"I am my parents' only child, and each of them were the only surviving children in their families. 'Tis why Father chose Rollo Cameron; he has an older brother who is laird of the Camerons. Father hoped he would wish to live in England and take over there."
Seonaid nodded and continued to pace and ponder. Helen and Aeldra waited patiently but looked expectant when she stopped and turned to face them. "Aeldra and I will away to yer father and explain all. That way at least he will be warned about what is happening and to watch fer Rollo. We can ride back with him and--"
"I will come with you."
"Nay. Ye're safer here, Helen."
"I shall not allow you two to risk yourselves for me alone. I will go with you," Helen said with determination.
"Nay. You--"
"Would you allow me to ride out on a dangerous journey like this while you stayed safely behind?"
Seonaid scowled, unable to argue that.
"Besides, if we were to take the secret passage Aeldra mentioned, surely we could slip away without Cameron seeing us. If he followed, he saw us enter the bailey, and he will be watching the gate to see us leave."
"She's right," Aeldra said quietly. " 'Sides, we did promise to see her home."
"Aye." Seonaid sighed. "All right, we will all three of us go."
They were all silent for a moment; then Helen said, "What of Lord Blake?"
Seonaid smiled wryly and shrugged. "He dallied ten years in comin' after me, he can wait on me fer a change."
Helen nodded, then asked, "When shall we go?"
Seonaid exchanged a glance with Aeldra, then shrugged and stood. "Now. The men should sleep fer another four hours at least. That gives us a good head start. Come."
She led the way to the door of the room, opened it, and stepped out into the hall, relieved to find it empty. Gesturing for them to move quietly, Seonaid practically tiptoed along the hall to her own room and eased that door open.
"It is in here?" Helen asked in a whisper. The trepidation in the woman's voice made Seonaid glance curiously over her shoulder as she stepped inside.
"Aye. Why do you ask like that?"
"Oh, no!" Aeldra hissed as she followed the two of them into the room.
Seonaid's eyes shot to her cousin in question, then turned and peered at the wall Aeldra was gaping at, and her mouth fell open with shock. The entrance to the secret passage had been blocked off.
Chapter Ten
"I had the men block off the secret passage." Angus Dunbar stood in the doorway to his room, glaring at Seonaid irritably. She was glaring right back.
Seonaid had stared at the pile of huge stones stacked up against the wall of her room with shock, then whirled away and stormed to her father's door to find out what on earth was going on.
"Aye, I ken ye blocked it up. I just saw it. Helen was asleep in my room earlier, or I would have known then. What I'm wantin' to know is why ye would do a fool thing like that."
"Because Allis--" He paused abruptly, and seemed to change what he had been going to say to, "Because someone told Greenweld about the secret passages, or at least one o' them. So I had them both blocked off so they could no invade the castle."
"Damn!" Seonaid closed her eyes briefly, then sighed and told him, "We know about Allistair."
"Ye do?" His scowl deepened. "Who told ye? Duncan?"
"Nay. Giorsal."
"Giorsal?" He looked shocked. "How the devil did she ken?" he asked, then answered his own question. "Duncan must have told her. Only he, Iliana, and I ken the truth. Well, and Lady Wildwood, but she's no talked to anyone. She's been with me since--"
"No one told Giorsal," Seonaid interrupted. "She knew the tale o' Allistair's dying in battle was false because she knew he was plotting with Greenweld. She is the one who encouraged him to do so."
The air left Angus on a hiss.
"Ye may wish to watch her," Aeldra said quietly. "She's grown more and more bitter o'er the years, and this has jest made her worse."
"Aye." Angus ran a hand through his wiry gray hair, then told Aeldra, "She hoped to marry me, ye ken. When yer mother and my brother got together, Giorsal had hopes that she and I might make a match too, but I fell in love with Muireall, Duncan and Seonaid's mother. Giorsal never forgave me for it." He shook his head. "I'm sorry about Allistair, child."
Aeldra shrugged unhappily. " 'Tis no yer fault. Allistair made his own decisions, as does Giorsal. 'Tis kind o' ye to try to preserve his honor in memory at least by keeping what he was up to a secret."
"He wasna a bad lad," Angus said gruffly. "Must have been sufferin' a brain fever to have acted so. 'Sides, Duncan said 'twas obvious Allisatir's heart wasna wholly in it. He wouldna let Greenweld abuse Iliana and he couldna bring hisself to kill Duncan, but made the lad kill him instead."
Seonaid was grateful her father took the trouble to say that, whether is was true or not. Aeldra had needed something like that to hold on to. A rush of love welled up in her heart for the gruff old man, but dissipated when he turned narrowed eyes her way. "And why are ye so upset about the secret passage anyway? Ye werena plannin' to run off again, were ye?"
"Would ye care if I did?" Seonaid asked with a scowl, then thought to ask, "Blake's father hasna arrived yet, has he?" They would not hold the wedding without him.
"Nay, Sherwell hasna yet arrived," Angus said. He hesitated before adding, "The boy deserved a good set down after dallying so long in coming fer ye, and from what the Campbell told Duncan, ye gave him that." He grinned suddenly. "It sounds an entertaining tale too. Ye'll have to tell it to me at sup." His smile faded, his expression becoming solemn. "But ye'll have to marry the lad eventually. And 'tis a fine line between showing him the error of his ways and humiliatin' him to where he thinks he has to get some of his own back."
Seonaid frowned over those words.
"He's a lot like his father, mostly good-natured and honorable, but ye don't want to push him too far."
"Good-natured and honorable?" Seonaid gaped at her father. "Ye said the Sherwell was a sneaky English bastard, that--"
"Aye, well, I've been angry at him, haven't I? We had a falling out." He scowled, but the expression died abruptly as a lovely older woman appeared at his shoulder. "Margaret. What--?"
"I thought I would just go down and have a word with Elgin. He shall need to know there will be more for dinner this eve. I doubt Iliana will get the chance to warn him in time for him to prepare extra. Perhaps he could even manage a special treat to welcome Seonaid and Aeldra back." She offered a smile of greeting to the three women as she spoke, and all of them smiled in return.
If she hadn't looked so much like her daughter, Iliana, Seonaid would not have
recognized Lady Wildwood from their first meeting. The woman was looking much better than she had on her arrival at Dunbar. Seonaid had only caught a glimpse of her then, but enough to know she'd been badly beaten; her face had been swollen, her eyes blackened, her nose broken. The rest of her hadn't been in any better shape. Lady Wildwood's face was completely healed now, however, and she was quite as lovely as her daughter.
"Oh, but ..." Angus protested.
"Mayhap you should dress yourself, my lord," Lady Margaret cut him off with a gentle smile. "You should not really be standing about in front of Sister Helen like this. Do you not agree?"
Seonaid's eyes shot to Lady Wildwood's face at the way she said the word sister. She found her peering at Helen with a perplexed look before glancing at Angus Dunbar. Seonaid followed her gaze and found him peering down at himself with a frown. He had again donned the golden braies to answer the door when Seonaid had knocked but had not bothered with a tunic, so stood bare-chested in the doorway. Muttering something under his breath, he turned and moved quickly back into the room and out of sight.
Lady Wildwood smiled after him, then turned and held out a hand to Seonaid.
"Hello, Seonaid, is it?" Margaret asked.
"Aye." She hesitated, then placed her hand in Lady Wildwood's and found it drawn through the woman's arm as she stepped into the hall to join them.
"Why do you not come with me, Seonaid? Perhaps between us we can convince Elgin to make your favorite meal. What is your favorite meal?"
"Oh ... er ..." Seonaid glanced over her shoulder toward Aeldra and Helen.
Lady Wildwood glanced back too. "Would you ladies mind waiting for Lord Angus and explaining where Seonaid and I have gone?"
When both women nodded their heads helplessly, Lady Wildwood smiled. "Thank you," she murmured, then continued on, gently tugging Seonaid along with her. "Now, what was your favorite meal, dear?"
"I ... er ... colcannon, black buns, and haggis."
"I do not think I have tried the colcannon yet, though I have had black buns. Quite delicious," she pronounced.
"Aye," Seonaid agreed as she was led down the stairs. Her gaze swept the great hall as she walked. She spotted Blake dozing in a chair by the fire as Aeldra had said he was, and as she had said, he seemed to wake at the least sound, for he blinked his eyes open as they reached the foot of the stairs, and--spying them--sat up abruptly.