by Fiona Faris
“Alright then, I will dae whatever it is that I can to help ye,” she conceded, and a grin broke out on Uielam’s face. He was going to prove his love and propose again, and this time he would do it right.
Chapter Twenty-Five
It had been two weeks since Lilia last saw Uielam, and those weeks had been hell for her. Since she had run out of the castle, she did not know how he was doing. Part of her wanted desperately to know, but she held it down. Her doubts were too many and too heavy.
After she had left the castle two weeks ago, she had come back to the cottage and wept on the blankets he had slept on, which still lay on the floor. They were no longer warm, their coldness matching the icy fingers of doubt which had wrapped themselves around her heart.
Ye two are just too different. This is nae a fairytale, ye will never find yer place beside him.
Think of all the things ye daenae ken and all of the nobles who daenae ken ye.
Ye will always be left to the side, dismissed among those he relates with.
Ye will be dropped once he realizes how different ye are, and he will return to the arms of his many lovers.
She had cried all through the night, and when morning broke, she felt like an empty shell. At some point, she had fallen asleep, only waking up by midday, disoriented and starving.
Despite her hunger, she had been without appetite. Rummaging through her kitchen, she had found some bread and chewed it dully at her table, her heart feeling empty as she remembered sitting in that same spot eating with Uielam.
Now that she had lived with someone for a while, it became glaringly obvious how lonely her life was. Shedding a few more quiet tears through her red, swollen eyes, went to bed and slept some more.
The longer time the time passed without Uielam trying to reach her only fueled her doubts… it was proof that she could not hold on to him as she simply slipped out of his mind the moment he was not forced to see her every day.
Stepping outside had not been as helpful as she had hoped. She began to notice couples and friends walking together. She thought of Flora, who was the only one close enough to her to consider a friend. The last time she had seen her, Flora's eyes had held hurt at the way she brushed her off, refusing to speak to her as she fled the castle.
Flora had not come to see her since then. Had she taken offense? Lilia had momentarily panicked. Since Flora had been treating her as an equal, she had been foolish enough to forget that Flora was still a noble, and she was a maid. Had she chased her only friend out of her life?
She had bought enough food to last her several days and made her way back home, feeling even more miserable than she had been before she left. She had just arrived when she found Osgar standing at her door. Her heart began to pound in her chest as he turned to face her, recognition lighting up his eyes. What was he here for? Had Uielam sent for her? Or was it Flora?
He waved at her as she came close, and she noticed the sack on the ground. She realized what he had come for, and somehow she had been disappointed. She greeted him with a curtsy and let him in the house. He carried the gold inside and dropped it by her table.
“It was a pleasure working with ye Lilia. Ye have been a much better helper in this plan than I had thought. Thank ye so much for yer help. Despite the way things have turned out and the relationship that has blossomed between ye and Uielam, a deal is a deal, and as such, here is the gold which we promised,” he had said.
He did not mention Flora or Uielam, not even to tell her how Uielam was recovering from his injury. She was not sure how to feel as he cheerfully said goodbye and left her alone with the gold. She had told herself that no matter what happened and how things ended up, she would have her gold, and that would make everything worthwhile.
However, she felt terrible, a cold and empty feeling rising up in her chest until she sat on the floor in the middle of the room. Tears had sprung out of her eyes again, but this time she had not known the reason why only that it felt much worse.
The days after that were monotonous, and she did nothing but eat and sleep every day. She did not even move the gold Osgar had brought from where it sat beside the table. She did not feel like touching it. Somehow, it felt like if she did, she would be accepting that they had cut her out of their lives with the way that she did not get word from any of them.
When Osgar spoke, he had mentioned her relationship with Uielam as though it still existed even though she had not visited for almost a week. However, since then, none of them had contacted her, leaving her to simply wallow away in her cottage.
It was because of this that she was particularly shocked that morning when her door flew open with Flora screaming her name, causing her to spill ale all over her table in shock while she had breakfast. For a moment, they both stood, staring at the beer as it spread across the table. Then they burst into action at the same time, Flora stepping further into the house, apologizing profusely, and Lilia rushing to the kitchen to fetch a rag to mop up the spill before it got to the floor.
She successfully stopped it in its tracks and heaved a sigh of relief before turning to Flora, who stood with a sheepish look on her face.
“Sorry…” she said. “I could buy ye a new table…”
Lilia sighed and rolled her eyes with an amused scoff.
“It will wash out, I just need to wipe it a second time with a wet cloth,” she said, taking the now wet rag to the kitchen and fetching a bowl of water to rinse it off. She returned to the table where Flora was now sitting with the washed rag and a bowl of water, wiping it down properly to make sure there would be no stickiness left over.
“Why have ye come? Did somethin’ happen?” Lilia asked tentatively, focusing on wiping the table and avoiding Flora’s eyes as she was not sure how to handle the awkwardness from their last encounter and the way that she had not seen her in two weeks. However, Flora dismissed her fears with a scoff.
“Well, I figured I’d let ye mope quite enough now. I was only givin’ ye some space, but now I am done with that whether ye like it or nae, and as such, ye will accompany me to the house,” she said, looking over the cottage. “I believe that ye have seen enough of these walls for the past two weeks. So, up ye go. Forget about breakfast. I will feed ye once we get to the house. Oh, there is so much to discuss!”
With those words, Flora pushed her into the kitchen to drop the bowl and rag, before dragging her outside. The carriage ride had been swift, with Flora excitedly talking about how she had finally convinced her father to allow her a manor, and she would be leaving Abernathy manor in a month.
Lilia smiled wistfully as she chattered on, she had indeed missed Flora. While it was not enough to completely brighten the darkness in her heart, listening to Flora lit a small light in a corner.
It seemed Osgar was going around settling all of his deals for the plan they had executed. He had given her the rest of her gold, he had gotten Flora her manor, he had paid the farmer, and even the nephew of the Laird of clan Duffie was getting what was promised him she found out as she ate a sumptuous meal with Flora.
“So the Duffie man’s name is Phillip, we have been exchangin’ letters for a while now, and I must admit he is a rather nice man. While he is introverted and quiet, which is the exact opposite of me, he is sweet and funny, and he kens how to make a woman swoon. I hate to admit it, but Osgar just might have found me a worthy husband yet,” Flora had declared, daintily sipping wine from her cup.
“Ye absolutely cannae tell him that I said that though,” she added as though on afterthought, causing Lilia to laugh.
According to Flora, he was going to make the trip from Duffie to MacNab just to see her, and she was looking forward to it. She was glad that Flora had gotten what she wanted from the plan, and even gotten a surprise extra. She was truly happy for her friend, but yet her heart remained bittersweet.
…
Uielam emerged from the bushes where he was hiding, dusting himself.
The coast is clear
He had waited until Flora had successfully dragged Lilia out of the house, and they both disappeared down the path before stepping out. Now he made his way up to Lilia's cottage easily, carrying his basket of fresh meat that he had hunted and prepared himself.
The past few weeks had been trying, but he was resolute. To appease his father, he had stayed in bed for one full day despite being sought. The healer visited again and looked him over, declaring that he was otherwise fine apart from his injury. The healer had also ordered Uielam to flex his fingers often so that his hand would not end up becoming stiff.
Flexing was painful with his injury, but he wanted to get better, so he did it as the healer suggested. He did as planned, going down to the kitchen almost every day to watch the cook in the kitchen. Cooking was surprisingly more difficult than he had thought.
He was certainly not gifted at it, but his determination was strong. He had learned how to make a decent serving of pottage after two weeks of hard work, and thankfully that would be enough. He had also learned how to dress game from the butcher. The castle workers had most likely thought him crazy as he went about learning from them, but he was dedicated to his plan.
He was not able to hunt since he was only two weeks into his recovery, so Osgar had hunted in his stead, and he had dressed the meat. Ready for his plan, he had worn commoner clothes and a cloak to visit the commoners market. For the first time since he was born, he used silver instead of gold. It was surprising how cheap things were. If one wanted to live a simple life and chose to forgo luxury, they would never have to starve in the clan.
He bought bread and goat cheese, just like what she had offered him to eat on that day. Succeeding at buying everything he wanted without exposing his identity, he had made his way to the cottage and hidden in the bushes.
He stepped into the house and put his basket down on the table and noticed the sack of gold. As he looked around the cottage, he found that there was a lot that she hadn't been doing.
The floors seemed dusty, which was strange since, usually, she always swept when she woke up. Looking up, he could see the thin beginnings of cobwebs at the top of the walls, but she usually dusted them down daily.
From what he could see of her house, she had not been doing well for the past two weeks. His brows squeezed together in anguish. If Lilia had been in pain, it meant he had wasted too much time. He shut his eyes, now that it had already come to this, all he could do was make sure that his actions would be enough to prove his love.
He removed his cloak and took the meat to the kitchen to begin the process of boiling it as it was fresh. While that was being done, he picked up the broom and took off his shoes. He swept every corner of the house the best that he could and even got rid of the cobwebs. He took out all the ash in the fireplace, noting how much there was and how she had neglected cleaning it as well.
He took her clothes outside to hang so that when the sun came out, it would dry them, and he washed the shift dress she usually wore around the house. It was very light, and he had seen her do it several times, so he decided to try. He did all these while remembering to check the boiling meat.
The sun was already up in the sky by the time he finished, and the clothes he had hung up began to dry. Satisfied, he returned to the kitchen and cleaned up there as well, wiping every tabletop and around the fire. He then began to make his pottage, rigidly following the steps he had learned from the castle cook, scared that even one wrong move would ruin the meal.
When he got hungry, he ate some bread and cheese. The bread was not as good as what he was used to, but it was also not bad at all. He realized how childish it had been to so vehemently refuse to eat it when she offered, especially since she had shared her own meal.
He finished cooking by the time evening came around, and he went to bring the clothes in. He arranged them all where she usually hung them and went back out to wait. He wanted to taste his pottage, but he was too nervous about doing so. If he did, and it ended up being horrible, he would not be able to serve it to her.
He decided that it was best to just wait until she arrived and lit the fire pit, it's warm flames accompanying him as he waited.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lilia returned home, tired and rather hungry, but her mood was better than it had been the day before. Flora had filled her ears with all the gossip she had missed in two weeks. She found out that Uielam was getting better and that he had stopped his father from starting a war.
As evening approached, she became hungry, and Flora refused to feed her, suspiciously chasing her out of the house with as much enthusiasm as she had dragged her out with. She couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Usually, if Uielam and Osgar had a plan, Flora told her of it.
This time Flora said nothing, so she was not sure if she should be suspicious. There was quite a bit of mischief in Flora's eyes, however, when she sent her home.
She had just stepped into the cottage when she noticed that the fireplace was lit. Her eyes widened in shock and confusion before she could process and come to any conclusions she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to find Uielam coming out of the kitchen with two plates of pottage. Her jaw dropped, and she just stood in the doorway with the door ajar.
Uielam smiled at her, going to drop the plates on the table, he was barefoot, and from what she could see, he had cleaned her house.
“Welcome home, Lilia,” he said. His voice was so warm it felt like a dagger to her heart as she realized how much she had missed him. Tears began to stream down her face, and he walked up and pulled her into his arms as though it were the most natural thing in the world. She wept into his chest, and he rubbed her back comfortingly, pulling her into the house and shutting the door.
“What are ye doin’ here? She cried.
“I wanted to prepare a special date for ye today, and so I came,” he said sweetly. She was overwhelmed by emotion, and it was made much worse by the way he was taking it in his stride. He did not ask why she had not come to see him for two weeks, he simply took her in his arms again as though she had never left.
Doubt swirled inside her, but that only made her more desperate as she clung unto the front of his shirt. Commoner clothes… he was wearing commoner clothes, but why? The plan was over, and he no longer had reason to be in disguise. He pulled her away from himself after a few minutes and bent to help her take off her shoes.
“Ye should go change and come for dinner,” he said. She sniffled and nodded. As her bare feet touched the ground, she noted that he had indeed swept the house.
How dae ye ken that he did? He could have brought servants over
Her doubt reared it’s ugly head once again, and the bloom in her heart shriveled once again. She did as she said and went into her bedroom. Her eyes widened once again as she picked up her shift dress and noted that it was freshly washed. Had Uielam actually washed her dress for her? This time even as doubt came into her mind, she could only ask why. Why would Uielam go that far? Even if he called servants, would he really have had them wash her dress?
She went back out to meet him, where he sat at the table, ready to ask questions. He was waiting patiently with a plate of pottage in front of him. She calmed down and walked forwards to take her place at the table. The pottage was warm, a tendril of steam rising out of it.
“Ah, I am slightly worried about the food. I daenae ken if I did it correctly, I watched the cook for two whole weeks, but I still cannae quite make it taste as good as she does. I am sorry if it is bad, but I wanted to cook for ye properly since I messed up the last time,” he said.
Lilia blinked. He had actually cooked for her… properly cooked by himself.
“Did ye… did ye clean the house? And wash me dress?” she asked tentatively.
Uielam nodded, “Aye… I daenae ken if I did it the way that ye usually dae, but I tried me best,” he said, as though sweeping her home and washing her dress was something that he was expected to do.
“Please…” he sai
d, gesturing to her plate in front of her. “Tell me what ye think.”
She looked down at her plate, suddenly remembering that it was there. She picked up her spoon and took the first mouthful. It was not the best pottage that she had ever eaten, but it was edible. There was no way that the castle cook had made this. Uielam was not lying… He had actually made her a meal by himself. Tears pooled in her eyes, and she began to eat with gusto, wolfing down the food in appreciation.
“I will take that to mean that it wasnae a complete disappointment then,” Uielam said with a chuckle, beginning to eat as well. She finished her plate and held out the bowl for more with tears in her eyes, Uielam smiled kindly and took the bowl from her quietly to refill it.
“I ken that this is nae that good, so it a lot more to me that ye are eatin’ so much,” he said as he dropped it on the table in front of her. She noticed the bread and cheese that were in his hands as he sat down.
