Page 65 of Unforgotten
Watching the gleam in the woman’s eye, heat kindled in Ella’s belly—a slow, pulsing anger. She glanced across at Gavin to see that his expression had turned hard. His eyes were cold as he watched his mother.
“Ye had yer victory, Ma,” he said, his tone wintry. “And I congratulate ye for it … but fortunately, fate has taken a turn. Ella and I are together now, and there’s nothing ye can do about it.”
“We’ll see about that,” Maggie MacNichol snarled, drawing herself up further. “It’s a crime ye have both committed … against the church, against decency.”
“The abbess cast me from the order.” Ella spoke up now. Her voice was low although it trembled with the anger she was now struggling to keep in check. “Gavin and I have committed no crime in wedding.”
Gavin’s mother glared back at her, not backing down an inch. This woman’s viciousness was like standing under a lashing hailstorm. Maggie MacNichol still wielded a lot of influence and power at Scorrybreac. Ella could see from the surrounding faces that many seated upon the dais silently agreed with her. They had to act quickly if they wanted to stem the tide that now rose against them.
“A nun can’t cast aside her vows as lightly as that.” Her mother-in-law spat out the words. “I’ll wager MacKinnon would have something to say about her decision … as would the Holy See.”
Shocked murmuring rippled across the table at these words.
Ella’s father’s expression had turned thunderous now, although Ella wasn’t sure if his anger was aimed at her or Maggie MacNichol. Across from Stewart Fraser, Gordana’s face had gone the color of milk, her blue eyes wide as her gaze flicked from her mother to her brother.
Gavin stepped forward then. Leaning down, he placed his palms flat upon the table and fixed his mother with a penetrating stare.
“Mother Shona’s decision was good enough for me.” His voice was low, with a threatening edge. “I haven’t gathered my kin here this eve to gain yer blessing … but to do ye the courtesy of informing ye that I have taken a new wife. Whether or not ye agree with it means nothing to me … do ye understand?Nothing.”
His inflection on the final word made Maggie MacNichol’s gaze narrow. However, the woman didn’t flinch, didn’t back down. Despite that she must have known that her son’s temper was hanging by a thread, she held his gaze fearlessly.
“Annella Fraser always held an unhealthy influence upon ye, Gavin,” she replied, her own voice brittle with anger. “I fear she has bewitched ye once again.” Maggie’s gaze shifted to Ella then, her face twisting. “Perhaps the abbess cast her out for she knew that Satan had taken up residence within ye.” Her attention flicked to Gavin once more. “Ye have wed the devil’s consort, son … and yer very soul is now in peril.”
Shocked gasps followed this pronouncement, although Gavin didn’t move. His gaze didn’t waver from his mother.
“Hatred and spite are Satan’s work.” His voice rang across the table, cutting through the whispers and mutters that had followed his mother’s words. “There is nothing but goodness within Ella. Ye, on the other hand …” He paused here as another hush settled over the table. “Ye spread ill-content like the pestilence that is bringing England and the continent beyond to its knees. If there is anyone doing the devil’s work at Scorrybreac, mother … it is ye.”
29
Vengeance
“SHE’S A VIPER, Gavin,” Ella whispered. She leaned into her husband’s chest, pressing her hot cheek against his thudding heart. “Yer mother could turn the entire castle against us.”
Gavin huffed a soft laugh, although there was little humor in it. She could feel the tension in his body; his pulse was rapid, and he hadn’t spoken a word as they’d left the Great Hall and made their way to his solar.
“Do ye remember I told ye that Gordana has advised me to send mother away … to our kin upon Raasay?” he said finally.
Ella drew back from him, nodding. Gavin’s eyes were shadowed although his expression was still thunderous. “Are ye considering it now?”
An angry sigh gusted out of Gavin. He stepped away and dragged a hand through his hair. “Aye, although it pains me. I’ve always felt an obligation to my family … Ma knows it … and as ye have seen, she knows how to exploit it.”
Ella frowned. “Aye … she wields words like a claidheamh-mor.”
“She is capable of causing great damage,” Gavin admitted. He crossed the solar and poured two goblets of wine. The servants had been in here, and had closed the shutters and added another lump of peat to the fire. A warm golden glow bathed the chamber, highlighting the huge tapestry that hung on the rough stone wall behind them. It depicted a hunting scene in vivid detail. “As ye have just seen … one under-estimates my mother at their peril. She is a scholar of manipulation. She knows how to read folk … she always has.”
He approached Ella and handed her a goblet. She received it gratefully and took a sip. “All these years and she never let on that she knew about us?”
Gavin shook his head. “She never needed to. She’d gotten what she’d wanted years ago. The knowledge she held was a secret weapon, to be kept in check just in case she needed it in the future.” His face shadowed as he spoke these words, making it clear that he was worried.
They looked at each other once more. Ella saw how his gaze guttered and witnessed the tension upon his handsome face. Her ribcage tightened. She didn’t want to bring Gavin grief and trouble.
Ella drew in a slow breath before taking another sip of wine. She needed something to soothe her nerves after that scene in the Great Hall. No one besides Maggie MacNichol had said much—although her outburst had been quite enough. Ella had looked around the table, noting that most folk—even Gordana—avoided her eye.
Only her father had met her gaze, his blue eyes gleaming, his face bereft.
“What if yer kin never accept me?” she whispered. Fear lanced through her as she said those words. “Many of them looked as if they agreed with yer mother. Blair had a face like thunder, and his wife looked as if she’d just swallowed a mouthful of vinegar.”
“They’ll accept ye.” The fierceness in Gavin’s voice took Ella aback.
