"I said, release me."
Druce pressed his lips into a tight line. "Nae. Yer to stay right here and dinnae make me sit on ye. I dinnae need to fight with my cousin because he thinks I've handled ye roughly."
Anne growled for the first time in her life. Every bit of self discipline deserted her as she heard a crash from inside the eating hall. She rounded on Druce in a ball of fury.
"I am not going to stand here arguing with you while Brodick sets down what is best for me. I'll be the judge of what I need."
It was a bold statement. Druce frowned, clearly thinking her daft.
"The man is yer husband."
"Very newly so. He does not know my strengths and he never will if I allow him to whip every maid for not lavishing me with comforts. I assure you, I can endure as well as every one of them."
Anne gave a hard shrug, but Druce stubbornly retained his hold on her arms.
"I am warning you, sir. Release me now."
"Nae."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Brodick held onto his control but it was not easy. Ginny offered him a stubborn, defiant look that wasn't sorry a bit. The maids lined up beside her, clearly supporting her behavior. He'd known to expect it but was still stunned by the open animosity shining on their faces. If his bride were a mean-spirited woman, he might understand. He aimed his first comment to the cook, who was also staring straight at him without reservations.
"I'd never suspect ye to be so hard-hearted. Ye've daughters of yer own who'll be marrying soon."
Bythe flinched, not because he shouted, but because his voice was so soft. Most of the maids shifted, faltering in their determination to remain unmoved. A few even cast their eyes at the floor.
"The lot of ye should consider what it must be like to marry so far from home with nae a single familiar face in sight. She didnae even bring a maid but I'm thinking that was a miscalculation on my part. I thought that surely Sterling staff were worthy of taking care of its mistress without an English maid being set above ye all."
More than one face turned pale. Brodick had no pity for them. "Ye'll be telling me the reason behind such disrespect. Was my wife … difficult?"
Some of the younger girls looked toward Bythe and Ginny for leadership. The two senior women held their tongues.
"I'll discover the truth of this matter and I will know it today." Scanning the line of uniformed girls who all drew pay from his coffers, he pointed at one.
"Mogen, tell me what prompted there to be no service. If 'twas by my wife's dictate, say so."
"That will solve nothing, my lord."
His wife strode into the kitchen, stiff pride shining in her eyes.
"I told you to keep her in hand." Brodick glared at his cousin, wondering just when his life had turned inside out.
Druce scowled at the sweet smile Brodrick's wife cast toward him. He lifted his finger and pointed at her.
"She bit me."
"Christ in heaven! Is there no one left in this castle who recalls I'm the lord here?"
"Berating your staff will not change how they truly feel, my lord."
Brodick stared at her, a crease appearing in the middle of his forehead. "And what do ye mean by that?" He kept his voice tightly controlled but she heard his frustration straining against his control.
"I might have dressed them down myself, if that was the answer."
His expression became guarded. "So why didn't ye?"
Opening her hands, Anne shook her head. "It is not my way to order others to like me, my lord. I prefer to be judged by and on my own merits. Be it to the good or ill. I do assure you that I am strong enough to survive without a fire or candles. The spring sun is warm and bright and I am not so dim-witted as to not fetch my own surcoat when night falls."
He stared at her again, admiration crossing his eyes. Seeing it on his face humbled her, but it also stiffened her resolve.
"It is not necessary to worry about me so greatly. As Agnes told you, I am healthy."
Brodick swung around to fix Bythe with his attention once more.
"Explain yer dislike, woman."
The cook stiffened, her eyes narrowing. "Ye said she tried to poison ye. Right at the table. Plenty heard it. Wife or no wife, ye be my lord and my loyalty is to ye."
"Are ye daft?" Druce sounded ready to drag the cook to Bedlam himself. "She may be English but I've nae seen evidence of a sinister bone in her body."
"She bit you."
Druce shook his head before he laughed. The sound was loud, shaking the copper lids hanging on the wall between the ovens.
"That's nae sinister. It makes me cousin a damn lucky man, to have that fire in the lass as he does."
There was a touch of heat in Druce's voice that made Anne stare at him. The large Scot sent her a smug look that drew a snort from Brodick. Druce shrugged at his cousin.
"Can't blame a man for noticing. Seeing as how ye put her into me arms yerself."
"Now don't you start telling me what I can't be taking offense at. I've got enough o' that at the moment."
Brodick turned his attention back to Anne. His jaw was tight as he battled the urge to deal with the maids the way he wanted to. Anne wanted none of it.
"Be at peace, my lord. There are some things that should never be ordered. I prefer to earn my loyalty. A few weeks is nothing compared to the true value of knowing that each bit of respect shown to me is truly meant."
There was more than one gasp from the row of maids. Bythe looked confused.
"Ye said it in front of all, my lord, refusing to eat. I heard the tale from twenty different men and women."
"She didnae try to poison me but it is possible the woman means to drive me mad." He shook his head but raised a dark eyebrow. "She was cooking under yer own nose. Are ye telling me that ye dinnae know what's going on in this kitchen?" He pointed to the ring of keys attached to the cook's belt. "Are ye so careless with those that anyone might get into the herbs without yer permission?"
Bythe covered her lips with a hand that shook. Brodick scanned the rest of the maids.
"Did it nae cross any one of yer minds that there would have been witnesses a plenty to such a deed? Or am I to assume that such harmful herbs are kept unlocked?"
Blythe's face turned red, one hand covering the ring of keys hanging from her belt. Being the cook meant she was charged with the costly herbs that served as flavoring and as ease for ailments. No one took such costly, hard to come by things without her unlocking the small drawer they were kept in. The keys were the symbol of her position at Sterling; they never left her sight. Her mouth opened but no words made it past her horrified lips. Anne turned her back on it all. More certain than ever that her guilt showed.
She was not worthy of Brodick's defense. It was a solid truth that she was doing something harmful to him. Stealing the dowry that he had invested so much effort into securing with her father. Two years of work that she would not bring him the reward of. She was convinced that God was working through the staff to force her to confess.
Her stomach heaved, the guilt making her sick. Anne ran from the eating area before she lost everything in her belly.
"The mistress has been very kind to me."
Brodick turned to stare at the single voice raised in praise of his wife. Coming through the doorway, young Enys used her hands to feel her way.
"Why do ye say that?"
Enys tilted her head towards him, lowering her head as if she could see him looking at her.
"The mistress has spent many days helping me spin. She does the things I don't have the sight for and she's a good carder. One who doesn't quit when the hours grow long."
He was suddenly tired, more fatigued than he could ever recall being. The wall of hatred between Scotland and England looked near impossible to scale. His wife had been sitting in the spinning room instead of taking control of Sterling. Yet she had not been lazy. He didn't know what to make of it.
He might be lord of the castle and of the land but it didn't seem to lend him any weight in this battle. That angered him. But it was not the sort of emotion that had sent him into the kitchen, ready to thrash a few maids.
It was a deep rage against injustice toward his wife. He wanted to spare her the ill will between their countries. The hope to unite that had seen him negotiating with her father was struggling to survive amidst the animosity. The woman he'd looked forward to returning home to was worth more than quick judgment.
"No one of us chooses our parents. I'm disappointed in the lot of ye. Sterling has nae ever been such an unjust place as I find it today."
He left. Druce followed him, the other man looking as confused as he felt.
"What man ever understood the way a woman thinks?"
Brodick wasn't able to shrug off the problem so simply. "Why would she sit in the spinning room instead of taking her place as mistress of Sterling?"