“You knew my mother?” Amelia spoke reverently.
“Aye we used to play together as children then when I married Colban we lost touch but I met her again when Beiste was five she even played with him a little, I never saw her after that.”
Amelia sat between Beiste and her grandfather so she could talk to her kin better. They told tales of Iona when she was young and tried to fill Amelia in on so much family history. Soon there was much merriment music and dancing and Amelia lapped it all up every bit of knowing that she was finally reunited with her mother’s kin.
More warm platters came out as everyone ate with gusto there was pheasant and venison and after the meal, Malise apologised that he had to lie to her about who he was, he wanted to make sure she really was his niece. “That day I saw you I wanted so much to ask about your kin to see if you knew my sister but then that big brute of yours interfered.” He motioned his head jovially to Beiste, who just scowled in return. “Now son I am your uncle, I’ll not have you scowling at your betters.” Which only made Beiste scowl more and all the men laughed.
“What happened to Iona?” Gilleain asked when they had time to speak.
“She died when I was fifteen, in childbirth with my brother.”
“Ye have a brother?” His eyes lit with hope.
“I had a brother he died with her” Gilleain’s eyes dimmed as they seemed to mourn that bit of news.
She stared off into the distance, “I wish Ma could be here today Grandad. She would be so happy to see you all. When she died her last thought was of you and that I promise to find you all.”
Her grandfather became teary. Amelia reached out and held his hand and addressed them all, “Ma always told me that when people are at death’s door they think only of the people, they love the most. In her last moments she thought of all of you.”
The dais went quiet again and tears could be seen in all their eyes.
Malise stood “I propose a toast to me late sister Iona Maclean.” Everyone toasted and banged their feet on the ground.
“And what of that cur Dunbar?” Gilleain asked.
“They were in love but they promised him to another, it is tragic.”
“Tragic? He took advantage of my sweet daughter and made her his Leman.” Gilleain was getting worked up again until.
Amelia touched his arm, “Twas a long time ago, Grandad. But I want to show you the box Ma gave me. These were her belongings, but I had no idea who you all were.”
They looked at Iona’s things as if it were the popes robes; it was that precious. Gilleain kept holding the crest badge “I gave this to Iona when she left for the Abbey. It was to be her wedding attire when she married. “Did you wear these on your wedding day?” Amelia shook her head. Gilleain gave Beiste a quelling look and Beiste growled back.
Amelia explained, “It was not his fault I did not reveal the box to anyone when I came here.”
Soon the music started playing, and the mood lightened. Amelia had talked her grandfather out of waging war with the Dunbars for making her mother a leman. As the festivities continued a course of sweets and honey mead was served throughout the hall, there was much excitement over fare rarely served.
As people over indulged and over imbibed, they started making their way home. When the Hall had emptied to only the family on the dais and a few retainers, they served a special golden coloured dessert whiskey. It was a special blend with tangerine, cinnamon, honey and almonds.
Amelia noticed a small cup of the golden drink had been placed in front of her. She looked around and saw that everyone on the dais had a similar cup, although none had consumed theirs. Beiste was busy talking to Fergus her guardsman and Bristi her uncle. Brodie and Orla were arguing over something, Jonet and Gilleain were talking amongst themselves and Dalziel was talking to Sorcha.
Amelia was sitting with her uncle Malise who had been discussing a business venture involving pots, she picked up her drink and noticed an odd smell, assuming it was from the spices she brought the cup close to her lips when her uncle Malise yelled, “Stop!” and swiped the cup out of her hand. It flew several feet away and shattered against the wall.
And that was when all hell broke loose.
It shocked Amelia, everyone had turned to watch the commotion drawing their weapons and Amelia found herself instantly lifted out of her chair and placed behind Beiste who was facing off with Malise.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing.” Beiste yelled.
“I was saving my niece’s life.” Malise roared back.
Gilleain was on his feet and yelling, “What is going on?”
Bristi and Gillebride were at Gilleain’s side, looking from Beiste to Malise. Amelia noticed that Brodie had pulled Orla protectively to his side, and it was the first time the two of them were not arguing. Dalziel had Sorcha behind him. She was visibly shaken.
Malise said, “Someone just tried to poison your wife!”
Beiste paled. Malise pointed at the tipped over glass.
“Bitter almonds, I smelled it in the whiskey.” Beiste picked it up and smelled it too.
Amelia registered the funny smell, but it was masked with all the sweetened honey.
Beiste yelled orders, “Close off the Keep, I will question everyone who served tonight.”
Dalziel and Fergus were already out the door to the kitchens. Brodie was checking all the other glasses sniffing them. “None of these glasses smell the same as Amelia’s.”
Beiste gritted his teeth and pulled Amelia close. That meant she was the only target her alone. This was the second time someone had tried to kill her. The first was on the road the second now.
“Who would want to do such a heinous thing to my granddaughter?” Gilleain wanted to tear down half the Keep to find the culprit. He looked at Beiste. “If you cannot protect her, she is coming with us. If my son had not intervened, she would be dead.”
Beiste shouted back, “No one is taking my wife anywhere.”
“We’ll see about that. I heard you practically forced her to wed you.” Gilleain bellowed. Fear for Amelia’s safety too much for him to stay calm. He had just found the child of his beloved daughter and to almost lose her here.
“Da, calm down we get nowhere pointing fingers.” Bristi said.
“Did you see who put the glass down near her?” Brodie asked Malise.
“No, we were busy talking and platters were going in and out. I just noticed that her drink smelled different from mine.
“How do we know it wasn’t one of your men?” Fergus piped in he had returned from the kitchens with serving maids in tow and speculated, “It’s strange you appear and then this happens?”
“What are you accusing us of? Trying to Kill our own kin?” Malise was losing his temper.
Brodie gave Fergus a stern look to keep his mouth shut.
“Mayhap there is a reason you wanted to reconnect so badly?” Is she to inherit something?” Fergus continued.
“How dare your men accuse us of this? This happened in your Keep!” Gilleain pointed at Beiste.
Amelia could not get a word in, trying hard to see around Beiste. Now her uncles were also yelling and shouting in outrage, “She’s our Kin, we would never harm her, if you cannot protect her then we will take her Mull.”
“I am her kin and she is mine!” Beiste roared.
Everyone started yelling and shouting again.
Then an unexpected thing happened.
Jonet stood on the table looking every inch a warrior of old and she swung high and brought down Gilleain’s battled axe on the table, splintering the wood. The sound was enough to get everyone’s attention.
“Be quiet all of you!” she yelled, “tis enough to make me lose my supper what with all the bellowing.”
“Ma,” Beiste came forward “get down from there.”
“Give me that axe you silly woman you’ll end up cutting yourself.” Gilleain moved forward to take it and she raised it and swiped at him until he stepped away
.
“Tis you men who need quieten down. All of you sit down now!” They begrudgingly did. “And you, you boorish man, have not changed one bit, bellowing and carrying on, why you used to do the same to Amelia’s grandma before she beat you with her broom and then you ranted and raved at Iona like a dragon.”
There was a stunned silence firstly that Jonet was giving a set down to a room full of men and secondly that Jonet was lucid for a change. “My Amelia has had a fright, and the people she loves are fighting each other instead of trying to find who did this.” She pointed at her son and his men. “Start questioning those who had access to Amelia’s drink and question the guards who were supposed to be watching the kitchens.”
Jonet then climbed down from the table. “Now if someone will remind me where my blasted bed chamber is, I would be very grateful.” She huffed.
***
The man in the cloak stood in the shadows, seething that his slave had failed again. She had not masked the poison well.
This time she was standing naked in the middle of the cell. Both her wrists bound by iron shackles, a long iron chain hung from a hook in the ceiling pulling her arms above her head. She could not lean or sit or rest her limbs. She was completely at his mercy and control. Her back was bloodied from his vicious whipping. Usually this was the moment he would dig his fingers into her hips and pound her from behind while her blood smeared his groin. But not tonight.
She moaned, she sobbed, she pleaded for the release only he could give. “Please, Master I need you, please.” Instead, he pushed her away from him.
“You failed you have used up all your chances.” With those parting words, he slit her throat.
The next morning Deidre’s battered body was found floating in the Loch.
***
Several hours after Amelia’s attack everyone had been interrogated but no clear sign who could have poisoned Amelia’s drink. Only the most trusted were allowed near Amelia and they increased security around the Keep. The Macleans were given guest chambers to stay in, and their retainers camped by the Loch and formed another line of defence.
***
It was late in the evening after they had bathed Amelia and Beiste were both still reeling from her attempted murder and neither one of them would leave each other’s side. The Keep had settled for the night and the aftermath had unleashed a primal need.
Beiste was lying on his back in their bed Amelia was riding astride him, his hard thick length impaled deep inside her silken sheath, her hands placed on his shoulders her breasts bounced above his head as she rode him with abandon. Amelia’s moans were coming in quick gasps as her hips moved faster.
“Aye, that’s it love, just like that.” Beast encouraged, both hands gripping a rounded ass cheek pulling her on and off his length to speed up momentum. “You’re so tight love, you feel so good,” he groaned as he slammed her down his length again and again her moans were growing louder “That’s it sweeting, I need you to come for me.”
Amelia was lost in the euphoria “Beiste, I need you to….”
“I’ve got you love.” his voice was guttural. He braced his feet on the bed and thrust upwards, pounding her welcome heat. Amelia’s moans grew even louder. Beiste growled, leaned his head forward and laved her nipple with his tongue. He felt her body stiffen and her channel contract so tight around his length he almost spilled.
Amelia was lost in a sea of ecstasy. Her husband’s tongue against her breast sent shock waves of pleasure straight to her core. As Beiste’s thrusts increased the friction caused a powerful sensation in her womb and her body spasmed.
“Look at me mo leannan, look at me when you come.” He growled. She opened her eyes and met his gaze as he kissed her mouth and drowned her screams as she came.
Beiste felt his wife climax while he was deep inside her. She was so tight her spasms triggered his own. He thrust three more times before his body stiffened and he roared as his seed exploded inside her channel, bathing her womb with his essence.
Amelia slumped across him passed out her head tucked under his chin, his heart was beating so hard he collapsed back against the bed their bodies both still connected, and he felt utterly sated.
He had almost lost her this day, and the memory of it terrified him. If anything happened to her, he knew he would not survive; they were inextricably linked, heart, body and soul. Never in all his life had it ever been this good, not with any other only Amelia, his wife, his lover, just his. He pulled the covers over their naked bodies, too exhausted to do anything else, he closed his eyes and whispered, “I love you Amie, with all my heart.” Then he fell asleep.
Chapter 20
Into the Darkness
The next day the atmosphere in the Keep was stilted. Everyone was on high alert and extra precaution was taken to ensure safety of those within the Keep. It had horrified the Keep staff to discover someone slipped into their kitchens and tried to kill their mistress. Their protectiveness of Amelia increased. Several guards were posted in the kitchens, water cisterns and storerooms. Orla kept a strict eye on all the food prepared for the family and also took it upon herself to provide extra security for her friend, a skilled archer she now kept her bow and arrows on her at all times and began wearing trews and a tunic instead of dresses. As far as Orla was concerned, Amelia was like a sister to her. The one person other than Morag who had accepted her without reservation and that was a priceless treasure worth protecting.
The Macleans and the MacGregors seem to get along well with no open hostility. Beiste found Gilleain and his sons to be wise and honest men, and they found the MacGregor Chieftain to be reasonable. It was as if they were all cut from the same cloth. They all genuinely cared for Amelia, so guarding her was made easier. Gilleain also savoured the time with his granddaughter, often joining her at the Healer’s cottage for hours on end as they shared years of family history over brewed tea and cakes. Amelia’s uncles had also taken to dropping in for visits and reminiscing about their sister Iona and their mother Moira over honey mead and sweet treats.
As the men gathered regularly in the Council room, they went through the lists of suspects and motive for who would want Amelia dead and who would gain the most advantage if they murdered her. Could it be the Dunbars or someone from Iona’s passed? Could it be an enemy of the MacGregors? An enemy of the Macleans? Unbeknownst to them all, it would not be a list that revealed the real perfidy within the Keep but a single recollection about a past event.
***
Hope
A sennight after the attempted poisoning Amelia awoke feeling nauseous, leapt out of bed and ran to the basin where she emptied the contents of her stomach. When she had finished, she rinsed her mouth and wiped it with a towel. She turned around to find Beiste standing perfectly still a foot away from her and just staring.
“Are you well, love?” He looked concerned.
“Aye husband, I have just been feeling sick in the mornings.”
She walked towards him and he wrapped his arms around her as she hugged him in return, resting her cheek on his chest, her arms around his waist.
“How long have you been feeling this way?”
“On and off for two weeks now, but usually it’s just a queasy feeling that goes away, tis why I keep chewing mint and ginger.”
“Sweetheart.”
“Aye husband.”
“When was the last time you had your menses?”
Amelia froze then looked up at him, trying to calculate in her mind. “Not since before I wed you.” She whispered, still trying to come to terms with what the answer to his question meant.
How could she miss it, the nausea, sensitive breasts, and she was late for her menses, very late, in fact weeks late. When she looked at Beiste again, his eyes were sparkling with emotion and a questioning glance, he held his breath. Amelia’s eyes instantly filled with tears as she nodded and smiled, giving him the confirmation he needed.
The look on her husband’s face was something she wis
hed she could capture for eternity. It was a look of reverence, elation and love. Pure love. He wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Sweeting, you carry my bairn.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Aye, I do.”
They stood in their bedchamber wrapped around one another, filled with hope for the future
***
That afternoon, after Beiste and Amelia had shared their news with their family members, Amelia had gone to the solar to work on the books. Sorcha was helping her Orla was sitting by the fireplace binding flint arrow heads to notches in the arrow staff and Jonet was sipping a saffron tea blend Amelia had mixed for her to improve her memory. Beiste and Gilleain had also come in to check on her, for the fourth time, and had decided to just stay put.
Amelia was trying to focus on figures when Jonet started talking, “Colban my husband used to do that.”
“Do what?”
“He would frown just like you are now whenever he went over the books.”
“What was Colban like?” Amelia asked.
“He was just like Beiste.” Jonet motioned to her son slouched in a chair by the corner, “Always scowling or bellowing.” Amelia smiled at that comment she could just imagine. “Where is Colban?” Jonet asked wistfully.
“He passed away Jonet but I ken he is still very much missed.”
“Oh yes, my poor Colban. They killed him you ken? Almost home then set upon by mercenaries.”
“Aye, I heard, tis very sorry I am for your loss Jonet.”
There was a pause and then she continued, “Sorcha was beside herself. Poor child she had a huge fright when her da died.” Amelia sensed Sorcha stiffen next to her and her breathing became shallow almost panicked “You never spoke again did you love?” Jonet looked at Sorcha who shook her head in response. “Colban’s brother Ludan tried to save him but it was no use he was already dead.”
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