Page 17 of Keepers of the Highland Crown
A determined spark crossed her expression like she was a warrior almost into battle. “This ‘Benefactor’ dared to harm the abbot, abbess, and threaten a treaty which Scots have bled for. If we must dance with the enemy to find this shadow, so be it. What say you, my knight?”
“Aye!” Callum concurred as Luss sailed into a gallop toward Highloch Castle.
Chapter 9
Tighter!She tugged the thick cloak about herself; was her muddied hem hidden as well? Looking down, she gave an inward nod while they walked toward the stablemaster after halting before the towering stable’s entryway where air flavored by hay and dung and sweat washed over them like rain.
“Good eve, Nigel.” She smiled at the familiar weathered face.
The weathering upon the solemn features turned into grooves deep as the mortar washed between the stones under their feet when he burst forth with a grin. “My Lady Fawnella! Such an honor to have you upon these grounds. Oh, Lady Alaina will be filled with joy!”
“May I be received at this hour?” Nella inquired, cautiously.
The grin widened. “Dawn, midnight, the time matters not! Lady Alaina is at your charge after the gift you bestowed. Wait here but a moment, let me fetch the stable lad to take your steeds and then walk you to the keep myself.”
Nella nodded as the stable marshal covered as much ground down the straw-laden aisle as his short legs would allow.
“A gift?” Callum murmured, holding Luss’s reigns standing beside her and Brayden.
“Years past when my husband paid call here to hunt with Lady Alaina, their eldest lad, who was still only wee, wandered off.” Her hand rose toward the impressive eastern stone curtain wall which matched the stables and keep. “Drowning. I heard the splashing in the river.”After focusing every strength to do so.
“Nella, you saved him?”
“Aye.”
Callum took her hand. “A most noble manner you hold. Calling to mind a knight’s honor should be bestowed upon you, my lady.”
Ohhh, if only Callum knew! A dry laugh escaped her throat as he cocked a brow at her in question. She should tell Callum, it would shine light on what a colossal liver-spotted toad she had endured.
“Callum, my late husband would declare you ignorant for such a rendering. He turned sour at me right after. In private he… Let me see… His precise words were, ‘I brand you a fool to have saved a wee lad who was as daft as he was weak. You should have left him to meet his maker!’”
Callum’s fingers tightened in hers gently as even Sir Brayden turned somber, muttering, “The bastard deserved to meet his, but I would say ’twas the devil who took his hide.”
“Aye,” Callum ground out, and the muscles on his jaw flexed as he clenched it.
“My Lady Fawnella,” the stable marshal called. She and Callum parted instantly. He needed to be her guardsman and above suspicion.Look but don’t touch!“The stable lad shall be along in but a moment.”
Her hand; huh, it felt as if she had shoved it into a snow drift without Callum’s touch. Maybe the colossal liver-spotted toad had been right; she was a fool, for only a fool would seekthe touch of one who had broken her heart.Focus on the task. Abbot and Abbess needed to be kept safe.
***
“My dear Lady Fawnella!” Callum heard the robust greeter’s voice echo the stone walls where the spaces in between tapestries hung within the massive hall. The lady of the keep looked as grand as the surroundings about to unfold upon the morrow. The enormous gathering by tables formed in a horseshoe shape with the center a raised dais. Servants were already laboring at placing goblets which gleamed by the torchlight flickering from the sconces around the room like a druid circle.
“When I was told you had paid call” – the lady flattened her palm over her chest in dramatic fashion – “I summoned the chamberlain at once! Prepare a chamber for Lady Fawnella, I commanded. He, of course, grew flustered then turned whiny as a bairn lacking a teat.” Brayden’s brows shot up. “Regarding the lack of chambers, with all the lowlander guests seated in the keep, he fussed about the want of chambers. Ha! I demanded he find a chamber to bequeath you, my dearest Lady Fawnella. ’Tis done! The finest we may offer, the first door upon the left of the stairs on the second…” Alaina broke from the rant to examine Nella. “What has happened to you? Your hem is riddled by mud. Ack! It is of nae concern. I shall have a bath brought straight away, and fresh garments. We shall make you sparkle the same as the gem you are. For upon the morrow the highest chieftains and chiefs of the border clans will vie for a mere promise of a dance with you upon their arm.”Shite!Had he considered this part in the plan ahead? Only if torture were sought as a pastime. “Even more when the Scot with the offered arm hears you have a hefty widow’s dowery; alas, it should have been yourwholedowry from an annulment given that limp-pricked.…” The lady paused to take a breath, and her eyesstrayed toward him, widening like an effect by shock. “My dear Lady Fawnella, have you found a new husband since the cruel bastard’s death?” Yeah, he liked her.The lady’s eyes narrowed as she studied him.Wait a moment.Why did he feel like a stallion being sized up for the breeding shed?
“Nae, Lady Alaina,” Nella replied. “This is my guardsmen, Brayden and Callum of Clan Scott.” Aye,they were now lowlanders for a short time.
Alaina glanced over Brayden, who suddenly grew thinner after he tightened his girth. “I do say.” Alaina leaned back slightly to get a better view at him next. “Brayden Scott is a hearty one, but Callum, dashing as the sun is hot. Gracious, after that sour dried-up cock, which was also the cruel bastard of a husband, may he rot in a pit. I applaud your talents in acquiring such a prize stallion.” His own jaw dropped.
Nella turned pink as the flower petals gracing the rushes as decoration. “You are too kind; however, Callum is a guardsman, naught more.”
Alaina dashed her eyes back at Nella then whispered, “’Tis time, time you took a lover. You are young, bountiful, bonny, and I would wager my left teat that guard is hung longer than my finest stallion in the stable.” Brayden choked on his own spittle.
Alaina glared at the gesture. “Have you something to say, Brayden?”
Ahem.“Nae, my lady, I believe you have seen to all which needed to be declared.”
“Excellent!” Alaina nodded, resolute, and turning, she wove her arm through Nella’s. “Let us seek the chamber for you first.” She glanced at the “guardsmen”. “If you care to see yourselves to a place here in the great hall, I shall have mead and meat brought briskly.” Pulling Nella along, she continued,“Tell me why you have not ventured here after disappearing from that sour twit—”
