Your Friend,
Elaine
Shefolded the paper neatly, pressing the folds firmly down. She'd be grateful for a friend right now, and knowing Allison, Elaine wouldn't have to be coy or wary of her words when they did meet. The castle attack had been on her mind, but it was not the only thing shewanted to talk about. Her experiences had been more than overwhelming, from virgin to lover, and an open conversation with another woman would be truly valued.
When Elaine left her chamber in search of a messenger, she was a little surprised at all the activity within the castle. Servants hurried back and forth with great haste and purpose, great carcasses of deer and boar were being carried down the corridors, carts filled with barrels of what she assumed to be wine were emptied, and the barrels were rolled across the yard into the basement. Each person she passed had a determined look of intent upon their face.
Not comfortable in asking any of the servants, Elaine spotted a young lad running across the courtyard. She grabbed him lightly by the arm and pulled him to a stop. “What is going on?”
He looked a little confused at her question, and then realized she referred to all the surrounding activity. “There’s a great feast tonight, mistress,” he said. “Lairds are coming from all over tae meet with the Laird Duncan. Some have arrived already.”
“But why?” Elaine asked.
The boy shrugged dismissively. “I dinnae ken.”
Seeing that he had satisfied her inquiry, he turned and continued on his way, leaving Elaine standing in the cobbled yard feeling rather puzzled. It had only been a week since the castle had been invaded. Why was Duncan throwing a feast for the surrounding lairds?
Perhaps this was part of his efforts to discover who had attacked them in the first place. Or after the invasion, maybe Duncan felt he needed the support of the surrounding clans in protecting his own. She could not know which answer was correct, if either, for he had not mentioned anything to her about it. But then, he never did. Strangely, since their first night together, he had been far quieter than he had been before.
Upon finding a messenger to take her missive, Elaine made her way back to her chamber with Duncan on her mind. She had been with him every night since they had first lay together, and since then, he had only discovered more ways to please her. Her face flushed as she continued through the corridors, thinking of his lips upon her breasts, his fingertips upon her naked skin, and the ecstasy she felt when he made her reach dizzying heights as her body exploded beneath him.
However, it wasn't just the pleasure he gave her that pleased her. She was deeply satisfied because she could see how much blissful elation he felt being with her. She could never have imagined that her tender touch, soft caresses, or sweet kisses could elicit such a response in any man, but Duncan was no ordinary man. He was the first and only man she had ever loved, and her entire perception of him had changed in the short time she had been at the castle.
The only thing that troubled her was the fact that he had not mentioned anything about his discovery of him being the first man she had been with. Fear and anticipation shrouded her on every occasion she had been summoned to his bedchamber, for she thought that surely he would bring it up. But on each night, sometimes after a game of chess, sometimes immediately after her arrival, they would make love with no mention of it. In truth, she could not understand why he remained silent. It was almost as though he was avoiding the conversation.
That being said, he had changed since that first night. He'd mentioned his wife's death, and their conversations had been lively even before that. But he seemed to have turned in on himself, becoming more distant than ever. Even during their chess games, there was little conversation. And then he only wanted her body. Although Elaine knew it was the main reason she was there, when the passion and heightened state of ecstasy had dissipated, she was left with a sense of emptiness—a sense of unsatisfactory disappointment that she couldn't break through his wall and be close to him in spirit as well as body.
Why did it bother her so much?
Ye ken well, why. Ye are in love with him.
“Ah, mistress,” Samuel McKinley said with a smile as he approached from the opposite direction.
Elaine had assisted the healer with the soldiers, even after they had been transferred from the Great Hall to other rooms in the castle. Two days after the invasion,Finn had approached her again.
“I must press my point again, Elaine. Ye ought nae tae be here and doing such work given yer position as the laird’s mistress,” he had said.
“But I am only trying tae help,” she had defended with a shrug.
“I ken that, Elaine. And it’s very noble of ye,” Finn had replied with a smile. “But it’s nae yer place. Even Duncan has made mention of his disapproval.”
“He hasnae said anything to me,” Elaine had frowned.
“Aye, well, just because he hasnae mentioned it tae ye, doesnae mean he’s pleased about it. I wouldnae want ye tae be sent from the castle, Elaine. Duncan has a temper when he cannae get his own way. Sure, ye’ve seen it yersel.”
She had witnessed it herself when Duncan berated her in front of everyone in the Great Hall that evening while she sat and talked with Finn. She didn't want to upset him again, and she couldn't afford to. She still needed to find the wretched ring and save her sister. And, after Finn's words, shewas forced to leave the soldiers in the capable hands of Samuel McKinley.
“Good day to ye, Samuel,” she smiled at the older man as they both came to a stop in the middle of the corridor. “How are the soldiers? What word is there of Angus and Connor?”
“Well,” the older man shrugged, expressing a look of indifference, “it is early days yet. I cannae say one way or another how they will fare.”
“But they are healing?” Elaine pressed, feeling suddenly a little worried.
“Oh yes, my child,” he said hurriedly, placing a comforting hand upon her arm. “Please, forgive me. My reply was nae meant tae cause ye distress. They will heal. There is nae infection in their wounds and, as with the others, are progressing at their own pace. Yet,” he shrugged again, “one can only imagine what the future holds for them. For a certainty, they’ll nae be fighting any more battles.”
“Well, perhaps that’s nae such a bad thing,” Elaine replied.
“For a man who kens naething else, my dear, I am afraid it is far more difficult tae accept,” he said with a knowing look.