Page 83 of The Changeling

I bumped straight into Robbie. He had a bottle of Nan’s metheglin in his hand, and almost dropped it as he caught me and steadied me.

‘Caiti! I’ve been looking for you. Nan said you’d be here … I wanted to say I’m sorry … I did not mean to be so …’

My feelings were in such turmoil, I did not know what I felt. Anger and hurt, remorse and regret, desire and frustration. I shoved him away. ‘I’m no’ a lightskirt, for you to take whenever you want. You are the one who left me, who put your so-called honour above me, who asked me to wait for you, then never showed up. You’re the one who thinks me a witch.’

‘But … Caiti …’ he tried to say.

I would not listen. ‘Dinna touch me! I never want to see you again!’

His jaw clenched. He let me go, raising his hands in an exaggerated gesture of avoidance. ‘I have no desire to touch you. I was on my way to find a lass to dance with, someone who doesn’t need black magic to snare a man!’

Robbie pushed past me, caught the hand of a surprised but willing girl, and began to dance with her, his arm about her waist. He drank deeply from the bottle of metheglin, then offered it to the girl. She put her mouth where his had been, smiling up at him as she took a sip. I felt it like a spike of toxin in my blood. He twirled her, whispered something in her ear that made her laugh, drank deeply of the honey wine again. Then he shoved the bottle in his coat pocket, so he could put both his hands on her trim waist and lift her in the little swing he had once done with me.

It hurt unbearably, but I could not look away. I wanted him to dance with me. I wanted his hands on my body. I wanted him to love me and only me.

He saw me watching and kissed her soft red mouth.

I turned, blinded by tears, and found my way blocked by his sister Margrit. ‘Serves you right,’ she said.

Rory stood behind her, angry and truculent, and their younger sister Beatrix, looking scared.

‘You lied about me,’ I managed to say. ‘You poisoned him against me.’

‘It’s what you deserve,’ Margrit flashed back. ‘Witch!’

I could not bear it. I stumbled away, ducking and weaving my way back through the throng towards the church, scrubbing at my eyes. The crowd was thickest by the meeting house. People were standing, craning their necks to see, murmuring in excitement. I shoved through, just wanting to get back to Nan.

It was then I heard my name.

‘Caitlín NicNeven is one I am most eager to have investigated,’

a deep autocratic voice said. ‘I do not see her name on the list you sent me.’

My stomach flipped. I peered around someone’s shoulder, and saw the earl of Moray standing only a few paces away from me, dressed all in black, spurs on his boots and a whip in his hand. A sweat-lathered horse stood with drooping head nearby, its bridle held by a soldier. More soldiers were moving through the crowd, questioning people and issuing orders.

‘Caitlín NicNeven?’ Lord George said. ‘She was nurse to my children till I had occasion to release her from my service a couple of years ago.’

I caught my breath in surprise. He thought Lord James was talking about Mam, not me.

‘She comes from a family of cunning folk,’ Lord George went on, ‘but they do not work the kind of maleficence you seek.’

He was standing with Lord Patrick Scott of Monzie and our local minister, Pastor Malison, upon the path to the meeting house.

Lord Patrick said, ‘Her aunt Agnes NicNeven is a notorious charmer, your Grace.’

‘And has a most unbridled tongue,’ Pastor Malison added.

‘Indeed, I have seen her aunt,’ Lord James said. ‘Why is her name not on the list, gentlemen?’ He tapped the parchment he held in his hand.

‘Agnes is naught but an old woman,’ Lord George said. ‘A beekeeper and a healer.’

‘She sings to her bees,’ Lord Patrick interjected. ‘And gathers toadstools in the woods.’

‘Her name should be here! I look forward to hearing your explanation for why she is not in custody right now.’

Both men looked worried, though for different reasons, I suspected.

‘It is Caitlín NicNeven I am most interested in,’ Lord James said. ‘She is one of the cunning folk, you say? She knows how to work spells? I knew it!’