When she had been informed that Duncan had agreed to marry Iliana only if Sherwell was forced to finally fulfill the marriage contract that had been drawn up between their families so many years ago, Seonaid had been a roiling mass of humiliation and fury. The man was being forced to come and collect her as if she were some poxy whore that no man would want for bride, and only a king's order could move him to do his duty. She had fled. With disastrous results.
"I think ye should make him suffer a bit more," Aeldra said grimly.
"Mayhap he should, but I'll no have anyone else suffer more with him; they have all suffered enough."
"I knew it!" Aeldra stomped over to her and caught her by the arm to turn her around.
"Knew what?" Helen asked in confusion. "What are you two talking about? Who else has suffered?"
Aeldra ignored the question and glared at Seonaid. "Yer blamin' yerself fer Allistair."
"Why would Seonaid blame herself for Allistair's death?" Helen asked with bewilderment.
"O' course I am," Seonaid snapped, also ignoring Helen. "And who else should I blame?"
"Me," Aeldra said firmly.
"You?" Seonaid gawked at the petite woman.
"He was my brother."
"Aye, but that makes ye no more responsible for his behavior than I am for Duncan's."
"Seonaid is right," Helen agreed quickly. "Neither of you is responsible for Allistair's behavior." She hesitated, then added, "I am afraid that Janna did not explain his behavior to me; she told me only that he is dead. What did he do?"
"Betrayed our people, snuck around helping Greenweld, planned to see my brother and father dead, then to marry me and claim himself laird of the Dunbars," Seonaid answered flatly, moving away from the window to sit on the bed.
"Oh, dear," Helen murmured, following and sitting on the far end of the bare mattress. "Well ..." She shook her head. "That is awful, but 'tis his own doing. Neither of you is responsible for it."
"He was me brother," Aeldra said flatly, dropping onto the hard surface between them.
"If I'd stayed here and married Blake when he arrived rather than running off to St. Simmian's, none of this might have happened," Seonaid said at the same moment.
"But that is--You two are--Oh, this is just nonsense," Helen said with exasperation.
"Aye, 'tis," Aeldra agreed and frowned at Seonaid. " 'Tis no yer fault."
"I knew his caring fer me was more than that o' cousin, and it flattered me. My pride was so beaten down by Blake's neglect that I even encouraged it."
Aeldra snorted. "Not much ye didn't. Had ye given him any real encouragement, ye'd have been bedded and breeding by seventeen, Allistair was that crazy about ye."
"Ewww," Seonaid said as an image flashed through her mind of herself and her male cousin together.
"Aye." Aeldra grimaced, probably at a similar vision.
Seonaid sighed, then fell back to lay across the bed. She stared up at the ceiling as she said, "Still, had I stayed and married Blake rather than allow me pinched pride to send me harin' off to St. Simmian's--"
"Blake would probably be dead along with everyone else," Aeldra interrupted grimly. "Seonaid, had ye stayed and dutifully married Blake, Allistair would have seen him dead 'ere the wedding night. He wouldna have allowed it to be consummated. And who kens what might have happened next? He still would have had to see Duncan and Uncle Angus out o' the way to gain the title o' laird, and whatever way he tried might have actually worked," she pointed out, then shook her head. "Nay, ye canna take the blame. But I can."
Seonaid turned her head to cast a scowl her way. "Just because he was yer brother--"
"Nay, no jest because he was me brother." She sighed. "I kenned he was weak, Seonaid. And I kenned Giorsal's anger and the way she whispered it in his ear. I knew she was bitter, like fruit left to rot on the branch, and I just ignored her, but Allistair had no the character to do so. Ye ken he had no opinion o' his own. He would voice a belief, then someone would voice a different one and his would suddenly change. He was easily led and I kenned that. I should have realized that Giorsal's constant harping would affect him. I should have seen this coming and done something about it."
"Nay." Seonaid sat up and shook her head. "As ye say, I kenned he was weak o' mind too and easily led, yet I did not see this coming. Neither could ye be expected to." She kicked her foot in the rushes on the floor, then asked, "Did it anger ye that Father never gave ye a room in the keep? It truly never occurred to me, Aeldra, else I would have suggested--"
Her cousin interrupted her with another snort. "Seonaid, I practically do live up here in the keep. Ye and I have been inseparable since Allistair and I arrived here. I am up here at the keep from the moment I get up in the morning until the moment I go to bed at night, unless we are at an abbey or hunting with the men or practicing in the bailey," she added dryly. "Guid God, they called us 'the twins,' and that wasna because we look so much alike."
Seonaid laughed slightly at the old nickname, and her cousin continued. "And Uncle Angus treated Allistair and me as much like his children as a man could. He fed us, clothed us, and even supplied our horses and weapons at no small cost to hisself. Yer no the only one with the sword made specially fer yer size and strength, are ye? Nay, I have no bitterness with any o' ye. I've not, but gratitude and love."
Seonaid scowled. Her throat felt tight with the tears she was fighting back. "I'll take the love, but ye can keep the gratitude," she growled, then added, "And we love ye too."
"I ken," Aeldra said with a grin, and the two women hugged awkwardly, then pulled away, each of them clearing her throat and feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Well," Helen said with a pleased little sigh, "now that the two of you have settled that, you should both leave at once and make Blake give chase. Leaving you hanging about until twenty-four is shameful and he deserves to suffer for it."
Seonaid peered at Helen with amazement. "Yer no sounding much like a sister, Sister," she teased.
Helen grinned. "In truth, I do not feel much like a sister either. I wish I could go with you."
Seonaid glanced down at her feet again, feeling confused about what she should do. She wasn't completely over her anger with Blake, but the memory of his kiss was strong in her mind, blurring her thinking a bit.
"We do have to leave, Seonaid," Aeldra said suddenly. "And no jest to harass Blake."
She glanced at her cousin with interest. "Oh?"
"Has it no occurred to ye that Rollo Cameron is in quite a spot at the moment?"
"Aye. He's most like to lose his home and his very life over this does he no flee before Helen's father gets here, finds out what's about, and sends a message to the king."
"Aye," Aeldra agreed solemnly. "If Helen's father arrives here."
Seonaid frowned. "What mean ye, if he gets here?"
"Well, all Rollo's problems could be at an end if he could just silence Helen and her father."
"Damn," Seonaid murmured. Desperate men took desperate measures. And if he was willing to commit one murder, why not two?
"I do not understand," Helen said anxiously. "You think Rollo will go after my father?"
Seonaid stood and began to pace as she considered the problem. "Yer maid went to yer father. If she gets there, what will she tell him?"
"If she gets there?" Helen echoed.
"Aye. I'm presumin' Cameron had many men traveling with him?" When she nodded, Seonaid pointed out, "Well, he may have sent half after her, or even just a couple, and kept the rest with him to come after you. She may no have reached him at all. But if she did," she hurried on when Helen began to look upset, "what would she tell him?"
Helen hesitated, obviously distressed by the possibility that the maid might not have reached her father, something she hadn't considered. But then she appeared to force the thought aside and straightened. "She would tell him that I overheard Rollo plotting to kill me. That we escaped and I fled to St. Simmian's while she made her way home."
r /> "And what would yer father do?"
"He would be very upset, furious. He would mount up at once and ride to St. Simmian's to hear it from me for himself."
"Alone?"
"Nay. He would bring most of his men. He would be angry and in a fighting mood. He would bring enough men to lay siege to Cameron's castle, if necessary."
Seonaid nodded. "Would he take the time to write to yer king first?"
Helen bit her lip as she thought, then shook her head. "Nay."
Seonaid sighed. "I suppose it doesna matter whether he would have written to the king or no. Either way, so long as Rollo kills you and yer father, he is safe."
"But Father would bring an army. He should be safe with all his men around him."
Seonaid shrugged. "They'll be lookin' fer you, no awatchin' fer an assassin."
"Assassin?" Helen gasped.
"Well, Cameron doesna need to kill yer father's entire army; he needs only to kill you and yer father and either make both look like accidents or attacks by someone else. Then he need only claim ye'd misheard him and it was all an error. He'd probably get away with it so long as yer father's no around to pursue it further. Unless ye have other powerful relatives, an uncle or a brother or some such?" Seonaid finished the comment on a question, but Helen shook her head.