Page 30

Chapter

Thirty

“ P heasant pie?” Avelina asked as she walked into the kitchens.

“Aye,” said Cook, a woman twice Avelina’s age who had been as kind to her as everyone else here at Glenhaven. “I was told we would double the number in our hall by eve?”

It had been three days since Angus had fallen ill.

Thankfully, today was the day Duncraig’s healer would arrive along with a “party” that none knew who it included.

Niall had immediately sent a message of Angus’s condition, that he did not appear to be improving, when the messenger returned last eve saying “all were on their way to Glenhaven.”

All.

Did that mean his parents too?

Niall believed so as they both held a special fondness for a man they considered to be family. Suddenly, her reception at Glenhaven meant little compared to the question all had been asking for days.

Would Angus survive?”

Niall admitted he thought the steward was going to die in front of him that night they’d arrived, and Lina had little to say to comfort him knowing the incident was most upsetting.

She’d held him, made love to him, and done all she could to ensure theirs was an easy transition coming into the role of lord and lady of Glenhaven.

The healer, apparently not as skilled as Duncraig’s, said there was naught to do but accompany him while Angus sometimes lay peacefully and at other times seemed to be in pain. He spoke little, but his eyes said all.

Despite herself, Avelina found she’d developed a kinship with the man who would make his passing as difficult to bear as if she’d known him for many years. Unexplainable, aye, but a fact nonetheless.

“I was told the same,” she told Cook, “and am here to ask if you need anything at all.”

“Nay, my lady,” Cook said. “Many thanks for asking.”

“They’ve arrived,” a young serving boy called from the entrance of the kitchen. “They are here.”

Avelina picked up the hem of her gown, one Mairi had given her, and hurried up the stone stairs of the kitchens to the courtyard above. As the boy had said, a riding party had just arrived. And it included the one person Avelina did not wish to see so soon.

He looked directly at her. Avelina, never one to look away, raised her chin and walked toward the group.

She curtsied along with the others as a sign of respect for the chief, even if Avelina wished to do anything but.

Thus far, the people here had been kind to her, and she’d not give them any reason to do otherwise.

A slight to their chief would not do well.

It seemed all from Duncraig had come. Niall’s parents, his brother, so many she did not know. Including a woman her husband watched so carefully, wearily, that it could only be. . .

The healer.

She’d been pulled in a wagon, but the moment the older woman stepped down to the ground, her cane aiding her, Avelina’s suspicions were confirmed.

Going to her husband, Avelina took his hand as he greeted the healer. She assumed the healer would treat Niall coldly, knowing her husband still bore much guilt from the incident, so Avelina was surprised she did anything but.

“You look well,” she said, “a wife becomes you.”

Niall introduced her to the healer just as his mother joined them.

“Son,” she said, as Niall leaned toward his mother and kissed her on the cheek. “Lady Avelina.” Her mother-in-law did the same to her. “You both do, indeed, look well. Glenhaven agrees with you,” she said to Lina.

“Very much, my lady,” she said. Then to the healer she said, “We shall take you to Angus at once.”

So it was that Lina found herself in Angus’s bedchamber with the healer, her husband, and his parents and brother.

“There are too many,” the healer said. “Leave us.”

Lina made to do as she was bid until the healer stopped her. “Lady Mairi. Lady Avelina. If you would remain.”

Mairi chuckled.

So, she wanted the men to leave? Avelina returned to Angus’s bedside, taking the man’s hand in her own.

As she did so, she looked up just as the chief turned back to her.

It seemed he noticed she held Angus’s hand.

Niall’s father stopped in the doorframe and raised his head, his eyes locking with her own.

It was as if he was seeing her for the first time. The chief’s brows furrowed, the man confused about something, though Avelina could not say what precisely. And then, he left.

“Tell me all,” Mairi said as the door was closed, and so Avelina did. Of what Niall described to her. Of Angus’s pain when he woke. Of how often he slept and the worries they had that, one day, he would not wake again.

The healer placed her hand on his chest. At that, Angus woke. He seemed to recognize the healer and Mairi, but instead of saying anything to them, he groaned and closed his eyes once more.

“Angus is ill in his breast. Death has penetrated him and taken up its abode.”

Avelina knew not what the woman meant, but she did not care for her words.

“Lady Avelina,” the healer said directly to her. “I will need a tehua berry, poppy plant, peppermint, and red sexet seeds.”

Aveliana did not recognize all of what she’d asked for, but she knew who might be able to give her aid. Releasing Angus’s hand, she stood.

“Of course,” she said. “At once.”

Just as Avelina was about to open the chamber door, a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“You care for him,” her mother-in-law said.

“Aye,” she said. “Angus had been most kind to me for the few days he was. . .” She could not say it. “He cannae die,” she said.

“Go, get the herbs she asks for. Do not fret for Angus. She is quite skilled,” Mairi said. And then she added, “I am glad for it. That you’ve found a home here.”

“None have been unkind to me,” she said. “If they are displeased, they do not tell me or my husband.”

Mairi smiled. “I am glad for it,” she repeated as Avelina opened the door then, wishing to retrieve the herbs the healer asked for as quickly as possible. It was only as she closed the wooden door that Avelina realized she was not alone.

The chief of Clan Duncraig stood watch just outside the bedchamber door. And was alone.

She. And the chief.