“There is good news to share with you,” Rannick said and hurried to tell her knowing it would bring her great relief. “Your sister Elysia married a farmer from what my father said.
A smile captured Bliss’s entire face. “I am so happy. Now Elysia is safe, Saber will see to it. I was so worried about her. She is a kind, sweet soul and wanted no warrior as husband, but a man gentle in nature.”
“One less sister to worry about,” he said.
Bliss ventured to ask, “Perhaps one day, she and her husband can make their home at Clan MacClaren.”
“Perhaps,” he said, though knowing what he did, that would never happen.
“Thank you for that wonderful news, but you used it to avoid speaking about the MacWilliam bairn. There is a chance she could still be alive,” Bliss suggested.
Rannick thought otherwise. “It is unlikely my father would make such a mistake.”
“It would be easy and wise to convince someone that an already deceased bairn was the MacWilliam lass, giving time to the one who protects her to seek a safe place.”
“You speak of Gunna, the servant who Lady Aila entrusted her daughter to,” Rannick said, giving her suggestion thought.
“Who better?” Bliss said. “And does anyone know what happened to her? Can it be confirmed she died, or did she simply disappear? And if she did, did she take the MacWilliam bairn with her? If so, that means the bairn lives and that also means there is a chance to end the curse.”
It did not take long for them to reach the village. Rannick had remained silent after she had mentioned there was a chance to end the curse if the MacWilliam bairn actually survived. And that returned something to him that had long been lost… a shred of hope.
He watched as his wife looked with a mixture of worry and annoyance at the way some people turned their backs on him as he directed his horse slowly through the village. Others showed their disgust with his presence by spitting at the ground as he neared them and still others gripped at crude amulets that hung at their neck in protection against evil.
Bliss’s stomach churned with concern, and she voiced her worries. “How can this place be safe for you and me with the way so many look at you with such hatred? They would be relieved to see you dead. Who then can we trust?”
“They have a right to hate me,” Rannick said. “I am heir to the clan as well as the curse as would be any bairn I sire, which makes the curse and their suffering never-ending.”
“They look well-fed, their homes well-maintained, their garments in good condition. What is there for them to hate?” she asked.
“Illness and death.”
“Both are part of life. No one escapes them,” she argued.
“The clan has seen more than its share.”
Bliss was uncertain what to do, but she was a healer so she would see if she could heal the troubles here. “I will see what I can do to help the people.”
“NAY!” his stern shout had people turning away and scurrying off in fright. “You will go nowhere without my permission—without me.”
Bliss would miss her freedom of doing as she pleased, but she understood her husband’s reluctance to let her wander on her own. After the attacks they had survived, he would not want to return home only to lose her here among his clan. Especially since it was possible that whoever was responsible for Shona’s death and possibly Rannick’s other two wives as well could still live among them. So, she held her tongue—for now.
“Look at me, wife,” Rannick ordered when she failed to respond.
Bliss turned her eyes on his and was not surprised to see anger sparking in them.
“You will give me your word that you will go nowhere without my permission,” he demanded, just the thought of her doing so sending a fear through him that chilled him to the bone.
“I cannot do that, Rannick.”
Her gentle response, not a bit of anger to it, caught him off guard.
Bliss continued before he could argue further with her. “I am a healer, a reluctant one at first, thinking I had no skill for it until Kendesa showed me otherwise. Now that I know differently, I cannot turn away when someone is in need of healing or if a bairn needs to be delivered. If I should be called upon to help anyone in your clan, I will gladly do so. While I will keep you apprised of my whereabouts, there may come a time when that is not possible, thus I will not give you my word when I know I may not be able to keep it.”
Her truthfulness was admirable but… “I care not if you should be needed, I will know where you are at all times, or you go nowhere.” He pressed his finger to her lips before she could respond. “All I will hear from you is… aye, my lord.”