“When did ye come back?”
“Weeks ago.”
“And ye didnae come to see me?”
“Nay, I felt a strong inclination to keep on breathing and ye didnae seem to share that with me.”
Katerina was pleased that Robbie had accepted the truth about Agnes. She had feared that if he ever saw his wife again he might waver in that belief and that could have cost him his life. She felt sorry for any pain he might be suffering over finding out the truth, but it was better he suffer a little heartache than die at the hands of his wife. She felt him tense and wondered if he had seen some move by Agnes that warned of a coming attack.
“Dear Mama has finally noticed us,” Robbie said.
“I should have guessed as Agnes suddenly looks smug,” Katerina said. “Agnes doesnae seem to recall that Patrick stands only a few feet away with a sword in his hand.”
“Weel, ’tis a good thing as Patrick gets far more attention from the lasses than is good for him.”
It was hard to believe she could feel like laughing, but she did. Katerina suddenly recalled that that was one of the things she had always liked about Robbie. He had always made her laugh even when it was the very last thing she felt like doing.
“So ye came back, did ye?” asked Freda as she slowly approached Robbie and Katerina.
A quick glance at Freda revealed that the woman now held a long knife in her hand. The look on her face told Katerina that she had every intention of using it on someone. Katerina suspected it was her Freda wanted to kill, but that the woman would have no qualms about taking down Robbie to do it When she saw that Patrick had crept up close behind Agnes, Katerina decided there was no longer a threat from that direction and turned her full attention onto Freda.
“Aye,” replied Robbie. “I had thought to reconcile with my wife, but it seemed she did not feel as tenderly toward me as I had hoped.”
“Ye are a fool and ye have always been a fool.”
I appear to be on the winning and righteous side, Maman, so who is really the fool here?”
“If ye had stood with us ye could have been the laird here.”
“Nay, that seat isnae yours to fill with whome’er ye want and I want nothing that has been gained with the blood of innocent people.”
Freda shrugged. “Then ye may as weel die as ye are of no use tome.”
Katerina felt Robbie tense although she was not sure if it was to shield her from the knife with his own body or to judge which way they should jump when Freda threw the knife. Then Freda abruptly stood very straight and her eyes widened. Katerina followed the woman’s gaze down to her stomach and saw the tip of a sword sticking out. Slowly Freda raised her gaze and glared at Katerina, before crumpling to the floor. Behind her stood a blood-soaked Ranald and behind him stood Lucas, sword in hand and looking beautifully unharmed.
Agnes stopped struggling with Patrick and gaped at her mother’s body before staring at Ranald. “Ranald, ye have killed Maman.”
“Aye, I have. Just as she has killed me with all her plots and plans.” He slowly sank to his knees and gave Agnes a gruesome smile, blood running from his mouth. “Dinnae fret, my bonnie bitch. I suspicion I will soon see ye again in Hell.”
Patrick snatched the dagger from Agnes’s suddenly limp grasp and let her go. Katerina looked to see that the fighting was over and stepped out from behind Robbie as Agnes slowly walked over to where her mother and her lover lay dead on the floor. For a moment Agnes’s bottom lip quivered and Katerina waited for a loud outpouring of grief, even considered going over to try and comfort her half-sister. But then Agnes took a deep breath, and turned to look at Lucas.
“I must thank ye for freeing me from these two people,” she said, her voice all soft and coaxing. “I could ne’er get free and they continued to drag me deeper and deeper into their plots.”
Robbie made a sound of utter disgust. “Ye are surrounded by the dead and have openly spoken of your plans to kill people and ye have the audacity to act as if ye are naught but a victim? E’en ye arenae good enough to make that work, Agnes. Be an adult for once in your life and accept your own guilt in all of this.”
She glared at him for a moment, before recalling that her plan had been to try and save her own skin. Immediately, she turned her big, blue tear-washed eyes on Katerina. “Sister, ye cannae mean to have me killed, can ye? I am of your blood. We shared a father.”
“Aye, until your mother murdered him,” said Katerina and then she ran to Lucas, who opened his arms wide, then held her close. “And ye tried to have Lucas murdered just because he didnae crawl into your bed. Nay, Sister, dinnae look for forgiveness here.”
“What do ye mean to do with me?”
Katerina looked up at Lucas, but he just kissed her on the forehead. “’Tis your decision, Kat. Ye must have given some thought to this.”
She had, but she had often thought that Agnes would not survive the final confrontation. In some way she was glad she had, for no matter what the woman had tried to do, Katerina had never been able to completely forget that Agnes was her sister. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and turned to face Agnes, leaning against Lucas for support and the strength to do what she had to do.
“I cannae bring myself to hang ye as ye deserve. E’en if ye ne’er wielded the weapon yourself ye have too much blood on your hands to simply set ye free. Nay, I will send ye to the nunnery at Dunbarton. I will give them a fine dowry for ye and make sure they understand that ye are to ne’er leave there.”
“Nay, Katerina, ye cannae do that. I cannae live in a nunnery!”
“Aye, ye can and ye will.”
“But, they dress in coarse wool gowns and do naught but pray all the day long.”
“Twill do ye good. I suggest ye gather up a few things to wear for the journey and for whate’er time they allow ye to wear your own clothes before ye have to don a habit.”
“They will cut off my hair.”
Katerina had to fight to keep herself from backing down. For once Agnes looked honestly shocked. “Ye have had people killed, Agnes. By rights I should have ye hanged and a lot of people will think me a fool for nay doing so. ’Tis a nunnery or the gallows. ’Tis the truth, if ye dinnae get to a nunnery, others may see to it that ye pay for your crimes at the end of a rope. The judgment in this could easily be taken out of my hands by someone more powerful than I.” She watched Agnes walk away, her step halting and her head down, a picture of utter defeat, William falling silently into step behind her.
“Dinnae falter, lass,” murmured Lucas as he kissed the top of her head.
“Nay, ’tis a kinder judgment than she deserved,” said Robbie as he moved to stand beside her.
“Ah, Robbie, I fear I gave nary a thought to what this means to ye,” said Katerina. “Ye are still wed to her.”
“She will be in a nunnery. If I choose, I believe I can get special dispensation and end it.”
A bellow from upstairs drew their attention and a moment later they were all running up the stairs. The moment she ran into Agnes’s room Katerina knew what had happened. Even though she did not want to see, she found herself walking to the window where a pale William stood. Lucas quickly wrapped her in his arms as she leaned slightly out of the window and looked down. Agnes lay broken on the ground, an ominous dark stain spreading beneath her shattered body. Katerina had told her sister that her choices were the gallows or the nunnery. Agnes had obviously found a third choice.
Chapter Sixteen
“I still think no one believed your tale that Agnes was killed in the confusion of battle,” Katerina said as she placed some violets on her half-sister’s grave.
“Probably not, but they will ne’er question it She is gone. ’Tis sad, but that is all they care about,” Lucas said quietly, still not certain how Katerina felt about it all. “Ye offered her what was a merciful reprieve from the gallows; she chose to die instead. That is all there is to it.” He watched as she frowned at Agnes’s grave. “Do ye
grieve for her still? It has been a month now.”
Lucas thought it had been the longest month of his life, but he did not say so. Katerina had not sent him away as he had feared she would, but she had set him aside. He could understand why she kept him out of her bed. She feared losing the respect of her people, feared appearing to be no better than Agnes. There was no convincing her that no one would ever think such a thing about her, and so he slept alone. All the work that had needed to be done had helped a little by making him so tired at the end of the day that he slept despite the need that made his body ache. Unfortunately, the work had begun to ease. His need for Katerina had not and he doubted it ever would.
If they got married it would solve everything, but he had not found the right opportunity to broach the subject. He had been wooing her, trying to win back her affection and trust, but he was not very good at wooing. He had brought her flowers, but they always seemed to get sadly wilted and crushed by the time he gave them to her. The few times he had tried to write her a love letter as it was said courtiers did, he had hastily burned the attempts. He knew a lot of songs said to be favored by women, but his singing voice was enough to send anyone fleeing the room with their hands clapped tightly over their ears. Lucas was not sure what else to do, as the one thing he knew might sway her to his side was lovemaking, but she was not letting him near enough most times to even try to stir her passion.
Katerina turned to face Lucas and idly wondered what had him looking so low of spirit. He never said so, but he had no regrets over the death of Agnes and she could not blame him. He had not killed the woman and probably would not have unless she had actually threatened his life, or hers. Agnes had chosen to end her own life and Katerina suspected Lucas thought it had been a good solution to the problem.
She ached for him, would like nothing more than to have him take her into his arms and let her soak up his strength, but she had to resist that temptation. It would not stop with a comforting hug and she knew it. Soon she would have to decide what to do about him, but she was still feeling too much the coward.
“Agnes was young and beautiful,” she began, deciding to turn both their thoughts to her half-sister.
“Kat, she was also completely without morals,” Lucas said.
“I ken it. Ye asked me if I still grieved for her. The sad thing is, and what has troubled me, is that I dinnae grieve for her at all. For a brief moment, when I first saw what she had done, I felt a grief, but I cannae say if it was for her, for the fact that the last of my closest kin was dead, or just over the horrible sin she had just committed. I have been coming here to see if, once the shock of it had faded, I would feel something. I have not. Just the occasional pinch of sorrow over a life so badly wasted.”
Lucas took her hand and tugged until she started back to the keep with him. That isnae your fault”
“She was my sister. Somehow I ought to feel something.”
“She ne’er allowed ye to. I suspect in the beginning ye were willing to have her as your sister, ready to be a good sister to her, and she pushed ye aside time and time again, or worse. She is to blame for what ye do or dinnae feel. Let it go, Kat. No one would e’er think badly of ye because ye cannae grieve for Agnes.”
She nodded. “I believe I will still visit her grave from time to time, though, if only out of respect for what might have been if she had had a different mother and we both had had a more loving father.”
“I have always believed that every grave should be visited now and again. Keeps the spirits restful.”
“Lucas Murray, dinnae say ye believe in ghosts.”
“Oh, aye, I do. With some of the kin I have I can do naught else.”
“Oh! Do ye mean to say that one of those gifts ye said your clan has is seeing ghosts?”
“I have a cousin who can see them, but I think we shall have to save that tale for another time as the guests are arriving for Robbie’s wedding.”
Katerina shook her head as Lucas led her around to the rear of the keep so that she did not have to meet their guests right away. “I kenned that Annie was verra enamored of Robbie, but ne’er realized that he felt the same for her.”
“I guessed it right before we came to rescue ye from Freda. I thought Annie might be the best one to play the maid and he leapt in, offering himself so quickly and vehemently, I kenned it was because he didnae want Annie anywhere near the danger we were about to walk into.”
“Weel, ’tis good, for Annie does love the fool.”
“Ah, dinnae call your new steward a fool.”
“Steward. Robbie. Two words I would ne’er have guessed could fit together so perfectly. He loves working with numbers, doesnae he.”
“He does and he works verra weel with them. We now have an accounting of how much Morrison and Sorley helped themselves to. We shall give them the accounting ere they leave for home after the wedding.”
She paused at the door to her bedchamber. “Do ye really think they will give it back?”
Lucas nodded. “I do, although Sorley will hate every minute of it and grieve o’er every penny.”
Katerina laughed and lightly pushed him away. “Go. Ready yourself for the wedding. I will meet ye in the great hall in an hour.”
The moment she was inside her bedchamber, the door shut behind her, Katerina slumped against the door and closed her eyes. She was not going to be able to keep pushing him away. Every single part of her ached for him. She slept poorly, missing the warmth of his big strong body next to hers even though they had shared a bed for such a short time. It was time to stop being a coward and decide what to do about Lucas. The fact that he was still at Dunlochan, showed no sign of wanting to leave, and was wooing her, implied that he wanted her as he had before. The only thing stopping them from being together was her own fear of being hurt Katerina knew she was going to have to overcome that. If nothing else, she found no relief from pain by being away from him, so why not take her chance and reach out for him?
“Good question, Katerina,” she mumbled as she moved to the bowl of water and began to strip off her gown so she could wash.
Annie and Robbie were getting married in a very short time and she would fix her mind on that for the moment. She refused to drag her troubles into the midst of their celebration. Later, when she was yet again all alone in her big bed, she would confront her fears and make up her mind. If nothing else it was not fair to Lucas to keep them both apart yet not apart.
Katerina leaned against the wall and watched the dancers, tapping her foot to the music. She had danced, had even danced with Lucas, but knew she had to be careful. Dancing had made her dangerously light-headed. The last thing she wanted to do was collapse on the floor of the great hall in the middle of Robbie and Annie’s wedding celebrations. There would undoubtedly be some very awkward questions asked.
“Kat m’dear,” called Malcolm as he hurried over to her.
“Greetings, Malcolm,” she said and smiled at him before kissing his cheek. “I am glad to see that ye have fully recovered from that knock on the head.”
“Aye, aye. I thought I had a verra hard head, but it seems I was mistaken. Morrison has been most apologetic.”
“So he should be. Ye were his friend.”
“Still am. He acted out of fear, Katerina. Not right, of course, but understandable. I actually have come to tender my most sincere apologies.”
“Ye have naught to apologize for, Malcolm.”
“Och, aye, I do. I should have tried harder to find out exactly what happened to ye. I kenned ye would ne’er have done what they said, but I didnae have the courage to speak out, to ask questions. ’Tis the same concerning the money. I sensed something was wrong, but I ne’er looked too closely. It took me months to simply get up the courage to ask Morrison if I might have a look at the books.”
“Malcolm, what happened here at Dunlochan wasnae something anyone could imagine. ’Tis nay your fault ye didnae see each and every crime. And, as ye just said, Morrison was your frie
nd. Of course ye were reluctant to think that he was doing anything wrong. I am glad ye didnae grow too curious, for ye would have been killed. That is how Ranald and Freda silenced all talk about what crimes may have been committed. I have nay doubt they would have killed ye without hesitation or remorse. They talked about how the whole council was a threat to them whilst they held me captive and their solution to that was the same as it was when they felt threatened by anything—kill it.”
His slender shoulders slumped a little. “Still, it would nay have gone on for so long if I had been braver.”
“Ye cannae ken that for a fact. Yet I do ken that if ye had started accusing anyone of murder or theft or starting looking at the books, I would have had yet another grave to visit.”
Malcolm smiled at her. “Thank ye for making an old mon feel nay quite so useless.”
“Wheesht, ye arenae that old.” She nodded to where Hilda was wending her way toward them. “Our Hilda certainly doesnae think so. Malcolm, are ye running away?”
“Aye,” he said even as he tried to wriggle through the crowd standing at the edges of the great hall, “and as quickly as I can.”
Feeling mischievous, Katerina pointed out the direction Malcolm had gone when Hilda came close and saw that he was no longer at Katerina’s side. Laughing softly, she looked around at the people of Dunlochan and felt truly content for the first time in a long time. This was what life should be like at Dunlochan and she realized that, although things had gotten very bad while Freda was in control, they had not been all that good in those last few years that her father had been alive.
One other thing that had definitely been set right was that her cousins were now in their proper place. William was her second-in-command and had many of his brothers as his men-at-arms. Katerina suspected it would take a long time before she could forgive her father for the way he had treated William and his siblings. For a man who had so often bemoaned not having a son, he had all too easily turned aside a whole lot of nephews, one of whom could have made him a very fine heir.
Highland Savage Page 20
