“To give them the opportunity to poison ye, and catch them at it,” he answered.
Edith raised her eyebrows. This did not sound much better than Rory’s idea on first blush.
Noting her expression, he explained, “Ye would no’ be poisoned.”
“Oh, good,” she said on a laugh.
Niels grimaced, and said, “We will go below to break our fast. Ye’ll notice that Alick is no’ there and ask after him,” he instructed.
“All right,” Edith agreed solemnly.
“When ye do, I’ll say I sent him to Buchanan and then on to MacDonnell with messages to let them ken we’re no’ coming after all and what is happening here.”
“But ye did no’ send him anywhere,” she guessed.
“Nay, I did no’. He’s in his room right now, waiting to come in here and hide.”
“Hide?” Edith’s eyebrows rose and she glanced around. “He could hide under the bed, or in the larger chest there. Moibeal has mostly emptied that one out, I think, and we can transfer whatever is left to the other chests.”
“Under the bed may be better,” Niels said glancing around the room as well. “We’d have to put holes in the chest so that he could see out otherwise and I do no’ want his view obscured in any way.”
Edith nodded and then turned back to him as he continued.
“Anyway, after I explain about Alick being away, ye should rub yer forehead and complain that ye’ve a headache. I’ll suggest ye go lay down fer a bit, that it may help. You then say that ye’ll just fetch some cider to take up with ye and I’ll say, nay, I’ll take care o’ it. Ye go ahead.”
“Then I come up here where Alick is hiding,” she suggested.
“Nay, ye wait out o’ sight on the upper landing,” Niels said firmly. “I will fetch the cider or mead or something else, but rather than take it up meself, I’ll tell Moibeal to take it up to you and then return to the table to talk to me brother. And then ye come downstairs before Moibeal can get to the top and tell her to put it in yer room, and then to return and find ye in the kitchens, that ye want a word with her and Jaimie ere ye lay down. Ye must say it loudly enough that all can hear,” he added, and then continued, “And then ye go to the kitchens.”
“So, Moibeal will take the drink up and put it in the bedchamber where Alick is hiding, and then come below, leaving it alone,” Edith said slowly.
“Aye. I’m hoping our killer will risk slipping up here to poison the drink ere ye return and Alick will see who ’tis.”
Edith nodded and said cautiously, “It may work. If they’re desperate enough to risk coming up here when everyone is in the great hall and they might be seen.”
“Aye.” Niels frowned and then sighed and said, “We shall just have to hope they are desperate enough fer the title o’ laird to risk it.”
“If they are even after that,” Edith said glumly.
“What else could they be after?” Niels asked with surprise.
Edith shook her head. “I’m no’ sure, but the killings . . .” Swallowing, she said, “Roderick and Hamish suffered horribly before dying, and me father would ha’e too had he no’ already been weakened by his heart complaint. I suffered too,” she added, “And I ken Rory thinks I survived because me body kept rejecting the poison, but the last time me drink was poisoned, he said that the killer had increased the poison and I surely would have died had I drank more.”
“Aye, I recall,” Niels said when she paused.
“Well, why did they no’ give a stronger dose the first time they poisoned us?” she asked quietly. “Why put in just enough to kill them after great suffering? From what ye said, Brodie and the others died quickly, so the killer kenned how much to use, and simply did no’ do that for the wine that killed me father and brothers and made me sick.”
“Ye think they wanted ye to suffer,” he said thoughtfully.
“They could ha’e doubled the dose in any o’ the drinks or stew I had during those three weeks I was sick,” she pointed out. “But they did no’. They drew it out.”
“Mayhap,” Niels said thoughtfully. He was silent for a minute and then asked, “Is there anyone ye can think o’ who may wish ye ill like that?”
Edith lowered her head and thought briefly, but finally shook her head, and then, trying to lighten the mood, said, “Apart from yer Annie, nay.”
Niels blinked in confusion. “Who?”
“Yer neighbor in the pig story yer brothers told me,” she said with a small smile. “If she’s a brain in her head she must love ye madly and will surely wish me a slow, painful death fer marrying ye.”
A chuckle slipping from his lips, Niels drew her against his chest for a hug and murmured, “Ye do make me happy, Edith.”
“Well and sure I would,” she said lightly. “I’m the perfect wife. One who comes with a castle and title and dies quickly after ye marry her, leaving ye free to marry another. That is the perfect wife, is it no’?”
“Nay,” he said sharply. “And I’m no’ letting ye die, Edith. I love ye.”
Chapter 14
I love ye.
Those words echoed in Edith’s head and she sat as if frozen for a minute, her eyes locked on her husband’s, and then a knock sounded at the door.
Niels tore his gaze from hers and glanced toward the sound. Tossing the linens aside, he muttered, “That’ll be Alick coming to hide.”
“Husband,” Edith said, scrambling off the bed, but it was too late, Niels was opening the door.
A squeak of alarm slipping from her, Edith dove back into bed and pulled the linens over herself. But Niels just murmured a few words and then closed the door. Turning around, he frowned when he saw she was back in bed, and asked, “What are ye doin’? Why are ye no’ getting dressed?”
Edith hesitated for a moment, just staring at him, and then she slid out of bed. Hurrying to her chest, she rifled through for a gown and chemise and then quickly ran a brush through her hair before pulling her clothes on. She knew Niels was dressing even as she did, still it was something of a surprise to her when she turned and saw that he had finished already too. The man was fast at pleating his tartan when he wanted to be, that was for sure, Edith thought.
“We’ll talk later,” Niels said quietly as she joined him by the door.
Nodding, she let him take her arm and lead her from the room.
Edith didn’t see Alick anywhere in the hall as they stepped out, but Cameron and Fearghas were there waiting to escort them below. Supposing Alick was waiting in one of the nearby rooms to hide in the bedchamber after they left, Edith nodded absently at the two soldiers and then promptly forgot about them as Niels led her up the hall. Her mind was too muddled with the thoughts rolling around in her head for her to think about much else. She kept seeing Niels’s face as he’d said he loved her.
His declaration had caught her completely by surprise. She had never even dared dream she might hear words like that from him . . . at least not so soon.
When he’d asked her to marry him, Niels had said he wanted her something fierce, but that he liked her too. He’d said he thought her fine and smart and liked that she had a good heart. He’d said he thought they could be happy together. Those were all things Edith was thinking of him too. She too had wanted him something fierce, and she had thought him fine and smart. She’d liked his patience with Ronson and Laddie, and his caring and concern for her. And she too had thought they could be happy together. She still did.
If she were honest with herself, Edith had hoped that from all of that, love would someday grow. She hadn’t even really acknowledged that to herself, but the hope had been there, like a seed taking root under the dirt before pushing its way through to the light. The possibility had seemed a hopeful one to her since she felt their mutual liking and admiration were a solid basis for it to grow in.
And I’m no’ letting ye die, Edith. I love ye.
Could he really love her already? And if so, might the feelings churning inside her be love for him as well?
“Wife?”
Edith blinked her thoughts away, noted the bench before her and gave her head a shake. While she’d been lost in thought they’d descended the stairs and crossed the great hall to the trestle tables.
“Oh,” she breathed, and immediately sat down, vaguely aware that Cameron and Fearghas were moving off to claim seats farther down the table where they could keep an eye on her without intruding.
“Good morn, m’lady.”
Edith smiled automatically at the man on her left as Niels settled on her right, and then blinked as she saw that it was Tormod. “Ye’re back.”
“Aye,” he said and then tilted his head quizzically. “Are ye all right, m’lady?”
“Fine,” Edith murmured and then glanced past him to Geordie.
“Tormod was just telling us that they found no sign o’ Victoria’s maid, Nessa, at the hunting lodge,” her brother-in-law said.
Edith sat up straight, her eyes widening. “I forgot about Nessa. She went with them too.”
“Aye,” Niels said, and explained, “But Geordie and I did no’ find her in the lodge with the others. Tormod was going to look fer her when they went to collect yer brother and the others.”