asking to see my bairn. Please. Talk to Glenda. She’ll ken how to spirit Maggie here with no one the wiser.”
“You do not ken what you ask. These walls have eyes.” His feet shuffled. “I’d best be getting back to the patrol, m’lady.”
“Mr. Keith,” Helen raised her voice, her pulse racing. “Please. Fetch Glenda. You can bring Maggie—”
Footsteps clapped. The light faded.
“I need to see my daughter!”
The door above boomed, snuffing the light.
“I must see her!” Helen screamed at the top of her lungs. Over and over she shrieked and pounded her fists on the door. “Please, please, please, pleeeeaaaasssse. I will die if I cannot see her.”
Kicking the trencher aside, Helen crumpled onto the musty straw and bawled. Her voice box grated as she shrieked.
“I have done nothing wrong!”
She howled into the crux of her arm.
“I am innocent, yet I am being treated as horribly as the most heinous criminal. Is there no one who will stand up to Aleck MacIain?”
Tears burned her eyes as her throat closed.
My God, my God. Will I never again see the light of day? Will I never again rest my gaze upon my beautiful child?
Chapter Nineteen
Helen’s eyes snapped open when the lock clicked. She sat up with a jolt and rubbed her neck. The awkward angle in which she had been sleeping gave her a needling pain running from the base of her head all the way down her spine.
An eerie light drifted from under the door.
A wee voice cooed.
“Maggie?” Helen managed to choke out while a lump formed in her throat. The door opened, rendering her completely blind.
“Aye, m’lady.” Glenda’s voice rose above the creaking of the door. “I’ve your daughter and a satchel with your things.”
Helen barely heard the end of Glenda’s sentence. Blinking rapidly so to gain her sight, she braced her hand against the wall and stood. Goodness, her legs were trembling. She locked her knees and reached out her hands. “Please. I would like to hold her.”
Glenda’s ghostly outline became clearer as she stepped forward. “She has missed you, m’lady. I’m sure of it.”
A tear streamed from Helen’s eye when Glenda placed the wee bairn in her arms. Maggie’s tiny fists were curled under her chin as she slept without a care. “Praise to the heavens. I cannot tell you how much this means to me.” Sniffing, she touched her lips against Maggie’s forehead.
Someone in the corridor moved. “We mustn’t tarry.”
Helen glanced up at the sound of Mr. Keith’s voice. “Please. Allow me more time.”
“Nay, m’lady.” He gestured up the stairs. “’Tis the witching hour and the castle is quiet. I’ve a skiff waiting to ferry you away from here.”
She clutched Maggie to her breast. Surely she must have misunderstood. “Y-you’re helping me escape?”
“’Tis the only way. I wish I had time to brush your tresses and help you wash.” Glenda tucked a lock of hair behind Helen’s ear. “I overheard the chieftain when I was dusting your chamber. I could not make out every word, but plain as the nose on my face, I did hear him say you would perish in your cell whilst birthing a bairn. Are you with child, m’lady?”
Helen looked from Keith to Glenda and coughed. “Not unless the Lord in heaven has seen fit to grace me with an immaculate conception.”
Glenda clapped her hand over her mouth. “Then I fear the worst for you. You must go with Mr. Keith.”
“But what will you do once Sir Aleck discovers I’m away?”
“Me?” Glenda chuckled. “Why, how would I know you escaped from the dungeon? I’m a sound sleeper if there ever was one. Besides, I doubt even the chieftain would punish the mother of his henchman.”
“I do not trust him,” Helen said, shaking her head.
Glenda grasped her hand. “I can watch out for myself and I have Grant to protect me.”
From the intensity of Glenda’s stare, Helen knew she’d not be able to persuade her chambermaid to go with them. She shifted her gaze to the guard. Helen would see no one sent to the gallows for her escape. “And you, Mr. Keith. You’ve been assigned to guard me. Sir Aleck will punish you for certain—you said yourself you’d be sent to the gallows for helping me.”
He dipped his chin and raised his brows. “If it please your lady, I should be honored if you would appoint me your man-at-arms.”
“It would be my honor, but…” Cradling Maggie with one arm, she reached out and grasped his shoulder. “You do realize you will never be