Page 51 of The Trials of Neilina MacKai
He agreed with his whole heart.He hadn’t realized how much he loved Seona.He must tell her as soon as possible.
She was sleeping when the healer left, and Rhuad was forced to wait.He kept busy helping with the search for the Abbess’s document.
When that was found, he read the entire thing.He learned the true identity of the abbess and the full extent of her crimes.He studied all of the documents that belonged to the woman, learning a great deal about Edward’s plans for Scotland.He also learned the fate of his aunt.Lady Staunton was without doubt a traitor.She’d spied for England on the nation of her birth, but did so in search of vengeance for the death of her beloved husband at Berwick.No wonder she’d thought Ranulf would betray Scotland to save the lives of two women he loved.Neither his brother, nor their aunt, truly deserved the fates they had received.Ranulf had only been banished.The abbess, however had murdered their aunt.She’d made note of her actions in a draft of a report to Edward’s spy master.
I have dispatched with the woman aiding us at Castle MacFearann.Her corpse now feeds the fishes in the sea north of Scotland.She has no more value to us as she has finally managed to lure her nephew into an attempted attack on the abbey.I anticipate that attack will come tomorrow morning or the next and will wait to send this report after my guards are victorious.
He would include pride as the least of the many sins the abbess committed in her fraudulent pose.He gathered the documents and wrapped them carefully in oiled leather.He would deliver them to the Guardians and recommend that they send a letter along with copies of the evidence to the papal court in Rome condemning both the abbess and Edward as the instigator of the crimes she’d done.He would see to it personally.
However, first he would see Seona recovered.He needed to hear from her own lips that she wished their handfasted marriage to be made true and permanent.He would do his best not to pressure her in making her decision, but he would tell her of his feelings.When he imagined his future without her, he saw long years of bitter loneliness.Bitter because Seona held all his joy.Lonely because she’d chosen not to remain his wife.How could he survive without her?How could he convince her that being Lady MacFearann was both wise and preferable above all else?
Chapter Nine
Abbey of St.Margaret
Mid-morning, March 13, 1297
Neither Rhuad nor Raeb had yielded when Seona explained that riding her own horse would help her heal faster than being carried in a covered chair.Maeve, had she been present, might have supported Seona.Her sister was an advocate of fresh air and activity to promote healing.The healer from the fishing village, while interested in what Maeve might say on the matter, claimed that any exertion might cause the injuries to re-open and become infected, resulting in a much longer recovery time at best and death at worst.
Raeb had made noises about tying her into the thing.Rhuad had protested such a severe solution, suggesting it would be better to send her home by sea.She wasn’t fond of ships and refused that alternative.Seona had been forced to accept transport via the covered chair simply to keep the peace.
Thus, she’d spent the past week ensconced in the chair, surrounded by cushions to prevent bumps and bruises from the jostling inevitable as they traveled at, she felt, an entirely too slow pace over rough ground.
A week after departing Baile Isag, she stepped down—for the last time, she prayed—from the chair with Rhuad’s help.
He made as if to pick her up.
She glared at him and snatched her hand away.“If you think to carry me into our home, you will find you have a very unhappy wife.”
At the word “home” her husband grinned.
So, he likes that I think of his home as mine.
She smiled back at him.
Standing nearby but unable to see the by play, Raeb laughed.“I’d do as she says, were I you, Rhuad.My sisters are very determined women.The consequences of not doing as they ask can be distinctly unpleasant.Just ask the English soldiers who I’ve been told are now yeomen farmers tilling fields in Wales.”
