Chapter 8
Damnation!
The needle was stuck in her thumb again. Leanna scowled down at the offending digit, wondering if ‘twould be better to pull it out before she got blood all over the tapestry.
“Nicola?”
Mayhap ‘twas her tone of voice which implied she’d been wounded, but her older sister, who was sitting beside their mother with her head bent over her own section of the tapestry, sighed mightily before straightening.
“Well? Let me see it.”
Sheepishly, Leanna raised her thumb so all could see her mistake.
Robena clucked her tongue. “Tarts! Again?”
As Nicola stood and glided to Leanna’s side to examine the injury, Wynda scowled down at the field of flowers she was working on. “I’m just pleased I was able to disguise the blood marks you left over here with these roses.”
Wincing when Nicola grabbed her thumb, Leanna sent a wink toward the top of her scholarly sister’s head. “If ye would just embroider something interesting, ye could disguise the drops of blood as actual blood.”
Wynda’s gaze flicked toward Leanna. “When ye say interesting like that, I ken ye’re talking about Great Aunt Nessa’s pillow.”
“And the tapestry in my chamber,” murmured Robena.
All four sisters paused, then hummed thoughtfully in agreement. The tapestry hanging in Robena’s chamber was interesting, in a very educational manner. So was the one in Wynda’s chamber, for that matter.
Great Aunt Nessa had been a very prolific embroiderer, and her subject matter had been instructive, to young lasses who were naturally curious. Although they’d never met the woman—she and her husband had never had children, but she’d helped raise her nieces and nephews, including Da’s father, Graham—Leanna and her sisters owed the dear woman a debt of gratitude. It had been those tapestries and decorative pillows, depicting not just scenes of bloody warfare, but intriguingly erotic embraces, which had prompted many discussions.
Unfortunately, Mother wouldn’t allow them to practice “the feminine arts” on anything as unfeminine as beheadings, blast her.
“Lassies, focus on yer vines and flowers, please.”
Aye, vines and flowers. Because that was interesting, hm?
Robena rolled her eyes. “Mother, between the distractions and the blood, Leanna is a nuisance when it comes to embroidery!”
Leanna nodded enthusiastically. “A complete and utter nuisance. I make more trouble than I solve. Ye should definitely excuse me from further embroidery sessions, like Fen and Coira.”
Since she was sitting there with her hand raised above her head, as Nicola examined her thumb, Leanna assumed this lent credence to her story. Unfortunately, her sister chose that moment to pull the needle from her flesh.
“Ouch!” Leanna scowled as she stuck her thumb in her mouth to suck away the blood.
But her sister just tutted. “It was a small stab wound. Ye’ll live.”
“Mayhap ‘twill fester.”
“Then ‘twill fester.” Nicola seemed unconcerned as she glided back to Mother’s side. “Mayhap ye’ll die.”
Their mother scolded them without looking up. “Lassies, speak kindly to one another.”
Ignoring the advice, Leanna removed her thumb long enough to stick her tongue out at her older sister. “Would ye miss me?”
“I would miss ye,” Robena assured her, before Nicola could speak. “Yer shenanigans make life interesting.”
“Thank ye.” Leanna inclined her head as regally as possible, then went back to examining her thumb for life-threatening injuries. “I would miss ye as well.”
“Because of my ability to counter yer ridiculousness with my level-headedness?”
Nay, definitely no’ that.