The Silent Highlander by Donna Fletcher

Chapter 31

“Crissa,” Elysia said and the woman turned, a dazed look in her eyes.

“Lady Elysia, you should be sleeping.” Crissa glanced around the room. “You are alone.”

“What happened, Crissa?” Elysia asked, eager to go to Lendra, but also worried what Crissa might do to Lord Fergus. “Where is Finch?”

“I sent him upstairs to fetch my shawl. It will take him a while to find it since I hid it. All will be done here by the time he returns,” she said, then shook her head. “But you present a problem. You see Lendra went mad and finished the task of stabbing Lord Fergus for sending Bram away. We fought and I got the knife away from her and killed her, though not before suffering wounds of my own.” She held her hand up, covered with blood from slashes across her palm.

“Lendra couldn’t have stabbed Lord Fergus, Crissa,” Elysia said, hoping the truth would make her see that her plan would never work and for time for Finch to return. “She was a prisoner in her cottage at the time of the attack.”

Crissa appeared puzzled by that. “Deara herself said Lendra stabbed her as she laid dying.”

Elysia kept her voice gentle, realizing from Crissa’s dazed look that she was not of sound mind. “Nay, Deara warned that Lendra was next. Isn’t that what you told Deara, that you planned to kill Lendra next after you stabbed her repeatedly and left her to die?”

“She was trying to take Finch away from me just like Glenis tried to do,” Crissa said, her eyes widening with anger as she raised the knife and pointed it at Elysia. “I watched from the woods after Finch failed to meet me several times. I saw the way they smiled at him and stopped and talked with him. I wasn’t going to let them take him from me. My father thought me weak, but I showed him. I purposely told him about me being with child and that Finch, his foe, was the father.” She placed her hand to her stomach. “I only wish it had been true. Deara’s blood on the bedding helped hide my lie.” Her eyes filled with sadness. “I knew my father would beat me when I told him about the bairn that never was and he’d come here looking for me when I ran away.” She grinned suddenly, though it was more a sneer. “I counted on Lord Odran killing him, since I knew my father would challenge him. He would never let me wed Finch. He had to die. Those women had to die too. And now I fear you must die as well.”

“Oh, dear child, you don’t want to do that to Lady Elysia.”

Elysia turned, shocked and worried, at the sound of Lady Margaret’s soft, consoling voice.

“I don’t?” Crissa asked, pressing her finger to the side of her head and wincing as if in pain.

Lady Margaret approached Crissa, and Elysia almost reached out to stop her, but the determination in the older woman’s eyes prevented any interference.

“No, my child, it will not help you to get what you want,” Lady Margaret said, continuing to approach her without an ounce of fear.

“I want Finch,” Crissa said, tears gathering in her eyes.

“You want to be loved, Crissa,” Lady Margaret said, stopping in front of her. “Cowan never knew how to love. He cared only for himself and he beat down your mother so badly she wasn’t even strong enough to defend herself let alone her daughters. You are a loving person, Crissa, nothing like your destructive father.”

Elysia stifled her gasp when her husband unexpectedly brushed up beside her. She gripped his hand when he slipped his around hers and nodded when the worry in his green eyes silently questioned if she was all right. She nodded, letting him know she was good and his worried glance shifted to his mum.

“You don’t want to hurt anyone, Crissa, and I don’t want to see you hurt,” Lady Margaret said and gently eased the knife out of Crissa’s hand.

Odran ran to his mother and Elysia rushed to Lendra.

“Crissa, I can’t find—” Finch stood shocked when he entered the room. “What happened?”

“Lendra won’t bother you anymore, Finch. I took care of her like I did Glenis and Deara. They won’t steal you away from me,” she said with a smile.

Finch stood speechless staring at Crissa.

“Finch, come help me tend Crissa’s injured hand,” Lady Margaret said, waving him on.

Finch didn’t move. He stood there staring, utterly bewildered.

“Finch!” Odran called out, taking the knife from his mum. “Do as my mother said. See to Crissa.”

Finch shook himself out of his stupor and hurried to do as Odran ordered.

“We will do well now, Finch, with my father dead and those women who would not leave you alone dead as well,” Crissa said as Finch led her to a nearby table, too stunned to respond to her.

“Da?” Odran asked of his mum, glancing down at his da who slept peacefully.

“He isn’t harmed, but I believe it was your wife’s sudden appearance that stopped Crissa from finishing what she started,” his mum said. “Go help your wife while I see to Crissa.”

Mother and son went in opposite directions.

“How is Lendra?” Odran asked, reaching his wife.

“She is good, to my relief. Her hand suffered the worst of it, having deflected the knife when Crissa slashed out at her. It nicked her side, but it is nothing serious, though it will take some healing,” Elysia said, the fear that had gripped her since she woke and exploded upon entering the Great Hall now fading away. “I need water and cloths as does your mum.”

“Oh my goodness. What happened?” Dorrit asked, hurrying into the room. “I thought I heard voices and worried something had happened to Lord Fergus.”

“Water and cloths, Dorrit, you’ll learn the rest later,” Odran ordered and the woman bustled away after a quick bob of her head.

By the time both women’s wounds were tended, it was morning and Lord Fergus was stirring, though he had yet to wake.

Odran had sent for Rory to escort Lendra to her cottage to rest, Elysia promising she would look in on her later. Elysia and Odran joined Lady Margaret at the table where Crissa sat clinging to Finch.

“What do we do, my lord?” Finch asked, desperate to hear what could be done with Crissa and fearing the worst.

“We marry as planned, of course, and you become the new chieftain of my clan,” Crissa said as if nothing had happened to change their plans.

“In time, my dear,” Lady Margaret said reassuringly. “First, however, I think some time at the abbey would do you good and give you a chance to fully heal from your terrible ordeal.”

Crissa’s brow creased and she rubbed at it. “I have had troubling thoughts lately.” Her glance went to Finch and lingered there.

Uncomfortable with her silence and intense stare, Finch said, “Crissa, are you all right?”

“I thought of killing you, Finch. I thought it was all your fault for paying attention to those women.” She rubbed her brow again. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“I am well acquainted with Mother Abbess at Kincross Abbey. She is a kind and caring woman. She would welcome you there. You can rest and heal,” Lady Margaret said.

“I can escort you to the Abbey today and I will visit you if permitted,” Finch offered.

Crissa eased away from him. “Not until I no longer have the urge to kill you anymore.”

“Gather men for the escort, Finch, while Crissa waits here with my mum,” Odran ordered and stood, walking with him to the door for a chance to talk privately with him. “You will explain everything that happened with Crissa to the Abbess and present her with the coins I give you so that she will be well looked after.”

“What of her family?” Finch asked. “What if they don’t want her kept at the Abbey?”

“I will leave them with no choice. Either they accept her confinement to the Abbey or Crissa can hang for the brutal murders of Glenis and Deara,” Odran said.

Finch rubbed his brow. “I don’t know what to think. I do know that I would prefer not to be chieftain of the Clan MacFarden.”

“A decision I have already made,” Odran said.

Finch walked away almost as dazed as Crissa had been.

* * *

The restof the day had proven a busy one. After Finch left with Crissa and a troop of warriors, Lord Fergus woke in some pain and insisted he be taken to his bedchamber. Lady Margaret agreed with her husband, and Elysia didn’t object as long as her husband was permitted to help his da up the stairs. Fergus had grown annoyed that she should suggest he needed help, but didn’t argue after his wife told him their son either helped him or he remained in the bed in the Great Hall.

Elysia left the task to mother and son, giving her husband time with his parents while she went to see how Lendra was doing. She was glad to see no guards at Lendra’s door, Crissa’s confession absolving Lendra of the murders and setting her free. Though, Rory stood guard outside when she entered the cottage.

Elysia got upset upon entering the cottage to see her friend curled up in bed crying. She hurried to her. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

Lendra nodded and her tears worsened.

“I’ll fix you a brew,” Elysia said and went to turn away.

“No brew will help my pain,” Lendra said through tears.

Elysia grabbed a small bench near the hearth and set it beside the bed to sit. “Tell me about your pain.”

“Seeing what Crissa did for what she thought was love got me thinking and I’ve realized what a complete fool I’ve been about Bram. I thought that if I loved him enough, he’d return that love even though he had told me love was something he wasn’t interested in. He will never be faithful to any woman. And if by some miracle he did eventually find love, it wouldn’t be with me. I am such a fool, Elysia.”

Elysia reached out and took her hand to give it a good squeeze. “At least you realized it before you wasted your entire life on Bram. Now you’re free to find a good man who will truly love you.”

Lendra shook her head. “I don’t trust myself when it comes to men. It is better I remain alone.”

“It is better if you let your heart heal, not close it completely,” Elysia advised. “And healing is what you need right now. I will fix you a brew that will help you rest and later I will have a good meal brought to you to help you grow strong. And I’ll hear no protests from you about it.”

By the time Elysia left Lendra she was ready for sleep, her eyes closing.

An overcast sky greeted her when she stepped outside to see Rory pacing in front of the cottage.

“What’s wrong?” Elysia asked.

“Stiles informed me that you should go to the keep when done here, a message awaits you from Bliss,” Rory said.

Elysia rushed to the keep, Rory keeping by her side until they were safely in the Great Hall. Once there, she hurried to her husband standing in front of the dais talking with Stiles and another warrior.

“Tell me,” she urged as she got near, her patience gone in waiting for news about her sister.

Odran nodded to the warrior beside Stiles.

“Lady Bliss says to tell you that she is pleased to hear you are happily wed and doing well. She says she also is doing well and enjoying her garden. She hopes the time will come that she will be able to visit. Until then she sends her love.”

Odran thought for sure his wife would bombard the warrior with questions, but she simply nodded and went to sit on a bench at one of the tables. Her head hung down as she stared at the floor, a sure sign that something troubled her. He dismissed both warriors and went to join her.

“From the message your sister sent, she is doing well and yet you are upset. What’s wrong?” he asked, taking her hand as he sat beside her and offering comfort with a gentle squeeze.

Elysia couldn’t stop the tears that glistened in her eyes, though she kept them from falling, for now at least. She looked up at her husband. “Bliss’s message is not what you think. She goes to her garden when her thoughts grow heavy. Working with the plants help ease her worries or problems. That she enjoys her garden tells me she has both—worries and problems. That she hopes the time will come that she will visit, tells me she is not free to travel.

A single tear fell from her eye and rolled down her cheek. “My sister is a prisoner of the cursed lord.”