Highland Intrigue - A Prequel

“You think me cruel and I think us lucky, for I do not want to lose Bliss,” Annis said and quickly turned her head away.

As strong and determined as Annis was, she had a generous and loving heart and tears often were her enemy, sneaking up on her unexpectedly, and no matter how hard she tried to fight them, they would often fall, annoying her.

“You are right.” Elysia sighed and looked to Bliss. “I do not know what we’d do without you.”

“And you do not have to,” Bliss assured her. “Annis is right. No one will look my way so there is no worry for me.”

She wasn’t sure if she needed to worry about Elysia. She was not as beautiful as Annis, but she was pretty with soft green eyes and thick, long, light brown hair that fell to the middle of her back. She often wore it piled on the top of her head with two combs that couldn’t contain it all, leaving several strands to fall around her face and down her neck. Her narrow hips and small breasts would be a worrisome sign to some wise women who deliver bairns, thinking her woman passageway far too narrow for the bairn to slip through and her breasts too small to provide sufficient milk. But she never found that a problem with all the bairns she’d delivered. She did not, however, want to think about how uncomfortable it might be for Elysia when it came to coupling if she should meet a large man. Elysia also preferred the quiet. She avoided loud, boisterous people and large congregations. She enjoyed stitching and could get lost in it for hours. Many came to her with garments they thought beyond repair and when she got done, no one could tell it had been mended.

She could not rule out that the two men might take interest in Elysia, but she was more worried about Annis. She had no worries for herself, since Annis had been right. No one would look her way. Her features were nothing to speak of and she was fine with that. She probably would never wed and have bairns of her own, though she would love to. Sometimes the thought upset her since she enjoyed raising Annis and Elysia after their mum had died ten years ago. She had barely turned twelve, but she had been all her sisters had, their da having died a year before their mum. Elysia had been seven years and Annis nine years. She had quickly taken on the role of their mum and raised them with love and care just as their mum would have done.

One day they would wed good men, she would see to it, and she would help them raise their bairns.

“Do not look at the men,” Bliss warned.

Elysia already had her eyes cast down, but Annis stuck her chin up defiantly and glared at the two men. It worried Bliss when the gray-haired man held her gaze far too long.

When the men rode past, Bliss turned to Annis. “And what if your defiance gets you a marriage to the cursed lord?”

“I will not marry him,” Annis declared with confidence.

“And how will you stop it?” Bliss asked, putting nothing past Annis.

“I will marry someone else first.”

Bliss shook her head. “And who would that be?”

“I don’t know, but I better start looking just in case,” Annis said and set off determined.

That gave Bliss thought. Perhaps it would be wise to find her two sisters husbands, men that would keep them safe, and men from the clan so that her sisters would not be taken away from her.

“How did your hunt for a husband go, Annis,” Elysia asked, nibbling on the last of her bread.

It was a wasted effort,” Annis complained, sopping up the last of the delicious fish stew with a chunk of bread Bliss had prepared for supper. “There’s not a man among the clan who would make a good husband.”

“You mean a husband who will follow your dictate.” Elysia chuckled.

“What’s wrong with that?” Annis snapped. “I am more intelligent than most men, so why shouldn’t I command instead?”

Elysia sighed. “It is not the way of things.”

Annis went to argue and Bliss stopped her. “Elysia speaks the truth as you did today about me. You cannot get angry at the truth whether you agree with it or not. It seems to be a woman’s lot in life to obey her husband unless you can find a man who thinks otherwise and that, I am afraid, is unlikely.”

“Then I will not wed,” Annis said.

Bliss gripped her hands gently and rested them on the table in front of her. “I have been giving thought to marriage.”

“You have been giving thought to marriage?” Annis looked aghast and shook her head. “You cannot wed. What will happen to Elysia and me?”