Page 91 of Kidnapped by a Rogue
“You’re saying even your brother would be chosen over me,” Finn said, turning to glare at her, “though he does not even know Alex and would not have Alex’s interests at heart?”
“For certain,” she said.
“Then the council can go to hell,” Finn said, and started to march off.
“This won’t last forever,” she said, struggling to keep up with his long strides. “Alex will come of age in less than three years.”
When he swung around to face her, his eyes held such fury that she had to fight the urge to step back.
“Ye don’t understand,” he said between clenched teeth. “Alex is not safe with the Sinclairs.”
Then he stormed off into the woods, leaving her standing alone in the muddy field. She stared after him, wishing there was something she could say or do to ease his fear for Alex. She was worried about Alex too, but wardships could be bought and sold, and the council would view an earl with adjacent lands as an appropriate guardian. Even if they did not, they were too absorbed in their own power struggles to take on a fight in the distant far north with the powerful Earl of Caithness.
With a sigh, she turned around and headed back inside. After passing through the gate, she saw Isabel ahead of her climbing the steps into the keep like a scurrying rat.
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“I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you,” Finn said when he returned hours later. “’Tis not your fault if the King’s Council will allow such a travesty to stand.”
“And ’tis not your fault the Sinclairs have Alex,” she said.
“It is,” he said. “I made a deathbed promise to my uncle and aunt that I would take care of Alex.”
“Ye saved his life by taking him to Dunrobin after the poisonings,” she said. “Ye did all ye could.”
“I left him,” he said. “He needed me, and I left him.”
Things remained strained between her and Finn as the days passed and bad news continued to arrive. George Sinclair wasted no time before he began using his position as guardian of Alex’s estates to pillage Sutherland. As always, those who suffered most were the common folk. With each new tale that reached them, Finn’s spirits sank lower, and Margaret felt more helpless.
It broke her heart to see him like this. No matter how she tried to tell him that none of it was his fault, he blamed himself for the danger he believed Alex was in. He erected a wall between them and would not let her past it.
At times when they made love she felt as if that wall was so thin she could almost break through. But Finn retreated like an injured bear, hiding the gaping wound in his underbelly.
And now, Bearach’s health was failing. Eight long days after he drank the poison, Isabel’s vinegary tincture did not seem to be working anymore.
Needing to escape the castle for a while, Margaret took Ella on a walk along the river. Their progress was slow, as Ella stopped every few feet to watch a bird or pick a flower.
“Don’t eat them,” Margaret told Ella when she caught her tasting a bluebell.
Margaret’s thoughts returned again to Finn as they walked. She had put off leaving for too long. The longer she stayed, the greater the chance she would become pregnant. She could not ask him to take her while his family was in upheaval. Besides, making the long journey together would be too painful. If she could get a message to Sybil, her sister would send someone for her.
“Pretty!” Ella said.
Margaret turned to see her daughter pulling with both hands on a stalk with yellow, bell-shaped flowers and green leaves with points.Henbane.Margaret’s heart went to her throat.
“Ye mustn’t touch that one!” Margaret lifted Ella off her feet and rushed her down the slope to the edge of the river, where she vigorously washed Ella’s hands and face. “’Tis a very, very bad plant!”
Ella’s bottom lip trembled as she looked up at Margaret with tears in her big blue eyes.
“’Tis all right, sweetling,” Margaret said, trying her best to keep the panic from her voice. “But ye must tell me if ye tasted that plant with the yellow flowers—or if ye even touched it to your mouth.”
“Nay! Too stinky!” Ella made a face and extended her arms to show how she’d held it.
Praise God!Margaret sank to the ground and pulled Ella onto her lap.
Ella put her small hands on either side of Margaret’s face and peered at her with frightened eyes. “Don’t go away.”
“I won’t,” Margaret said. “What makes ye think I would?”
