Black Richard's Heart (The MacCulloughs #1) - Suzan Tisdale Page 0,37

husband, hope for bairns of her own. Hope that she would be treated with respect and dignity. She had carried that hope in her heart over countless miles of flat land, glens, and rolling hills, and right up to the doorstep of the MacCullough keep.

That hope now dwindled with each heartbeat spent behind the unlocked doors of her new prison. That was how she had begun to think of this room and her new life. With marrying Black Richard, she had simply traded one prison for another. The only differences between the two was that this room had more sunlight and it came with an invisible, unapproachable husband.

Aeschene had reached her breaking point. She was beyond angry; she was incensed. And if she were being truthful with herself, she was hurt. He lied. He lied to me and worse yet, I believed him.

For over half an hour, she had been pacing the room, from one chair to the other, fuming. Marisse, bless her, remained quiet, for she knew ’twas sometimes best to let Aeschene work things out on her own.

“I have had enough of this,” Aeschene declared, balling her hands into fists. “I will not be locked away and forgotten again.”

Marisse smiled knowingly and slid from her spot on the bed. “Well, it be about bloody time.”

In no mood to hear a lecture from her friend, Aeschene held out her hand. “Help me find the bloody fool, will ye please?”

Marisse smiled proudly at her friend. “It would be to my greatest delight.”

With her index finger inserted into the loop at the back of Marisse’s dress, the two women made their way down the steps and into the gathering room. Aeschene strained her ears to listen for any sign of people gathered about, but ’twas difficult with the sound of the heated blood rushing in her ears. The noonin’ meal had already been served and cleared away, and it appeared to her no one was about.

“Ye there,” Marisse called out to someone. “Where be the laird?”

’Twas an older woman who answered. “They be workin’ on the west tower this day. I suspect ye’ll find them there’.”

“And how would we find our way to the west tower? From within or without?”

If the sound of the woman’s voice was any indication, she was irritated with Marisse’s questions. “Just follow the sounds of hammerin’ and cursin’,” she replied tersely.

Marisse grunted her displeasure. “Because we are new here, why dunnae ye just show us the way?”

“I be far too busy,” the woman replied. “Go up to the third floor, turn right at the top of the stairs. Ye’ll see them.”

“Pardon me,” Marisse said, growing more impatient with the woman. “But is it not yer job to see to the comfort of yer mistress?”

“Bah!” she exclaimed. “My job is scrubbin’ up after Colyne and Raibeart. ’Tis Loreen’s job to tend to the MacCullough’s wife.”

Aeschene had had enough. The two women would undoubtedly argue until nightfall if she didn’t put a stop to it now. Pulling back her shoulders and lifting her chin, she affected the air of chatelaine, lady, and mistress. “What is yer name?” she asked, straining her eyes toward a shape in the distance.

“Mildred,” the woman replied, sounding confused and curious at once.

“Mildred, if ye do not take me to my husband now, I shall make certain you’re scrubbing chamber pots for the next six months.”

Aeschene heard the woman mumble under her breath as she drew nearer. Pushing past Marisse and Aeschene, she started up the stairs. “Follow me.”

Scaffolding had been erected along a good portion of the west tower. Access was gained at two points, each of them tall wide windows, one on either end of the keep. Marisse leaned through the window Mildred had led them to, to gauge both the sturdiness of the structure as well as to figure out where the man who had hurt her dearest friend was located. From the window, one would take a walkway that curved around the tower leading to the portion of the keep that housed the bedchambers. Another walkway, this one made of stone, was built along that side of the wall, making a long, narrow balcony of sorts.

That did not seem dangerous at all. What did send a fissure of dread down her spine, was the wide gap at the other end of the balcony.

“Well?” Aeschene asked impatiently. “Do ye see him?”

“Be patient,” Marisse warned. “’Tis not as easy as ye might think. There are several scaffolds and workin’ platforms betwixt here