I didnae mean to hurt her, upset her. Me stupid bloody hands. They wanted too much. Or maybe I wanted too much. Maybe I’ve kept her prisoner for too long. If she doesnae tell me her faither, how am I to keep her here? How am I to convince me men that it’s worth it after all? he asked himself. Hopelessness was weighing him down.
That night, Edan dreamt of Isabel, of her hips moving against his, of her bare body being pressed beneath his. She was a vision, and he could not be rid of her. He woke the next morning with a familiar need but knew that this time, he would be unable to coax it from her, unable to encourage her to be his.
Perhaps she was lost to him for good.
Isabel woke and saw that the rains were back. She wondered if it had done any good for her, coming and being captured. She had failed so far to kill Edan but instead found herself longing for him in impure ways. She found herself wanting something that was not hers to take or taste yet. Her father was surely worried for her. What had Charlotte told him? She had promised to return, but her father and her uncle undoubtedly knew that she had been captured. What a foolish plan it had been!
And yet, deep inside, Isabel longed for Edan to join her again. She waited for the familiar knock, the vision of his brass-colored hair and his wide blue eyes. She hoped he would ignore her cries to be left alone, that he would take her in his arms again, and that she would feel him against her.
The ache returned to Isabel in that foreign part of her body. She replayed the scene again and again from yesterday until she was nearly driven mad with want for him.
No. He is a killer. You cannot do this to James, to his memory. You are his sister and revenge is all you need. she told herself.
Isabel spent the rest of the day forming a plan to quickly kill Edan and be free. She had to get a knife. Even if it meant playing his game, even if it meant indulging in her enjoyment of his form, if she lured him well enough, he would trust her. She could gain access to weaponry, and this would all be over. She could return home, duty finished, and James would be avenged.
It was not long after she felt satisfied with her plan that the opportunity came to put it into motion. The knock was on her door. She invited him in. If she played well enough, he would be dead in a week.
Chapter 13
The hooves pounded the grass in a violent rhythm, and the horse began to sweat. The sound of his snorting breaths was the only other sound in Charles’s ears as he rode with urgency.
It was time to gather information about the Scots, to see if he could learn the fate of Isabel and give the Duke any insight into further details of their plan. It was only a matter of five days between this journey and the anticipated plan to rescue the Duke’s last living child.
So, Charles rode, fierce and fast. He had been an excellent candidate, with his thick red hair and green eyes, his ability to imitate the Scottish accent effortlessly — thanks to his nanny as a child. The rush of excitement in his veins was an added bonus. Espionage and the risk of getting caught, the challenge of pretense, it was all he had longed for in his work.
The sun was lowering in the sky, and he was nearly there. It was only a matter of time before his plan would be put into action and he would gather the needed information.
Or perhaps sooner than expected.
A band of Scots was up ahead, carrying the corpse of a stag, on a wheeled plateau led by a horse, that would most assuredly be dinner.
“Hiya, me men!” he began. The crew of six watched him and nodded with smiles, not expecting his abrupt stop. “I’ve been journeying for three days from north to south, and I’m on me way back. Have ye any recommendation for a good lodging? I be right tired with much still to do.”
“Aye,” responded one of the hunters. “Kirin Arms be near enough. Right in toon it is. Have ye stayed there before?”
“Never heard of it. How far would ye say it is?” he asked.
“Near enough. A twenty-minute ride north. When ye see the three standing stones, ye’ll know ye be near. The toon is to yer right from there going into the valley. Ye’ll see it right away. Say, where ye be coming from?” the man inquired, naturally suspicious of strangers.
“From Galloway. I am a horse master, and I travel the entire country caring for the beasts. I got word that there is a sickness in a stable up in Dornach but just heard yesterday that there’s also need here. I’m missing me mum, but I’ve got to do me work,” he rambled.
“Aw, such a shame,” replied one of the hunters.
“So now I be on me way back to Dornach. Lanark is on me path, and I ken I heard there was need for someone to work with a horse here!” he continued. The story was simple enough that the hunters did not question it.
So, Charles went on his way and found the Kirin Arms to stay for the night. It was a small lodging with a distillery behind and a pub downstairs. Charles easily blended with the other patrons and listened as he drank his pint.
“I hear she’s quite a beauty,” gossiped one patron.
“A beauty? She’s English scum. No beauty there. And how’d ye hear that? I been told she isnae allowed to leave her rooms,” commented another.
“She isnae dead yet?” asked the third in their party.
“Nay, likely her looks got her kept alive. I cannae imagine any other reason for not killing her or sending her back. They say she’d make a good ransom. But no one kens where her family be!” said the second again.
Charles continued to listen, but once the men got too drunk to remain on the topic, he returned to his rooms to sleep. In the morning, the real work would begin.
Indeed, his sleep was deep, and in the morning, the sound of the cockerels outside raised him from his rest. He dressed in the kilt that had been procured for him and walked down the stairs where the barmaid was serving eggs for any willing to pay.
“Peckish, are ye?” asked the bar matron. The beautiful young woman had an enormous chest, and Charles was barely able to keep his eyes off it as her breasts spilled over the ruched neckline.
“Aye,” he replied. Within minutes, two white eggs with yellow, runny yokes on toast landed before him. The girl caught his eye for a moment, and she gave a flirtatious smirk.
“Lorna!” shouted her mother, noticing the eyes meeting between them.
“Aye, mother, I have the eggs for ye and faither as well,” she said, walking away from Charles. He was astonished to find her backside equally appealing.
“Thank ye for the eggs,” Charles said before putting a large piece of toast and egg in his mouth. He winked at the young woman before she turned and argued more with her mother.
Soon he was finished with his breakfast, and it was time to be about his work. Charles paid his tab and left.
Before long he was on a path toward the grand castle, with its turrets and spires. Inside was the information he needed. Getting through the door was the difficult part.
Charles had a grand reputation for his abilities as a spy, for being able to get in anywhere. Some called him a ghost, a compliment to his skills. Others teased him for his abilities to portray a Scotsman with ease.
At the castle gate, he put his skills to the test.
“Begging yer pardon, sir,” he began to the castle guard. “Where might be the stable? I’ve been asked to come and see to a sickly horse.”
The guard looked at him with suspicion.
“A sickly horse ye say? I’ve nae heard such a thing and me master would hae told me if it were the case,” the guard replied.
“I dinnae ken, I only ken that yer stable master, Philip, had alerted me to the need,” Charles said, invoking the name he had taken care to learn before this moment.
The guard’s eyes did shift at that. Surely the man must know Philip if he called him by name. Perhaps the Laird was unaware or had forgotten. He often spent time at the stables, but it was indeed possible that he had not been informed.
“Right then, I’ll just take ye,” the guard decided.
“Are ye allowed to leave yer post? It�
��s no worries, I’ve come before, I ken right where the stables are. And I’ve been asked to join Philip in the great hall for lunch, so I’ll likely be a while,” he justified.
“If ye be sure ye dinnae need any assistance, then go right on in, Master…”
“Charlie. Me name be Charlie. Should anyone ask whether Charlie has arrived, ye can tell them, indeed,” Charles replied.
He walked confidently through the gate and toward the clearly visible stable as the guard continued to watch him. Once inside, he made his way to the groom.
“Hiya, lad. Can ye tell me where Philip might be?” he asked.
The boy looked him up and down with the arrogance of a child given too much responsibility. “Who’s ye then? And why’d ye need to ken?”
“I hear ye have a sick horse,” Charles replied in kind to the boy’s superior tone.
“Ye be wrong, we’ve no sick horses here,” he said.
“Then why’d anyone waste me time by telling me Philip sent for me?” he asked.
“Ask him yerself,” the boy said. “Phil! Some bugger’s here saying he was asked to check in on a sick horse. Ye ken anything about that?”
Philip rounded the corner and looked Charles up and down.
“Who are ye then?”
“Charlie! I work with horses in Galloway. Some man came through last week telling me ye had a sick horse and I was to come quickly,” he said.
“What a load of rubbish. Ye cannae be that big a fool. I never sent for no-one in Galloway,” Philip replied.
“So, who asked for me? They told me to come to you direct. Ye havnae any sick horses?” Charlie asked.
Philip looked down. “Well, we do at that, but it still doesnae explain how ye ken. I never sent no-one.”
“Look here, I havnae any idea how word got to me. Never did catch the bugger’s name. Ratlike creature he was. But now that I come all this way let me have a look at the beast. Mare?” he asked.
“Aye, mare,” Philip replied.
Charles’s had discovered long ago that the most believable lies were the ones that seemed too outrageous to be true. With a few good guesses, he could convince anyone he knew what he was talking about.
And with that, his foot was in the door.
He would spend the next few days looking after the mare while choosing another horse to slip small doses of hemlock. With another sick horse at hand, he would have to stay a little longer, allowing him plenty of opportunity for spying.
Indeed, at lunch, Philip invited Charles to join him in the great hall for a meal. It had been a long morning of working the mare, and he hoped for something to give him a bit of extra strength to get through the day.
More than that, he needed a way into the castle.
Chapter 14
The familiar knock came to Isabel’s door. Edan entered and smiled at her with an unexpected look of sincere excitement.
“What is it that has you so happy? Did they catch another wild haggis?” she asked sarcastically, sitting comfortably on the bed, as had been her consistent position for nearly two weeks.
A cloud of confusion overtook Edan’s brow as he sat on the bed beside her. “Ye ken the haggis is not a real animal, right?”
Isabel scoffed. “Of course, I know that! I was merely teasing you for this sudden look of joy on your face.”
“As it happens, I have a surprise for ye. Ye’ve complained time and again about being locked up here. Well, we’ve decided it’s time ye roam the castle freely. Only the castle, mind ye. Still, we arnae going to let ye outside, far too much risk that’d be, but I dinnae think it’ll hurt to let ye at least leave these rooms,” Edan said.
Isabel’s heart gave a leap. She would actually be allowed to spend her days outside this room and the bathing room. It was a relief she could not quite express.
“No need for thanks, I suppose,” Edan said bitterly after a few moments of silence.
“Excuse me, yes, of course. Thank you,” Isabel said, clearing her throat. “Thank you ever so much.”
“Now before ye leave, would ye care to enjoy the privacy of yer rooms? With me? For a moment?” Edan asked.
“No,” she replied flatly, before remembering herself and her decision to seduce. After all, that was how she had gained this new freedom, perhaps it was how she would have to thank him for it.
“That is, I am ever so eager to see the whole of the castle. Perhaps later we can enjoy the privacy, but for now, I would love to see this home of yours.”
“Aye, and that ye may,” Edan said. He leaned closer to Isabel. “I think ye will find her bonnie.”
“Will I?” Isabel asked, moving her body closer to Edan.
Fake it. Push away the temptation and indulge the lie, she told herself.
“I ken ye will,” he promised, nearly closing the distance between their mouths.
“Then I shall have to trust that you are right,” Isabel whispered. Swiftly, Edan’s mouth was on hers. She felt the warmth of his tongue enter her mouth just before he pulled away and offered his hand.
Isabel stood beside him and finally, after so much time as a prisoner, they left the room in which she had remained.
The hallway was lengthy with an abundance of twists and turns that led finally to a grand staircase, a place where many hallways met. They descended the stairs that seemed to take a significant amount of time. Isabel dreaded the thought of climbing back up to return to her prison.
“Right. So, the wing to my chambers is just through there, ye can also find Caitriona’s rooms that way. But down here,” Edan said, rushing to the next floor, “is the library. Care to take a peek?”
“Alright, so long as the books aren’t in Gaelic, then I would be delighted to see,” she replied.
Edan opened the doors to reveal a glorious library, walls lined with books of all sorts. Isabel gave a genuine smile and inhaled the scent of musk and pages.
“Nearly five thousand,” he bragged. It was not the largest library Isabel had ever seen, but it was more impressive than she had expected, and she understood why Edan was so proud. It was truly beautiful.
“Ye can come and go as ye please. There will be no restrictions on ye coming in and out of here,” he promised.
“Thank you, that is ever so generous. I think I will enjoy this very much. You are very kind, my Laird,” Isabel said. She smiled at Edan, and he beamed back, proudly.
“And now, if ye will join me, I think it might be good for ye to have yer first meal in the great hall. I dinnae ken what’s on the menu for today, but I’m sure ye’ll enjoy it,” he said.
Isabel was rather hungry, and the thought of eating at a real table was thrilling. Even more so was the thought that she would now — finally — be near a knife. It would be so easy to tuck it into her dress and save it for Edan’s next visit to her rooms.
“Yes, thank you, I am quite hungry,” she readily agreed.
They descended the remaining two floors and entered into the large banquet hall. The walls were lined with grand candelabras, and enormous wooden tables ran the length of the room. One table sat at the front facing the others, and Edan’s place was clearly marked by an elaborate chair, more like a throne.
“Care to sit with me and me sister?” Edan offered.
“Would your subjects not object?” Isabel asked.
Edan threw his head back with a laugh. “Me subjects? I’m nae anybody’s king, lass. I dinnae call them me subjects. And they will right hate ye, but no one is going to hurt ye. They’ll merely call ye names. True ones most likely,” he said with a laugh, watching her squirm.
“Well, if you insist and you are certain that I’ll not be injured,” she agreed. They walked through the hall with nearly a hundred pairs of Scottish eyes trained on her with disgust.
“Well then, on ye go. Have yerself a nice, comfortable seat,” Edan said, leading her to the chair on his left side. Robert and Caitriona entered then, laughing about something, and saw the two sitting at the table.
“Oh me! What have we here?” Caitriona asked with a boom in her voice.
“Looks like she’s taking me chair, at least ye havnae any reason to worry about yer own chair!” Robert replied.
“I-I’m very sorry,” Isabel said nervously, backing out from the table.
Robert and Caitriona laughed even harder.
“Sit yer arse down, lass!” Robert bellowed. “I’m only badgering ye. Foolish English. Ye never ken when to take a joke!”
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