This was progress, Brianna knew. This was all going as well as it could be… but she couldn’t stop the panic twisting in her gut. She’d thought that her last negotiation had been going well, too – and that one had ended with four dead people, two of them children. Could she really do this again? She knew that she had to… but she was frightened, deeply frightened, that she couldn’t.
Chapter 22
“Eat something,” Robert said gently once the door had closed behind the crowd of refugees. The two guards remained on the door – Brianna had seen them out there, keeping a sharp eye on the proceedings, and noticed that food had been left for them on a side table, too. That was good. A well-fed guard was less likely to start trouble. Malcolm was already kneeling among the supplies that had been brought, stuffing his face with bread and cheese – Perry was standing by Weatherby’s side, a look of disgust on his face as he watched his cousin eat.
“Later,” Kellan said, giving them both a wary look. “When we’ve finalized the next step, here.”
“As you wish,” Robert shrugged. “You’re swaying on your feet though, cousin.”
“I’ve survived worse,” Kellan snapped. “Now. My people have quarters and as much food as they ask for, correct?”
“Aye,” Robert promised. “Weatherby hospitality is second to none.” Weatherby snorted from behind Kellan, and the man gritted his teeth.
“And a healer will be sent for from the Keep to keep watch over Molly.”
“As soon as it’s light,” Robert promised. “For now, a maid can be put on duty watching her—”
“She’s with Eliza,” Perry broke in from beside Weatherby. “Eliza will take the best care of her.”
“Aye, best for her to be with family,” Kellan said firmly.
“I’ll keep an eye on her too,” Brianna promised. “On all of your people.”
Kellan tilted his head, scrutinizing her. “And just who are you, Lady Brianna?”
“An impartial party,” she said simply. “I have no loyalty to Weatherby, MacClaran or Stuart – but I have a lot of experience negotiating in situations like this one.”
“Is that so?” Kellan narrowed his eyes, looking at her closely. “I’ve heard more than a few stories about MacClaran women and the strange powers they possess. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Lady Brianna.”
She nodded, feeling her heart lurch sickeningly at that. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be in this room any longer, with these angry, menacing men … she cleared her throat, feeling her heart pound, trying to keep a grip on herself.
“We’ll leave you to eat and rest,” Robert said firmly. “At least a few days to ensure little Molly is mending and your people are rested. Then we’ll talk about the next steps.”
“Agreed,” Kellan said, reaching out to shake Robert’s hand. “We’ll be seeing you.”
The two of them left together. She bit her lip as the door closed behind her – the guards gave them their weapons back, mouths full of bread and cheese, and they headed off down the hallway. She felt faint and dizzy with the aftermath of the adrenaline that had carried her through that whole conversation, but she forced herself to wait until they were out of sight of the guards before she sagged a little, Robert steadying her with a worried look on his face.
“Are you alright?”
“Fine,” she managed, though her body was shaking. There was gray light creeping in through the windows and she realized that dawn had almost come – they’d been in that room for longer than she’d thought. Disoriented and exhausted, she sat down hard on a low bench in the hallway, Robert taking a seat beside her and putting a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“You don’t seem fine,” he chastened her gently. “You seem exhausted.”
“Yeah, that too, I guess,” she said heavily, rubbing her forehead. “I forgot how much this stuff takes it out of you.”
“When I suggested you help with the situation, I didn’t think…” He took a deep breath. “I owe you an apology, Brianna. It didn’t occur to me that your – your experience with that man – would perhaps interfere with your willingness to…”
“It’s fine,” she said, shaking her head. “I mean – what choice do I have?”
“You can let us handle it,” Robert said firmly, squeezing her shoulders, and she leaned into the embrace, amazed by how comforting he was. “You don’t have to do any of this. But for what it’s worth…” He hesitated, looking at her closely. “We need you, Brianna. I can tell how good you are at this – how much you can help us.”
She sighed. It felt good – very good – that Robert respected her abilities, trusted her to help them. And she had to admit, with the big personalities in that room, a person like her would be instrumental in ensuring a happy outcome for as many parties as possible… but the thing that tipped her decision was knowing that little Molly’s life depended on the outcome of the negotiations. The poor little girl was so frail, in such a fragile state – how could she refuse to help, just because of her own trauma?
“We can do this,” Robert said firmly, squeezing her hands in his. “I know we can.”
“Yeah,” she said softly, nodding. “You’re right. And I want to help. I think there’s a way through this. For now, we just have to focus on getting everyone well again. All of those people looked miserable… a few square meals and some proper bed rest will have them feeling better soon. Will Baldric take care of them like Weatherby asked?”
“Oh, aye. He’s a good man,” Robert said firmly. “He wanted to send aid the day the refugees asked for it. And knowing that Weatherby’s safe will keep him happy. He’ll honestly probably get more done around here with the Lord indisposed,” he added with a wry little chuckle.
“That’s good.” She took a deep breath. “It’s important to know what the kidnappers want most. For Kellan, I think that’s pretty obvious. It’s his daughter he cares about most of all – Molly. He’s lost his wife, lost who knows how many other people too – he’s terrified of losing her. If we can make sure that she gets well again, he’ll be in a much better mood when it comes to negotiating.”
“Aye, we’ll do our best,” Robert said firmly. “I’ll send for help from the Keep on the way down to breakfast. Speaking of,” he added, rising to his feet and drawing her along with him. “We’d best eat something ourselves. After all of this – not to mention what we were getting up to before it all happened,” he added with a raise of his eyebrow.
She blushed, realizing she’d barely given a thought to the night they’d spent together since the discovery of the kidnapping, and he chuckled, his blue eyes full of affection.
But it seemed best not to talk about all that – especially as they made their way down the stairs. With the sun rising, the household was waking, and the servants were absolutely alive with gossip as the news of what was happening spread. Baldric was out in the courtyard, talking to the guards and stable staff – he looked exhausted, and she made a mental note to make sure he got some food and rest himself while Robert took a young man aside and gave him a message to take to the Keep. With that done, they headed into the kitchens to grab some breakfast, serving themselves big bowls of porridge from a bubbling pot on the stove. It seemed unnecessary to worry about the formalities – they took their meals out into the courtyard to sit and watch the sky slowly lighten as dawn came over the manor.
Strange, to see the stable servants hurrying back and forth for all the world as though nothing had changed. The manor was like an organism that ran just fine without Weatherby at the helm, she thought with amusement. Still, worry prickled at her. How long was this hostage situation going to be sustainable? Nobody had been hurt yet… but she was worried that that wouldn’t be the case for long. These situations were always precarious… anything could turn the balance. Like little Molly not getting better, for example. What if it was too late for her to turn the corner?
Robert was clearly thinking along the same lines – they watched the messenger ride out, heade
d for the Keep, both of them frowning. “I hope help comes for Molly soon enough,” he said softly. “I’ve never seen a child look so sickly…”
“One of the women will know what to do,” Brianna promised. “Audrina’s a trained nurse… as well as having been here for decades. She’ll know exactly how to treat the little girl. Besides, she’s hung on this long… she’s clearly a fighter.”
“Aye, that’s so,” Robert agreed… but she could tell he was still worried. He hid a yawn, and she smiled as they finished their meals.
“I think you need some rest,” she told him gently. “I’m going to go and check in on Molly, see if she’s looking any better, then I’m going to get some sleep myself, alright? I suggest we visit Kellan and the others at dinner this evening, to see if a day of rest has improved their moods any. It’ll be important to build a relationship with them – we call it establishing rapport,” she explained, feeling an odd twinge at the idea of using her old skills in this strange setting. “The better we know them, the better we can come up with a solution that suits us all. Knowledge is power. And I’m interested in learning more about that Malcolm.”
“Aye, you noticed that, too? Something strange about him. The way he looked when Kellan spoke about wanting to stay until Molly was well again.”
“Oh?” She blinked, glancing over at him. “I wasn’t looking at him.”
“He looked annoyed. I thought it might have been impatience, but there was something more there. Almost as though he was frightened.” Robert shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe nothing. But worth keeping an eye on.”
“For sure,” Brianna said, squeezing his arm after quickly checking around to ensure nobody was looking at them. Though they had bigger things to think about, she was still reluctant for anyone to see their intimacy – she didn’t want to be the subject of gossip around the manor, or to invoke any of Weatherby’s ire if their relationship got back to him somehow. “We make a good team,” she told him, and he smiled warmly back at her.
They parted ways shortly after, and she asked a servant where the little Stuart girl was being cared for. The young woman pointed her the way, her eyes alive with curiosity, and relenting, Brianna answered a few of her questions – what were the Stuarts doing here, was Weatherby still alive, were the Stuarts taking over the manor permanently? Hopefully, she’d done something to quell a few daft rumors, she thought to herself with a smile as the girl hurried off. Then she turned and climbed the stairs. It seemed Molly had been put up in the guest room next to hers – that was good. It meant she could visit regularly without seeming as if she was going out of her way to do so. It would be good to make sure the little girl was alright.
She tapped gently on the door, and the woman Kellan had called Eliza opened it, her face lined with worry. Recognition flashed across her face, and she stepped back, wordlessly inviting Brianna into the room. There lay Molly, in a bed that had been dragged closer to the fire that was roaring in the grate. The little girl looked even smaller in the large bed, her frail little hand curled under her cheek as she lay there, only the soft rise and fall of her tiny chest indicating that she was sleeping and not dead.
“How is she?” Brianna asked softly, tearing her attention away from the girl’s face to turn her attention to Eliza. The woman sighed, running a hand through her hair. She looked to be about thirty, with gray eyes – she was rather beautiful, despite her exhaustion.
“Sleeping peacefully, at least,” Eliza said softly. “She’s stopped shivering, and she’s got a full bowl of broth in her belly, which should help.”
“What was the last thing she ate?”
“Scraps,” Eliza said flatly. “We’ve had naught but scraps for weeks. Porridge, when we could get the oats – not much more than gruel, by the time we’d diluted it enough for everyone to share.” She sighed heavily, stroking the girl’s straw-like blonde hair.
“We didn’t meet formally,” Brianna said softly, wanting to distract the woman. She could see an untouched plate of food next to the empty bowl on the nightstand, and realized that she hadn’t bothered to feed herself in her worry about Molly. “My name’s Brianna.”
“Eliza Stuart,” the woman said softly. “Perry’s my husband.”
She nodded, remembering the wiry, muscular man who’d wrinkled his nose in disgust at Malcolm as he ate. “Right. Good to meet you, Eliza. Have you eaten?”
The woman looked guilty. “Not yet.”
“You should,” she said firmly. “No sense in wasting away caring for her. The better you look after yourself, the better you’ll look after her.” She smiled as the woman took the bread roll from the side of the plate and took a dramatic mouthful of it, exaggerating her chewing motions. “That’s better. Where are your children?” she added, glancing around and realizing the other children she’d seen weren’t here. But Eliza shook her head.
“We don’t have any,” she said softly. “Not for want of trying, I’m afraid. But Molly’s always been…” She took a deep, steadying breath, the worry on her face acute. “I just want her to be well.”
“We’re doing our best,” Brianna promised. “A healer from the Keep has been sent for, too. I know they’ll be able to help. And she’s looking stronger,” she added, looking closely at the girl’s face. “The broth will be helping, I’m sure. Water and electrolytes, as well as a few vitamins and calories –” But Eliza looked blanked, and she realized belatedly that the language she was using wasn’t exactly common in the medieval era. “The food will help restore her strength,” she concluded lamely. “And you should get some rest, too.”
“You’re helping with the negotiations, aren’t you?” Eliza said thoughtfully, tilting her head as she scrutinized Brianna. “The MacClaran man and Weatherby’s lackey… they both looked at you with respect.”
“I’ll do what I can,” she said softly, feeling a little put on the spot. With such a gravely ill child in the room, she felt a bit silly bragging about her accomplishments. “But in the meantime… you should try to get some rest, too. And finish that meal,” she added firmly, pointing at the place.
Eliza gave her a tired smile and nodded. “Thank you, Lady Brianna. I hope – I hope you can find a solution for all this,” she added softly.
Her face stayed on Brianna’s mind as she made the short walk back to her own quarters lost in thought. Someone had come through and made her bed for her… she smiled to herself, then climbed straight back into it, stopping only to pull off her boots. It had been an exhausting few hours, and she sure as hell was going to get a nap in if she could.
But somehow, sleep didn’t seem willing to come to her, and she lay awake for a long time before slipping into an uneasy rest.
Chapter 23
She woke slowly, the sun already heading down from its noonday peak toward the horizon. For a long, tempting moment, she tried to pretend that everything that had happened had just been a long dream… the attack, the confrontation, the random demands, the strange people taking over the manor… but as she woke, she knew the memories were much, much more real than any dream she’d ever had. Just as this whole place was more real than her dreams, she thought heavily, glancing around the room and reflecting on those days just after her arrival here, when she’d been so convinced that none of this was real…
What had convinced her, in the end? What had changed her mind about all of this? Was it simply the passage of time? Or … and she couldn’t help the blush that rose to her cheeks… was it Robert? Her feelings for him had seemed to swell and grow as her conviction that none of this was real had weakened. Had he been the one who’d finally convinced her that what she was experiencing was real? That no matter how ridiculous it may have seemed, she was truly in medieval Scotland, surrounded by real people who’d been born hundreds of years before she had? Because at some point, that had become the truth… slow and steady, under the surface of her mind, a decision her subconscious seemed to have made without her input. This was real. She was here.
A
nd she had a hostage situation to deal with.
She got up and dressed in more period-appropriate attire, grinning to herself as she removed her jeans and sweater. The servants had washed them, which had been very kind of them, but she had a suspicion that the thin fabric of her sweater wasn’t going to last much longer under the rather brutal assault that the washerwomen made on the clothing they washed. That was fine, she thought with a shrug. She’d never much liked that sweater… she’d gotten it on a rare shopping trip with Ben, and he’d picked it from two she was tossing up between with a surly tone that had indicated how little he cared. What a terrible shit he’d been, she thought with amusement as she fastened the dress behind her with a lot more ease than she had the first time. The thought that it would be hundreds of years before he’d even been born was deeply satisfying to her. And she hoped, rather unkindly, that he’d blame himself for her disappearance. From what she’d figured out from the other women’s letters, she would have disappeared from Scotland without a trace. She hated thinking what her family and loved ones would think, how much they’d miss her… but at least Ben would suffer.
Maybe she could think of some way of leaving a note for them. Or an engraving… something that wouldn’t fade or be altered by the passage of time. Tell them that she was okay, that she hadn’t been killed or abducted… not in the usual way, at least. That she’d been taken back in time, and there lived out her days happily… she frowned to herself at that thought. Would she? That remained to be seen, she supposed.
But they had work to do. She headed downstairs, poking her head through the door of the room that Molly and Eliza were sharing first. The woman was fast asleep in a chair at the girl’s bedside, her head propped up on her hand – and Brianna was pleased to see that the plate of food was entirely empty. Molly was sleeping peacefully too, tucked up safe and sound in the enormous bed, and though she still looked pale and terrifyingly thin, there was the slightest touch of color in her wan cheeks that hadn’t been there earlier. Brianna didn’t let herself feel hopeful – she just shut the door behind her and headed downstairs to find Robert.
Highlander Returned: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (Highlander In Time Book 9) Page 16
