Elysia closed the door on the couple. Crissa rested comfortably with Finch by her side. She’d been pleased and relieved when she had learned that Finch was the father of Crissa’s bairn. Finch appeared a good man, and she hoped for Crissa’s sake that he was.
Crissa had shed tears over her father’s death, but not tears of sorrow as one would expect but rather tears of relief. She had talked about what a brutal man her father had been, not only to her and her two sisters but to others as well, and she felt no remorse in being glad he was gone. She had worried over who might be appointed the new chieftain of the clan, and had been overjoyed with the news that Finch would become the new Chieftain of the Clan MacFarden.
Elysia had cautioned that it was best Crissa wait for a day or two before returning home. After examining Crissa’s bruises, Elysia felt that there was no worry to the bairn. It was Crissa’s face and arms that had suffered the most, she having shielded herself with her arms when her da had repeatedly struck her. Elysia had a decoction of Lady Mantle made and cloths soaked in it to be applied to the bruises which would help with the healing.
She left Crissa with Finch, the troubled day growing short and herself anxious to find Lendra.
Lendra hadn’t been anywhere to be seen throughout the chaos and that wasn’t like the woman. Though she could understand it. Lendra was about to lose the man she loved and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.
Everyone Elysia asked had seen no sign of Lendra, but many remarked that most everyone was more concerned with the arrival of the chieftain of the Clan MacFarden and the events that had followed to pay heed to anything else.
With her search getting her nowhere, Elysia went to see Bram, though it was a difficult task. What did she say to a man who would lose his life on the morrow?
“You’ve got to help me, please, Elysia, please,” Bram begged when she entered the small hut that housed him. “I didn’t do this. I’m a warrior and I kill in battle, but I don’t kill defenseless women.”
“I believe you, Bram, but there is little I can do. All believe you guilty, and Lord Fergus wants you punished for it,” Elysia said, feeling helpless and angry that there was nothing she could do for him.
Bram dropped down on the small bench, that and a sleeping pallet on the ground the only things in the sparse hut. “If I’m to die, I’d rather die as I’ve lived, a brave warrior fighting in battle, not hanged and forever remembered for something I didn’t do.”
He turned his head away to hide his tears.
Elysia hated feeling helpless, having no power to see the right thing done, having to stand by and watch and know that what was happening was wrong. It was how she had felt the day Bliss had sacrificed herself for her and Annis.
Something sparked inside her, a thought, a possibility, a solution to more than one problem.
“I have a thought,” she said, since that was all it was, a seed of an idea. “I don’t know if it would work.”
Bram stood quickly. “Tell me. Please. Anything is worth a try not to die this way.”
“You know that Bliss sacrificed herself for me and Annis.” Bram nodded, his eyes wide eager for her to continue and she did. “I worry greatly about her. She knows no one at the Clan MacClaren. There is no one there to protect her.”
Bram realized what she was thinking and hope sprang in his eyes. “I can go and serve the cursed lord and see that Bliss is kept safe. No one serves him willingly, but I will. I will serve him and will protect Bliss with my life. I would die if need be, for at least then I would die a warrior.”
“I can’t promise I can see this done, but I will try. I will go directly to Lord Fergus and speak to him about it. I will try to make him see that serving the cursed lord is a far greater punishment than hanging you.”
“I will forever be in your debt, Elysia,” —he shook his head— “Lady Elysia.”
“I must have your word that Bliss’s safety will come before all else. That you will keep a good watch over her and let nothing interfere with that, and that includes your penchant for women,” Elysia warned.
Bram stood tall, his chest broadening. “You have my word. I will let nothing interfere with me seeing that Bliss is kept safe. And with what has happened here, my thirst for women is no more.”
Joy at the thought that she could help see her sister kept safe rose up to fill her heart, but she tried not to be too joyful. She still had to convince Lord Fergus that sending Bram to the cursed lord was a worse punishment than death.