe it. “I’ll go talk to her now.”
Hope, like a wildflower sprouting from a rock, sprang up in his chest as he raced to her bedchamber. When he reached Ilysa’s door, the guards were gone. His heart felt as if it were being torn in two as he pushed the door open and stepped into the empty room.
She was gone.
***
Near dawn, Brigid’s breathing finally eased. Ilysa put the child in her mother’s waiting arms and went outside. Lachlan followed her out, and they leaned against the cottage wall watching the sun rise over the water.
“I must return to the castle this morning,” Lachlan said after a time. “Whether I’m still captain of the guard or no, I want to fight the MacLeods with my clan.”
Ilysa had made her own decision during the long hours of caring for the ill child.
“I’m not returning to the castle,” she told him. “Ever.”
“My sister will welcome ye here as long as ye wish to stay.”
“The MacNeil chieftain asked me to be his wife,” Ilysa said, and her voice wavered only a little. “When he arrives at the castle, I want ye to get word to him that he can fetch me here.”
