“Latin is the language of business,” she muttered to herself. “It might help him if he decided to include me any trade deals he wants, especially with the crown.” Putting the sewing to the side, she drifted to a window. The young men were training but she did not see Ruben there.
“Maybe if I learned to fight, I’d have somethin’ to talk about over meals…” she muttered.
“Paige, dear, are ye in he—” her mother’s words broke off as she saw her lingering by the window. “Oh, good. I was wonderin’ if ye wanted to have a talk.”
“About what, Maither?”
“I saw ye earlier before I went to visit the healers,” Daisy said as she put a bottle on the table. “Ye looked dazed and worried, so I bought a dram of calmin’ draught. What happened, dear?”
Paige wished she did not have to admit this to her mother, but she had left her few friends behind.
“What is the matter with ye this eve, Paige?”
She hesitated; as close as she was with her mother, something about this felt too intimate to speak about with her mother.
“Nothin’ is the matter,” Paige said, trying to marshal a smile.
Her mother tutted. “I ken ye’re a married lady now but t’will do ye nay good to keep yer thoughts wonderin’ all the while.
Ye have a husband and a house to cater to.
Ye must pay keen attention to what will make ye a happy marriage.
However will ye learn to please yer husband, if ye continue to disregard him? ”
“Mama, please?—”
Her mother’s hand rose to adjust the simple caul she wore, as it was slipping over her graying flaxen hair. The skullcap was adorned by glimmering silk thread and lined with silk.
“One must work very hard to please one’s husband, Paige. Do ye nae recall the many lessons ye were given on runnin’ a house and home? I?—”
“I’d rather someone tell me why the war happened,” Paige stopped her, her tone sharp, “I’d rather the truth about it than dither about what I am doing or nae doing for me new husband. It is aggravatin’ and I—” she puffed out a breath. “—it is gratin’ on me.
“Do ye ken somethin’, Maither? Do ye ken the truth about what is going on?” Paige pressed.
Her mother’s face fell and her thin shoulders sank. “I am sorry, Paige, but I ken only what yer father told me. Ye ken I was nae a part of any of his business dealings.”
As much as she wanted to believe her mother, something deep inside her told it was not so. “If it is true what Faither said, that the McKinnons invaded us for nay reason, why would they welcome us so warmly?”
“Paige—”
“If on the other hand and we were the aggressor, provokin’ them to invade us, they would still nae welcome us,” Paige said. “There has to be somethin’ in the middle that I cannae figure. What is it?”
Daisy shook her head, “Dear, why is this botherin’ ye so much? The war ended five years ago.”
Her hands were fisted by her side as old grief soured her stomach. “Because it took Elijah from us. That’s why. Ye ken how much I considered him family; how much he deserved to be alive now and t-they robbed him of that right.”
Her mother looked pained, and Paige knew there was something she was keeping from her. “Maither, will ye tell me what ye ken? Please?”
“I am nae sure what ye mean, Paige,” her mother said.
She shook her head, and sighed, reluctantly letting go of the issue. “Well, I suppose ye should ken I… I think I have made some progress with me husband earlier.”
A remarkable change showed on her mother’s face. Happily, Daisy asked. “How so?”
“He kissed me.”
Her mother’s face went alight with happiness. Clasping Paige’s hands, Daisy gasped in delight, “But that’s wonderful, me daughter. It means?—”
“Nothin’,” Paige shook her head, then slumped into a seat. “It means nothin’, Maither. Well, nothin’ important. He doesnae care for me beyond the fact that he was ordered by the King to marry me and nae harm me.”
Her mother’s face fell. “Do ye nae feel anythin’ good for Ruben?”
Let out a breath, Paige said, “I—I cannae tell ye, Maither because I daenae ken what I should be feelin’ for him.”
That evening, Ruben headed to the castle’s smithy, he quickly crossed the grassy distance between the outhouses. The smithy was separate from the other buildings as any rogue spark could tinder a wildfire in the peat houses.
Bypassing the blacksmith’s cottage, a simple house with a chicken coop and pasture for a milk cow, he came to the smithy. Made with dark brick, the smithy had a wide furnace and chimney. Around the smithy, there was no yard, only dirt - another failsafe to keep fire from sparking.
He heard the hard, rhythmic pound of a hammer on iron. As Ruben rounded the corner, he saw the smith, Eli, as he stood at his anvil, shaping a horseshoe.
“Eli,” Ruben called out, holding up a hand. “I need yer help.”
The smith straightened and ran a forearm across his forehead. “Of course, me laird,” Eli nodded, his gray eyes sharp. “What do ye need?”
“A pair of daggers fit for a woman,” Ruben said. “It’s for me wife.”
Eli smoothed a hand over his shortly cropped brown hair. “With iron, copper or brass, me laird?”
“Use yer best judgment,” Ruben said. Even though Eli was a young smith, only with the castle for four years, he was a dedicated, hard worker and Ruben trusted him implicitly.
“I’ll get it done, me laird,” Eli replied, reaching for his apron. “Ye’ll have it a sennight.”
“Thank ye,” Ruben said.
“And me felicitations, me laird,” Eli said. “I’ve heard Lady Paige is a sweet soul.”
“She is,” Ruben said, sighing to himself. “Besides being stubborn, I ken she is too trustin’ and I fear that might be her undoing.”