It was the first time he was offering to spend even longer than a second in her company and that surprised Isla also. She had to make sure it was Jamie she spoke to, so she gave him another closer look.
When nothing changed in the next minute, she turned and matched his steps as they walked down the hallway.
“I first met the Laird as a wee lad in battle. His faither was Laird durin’ the time of the war between the great houses of Lyons and McGill.”
“McGill?” she asked. “What clan is that?”
“Clan Campbell,” Jamie replied. “The McGill’s are their leading family. The Lairdship has been with them for years.”
“My faither died in that war, my brother too, and my life was saved when the Laird took a cut in the back for me. He could have died, but it dinnae matter, he had saved me instead… tell me how I can nay be loyal to such a man?”
Isla remembered one of the scars she saw on Jack’s body. “He also risked his life to save me,” she told Jamie with a sad smile as she remembered that first day they met. “That is how we met.”
She swallowed hard as she imagined how painful it must have been for him back then to recover from all of that.
“He saved my life, and I swore to him to protect him with it. Until the end of my days I willnae watch the Laird ever get hurt or ambushed.”
“So, you would give your life for him.”
“A thousand times,” he answered. “I will do anythin’ he asks of me… even give my life.”
Isla stopped walking and faced Jamie. “He is lucky to have a man as loyal as you, Sir Jamie. Nay many men will be this loyal to their laird. I do hope the inside enemy is found soon, so peace can reign.”
“Soon, My Lady,” Jamie replied, then nodded and continued. “But I must ask what ye intentions are with the Laird, Lady Isla. Do ye care for him as deeply as he does ye?”
Isla did not know how best to answer Jamie’s question, so she gave him a shaky smile and said, “We are betrothed to one another. I love Jack, just as deeply as he loves me.”
Jamie held her gaze for a long time like he was still suspicious of her before he finally nodded. “Then he really is a lucky man,” he said with a gentle smile that gave Isla hope of a possibility that Jamie would come to trust her one day.
Days passed after her conversation with Jamie, but Jack was still yet to return to the Castle. With every passing second, Isla grew worried. she spent her nights thinking of him and imagining every possible scenario of what could be happening in Onich.
At the same time the day to her departure grew closer than ever.
She spent her days with Moira learning new ways to make stronger potions for poisons and skin illnesses.
Isla watched her mix a balm for sores and smiled to herself. In her time, there was penicillin and many other medicines to treat most of the illnesses Moira prepared herbs for.
She had often wondered what life had been like for the medievals whenever she read history of countries like France and the Dornish kingdom, now Denmark.
Isla would never have imagined back then that she would exist in their time.
When she returned to her chamber on the fourth night without Jack’s presence in the Castle, she took the medallion out of her dresser’s lowest drawer and stared at it for a long time.
The green emerald shone as always, and it filled her with the familiar chill that made her nerves twist tight.
Isla wrapped her hands around the medallion that night and lay in her bed. Her thoughts stayed with Jack, and she hoped he was safe where he was.
She fell asleep after a long time thinking, but it was a short sleep before she felt hands shake her out of it. Isla groggily sighed and opened her eyes.
Faye’s round and wild brown ones stared right back at her. The fear in the girl’s eyes jerked Isla awake immediately.
“What is it?” she asked Faye who looked spooked.
“It is the Laird, My Lady,” Faye said in a hushed tone that started Isla’s panic.
“He has returned?”
Isla scrambled out of her bed and dashed for the door. She had almost opened it when she realized she was only in her nightgown.