“Aye, m’lady. I cannot stand idle and watch you be treated like a common criminal. I heard your cries earlier this day and you are right. You are innocent and the laird is...” Keith glanced over his shoulder as if he feared someone might be listening. “He has gone too far this time.”
Helen’s bottom lip trembled and she dropped her gaze to Maggie. Mr. Keith was offering her a chance at freedom and the protection of his sword. He was giving her a gift she could not refuse. Not when she had this precious bairn to protect. “I will see that you are safeguarded by my family. The Campbells are one of the most powerful clans in all of Scotland.”
He bowed. “I thank you m’lady.”
“Quickly,” Glenda said, holding up Helen’s sealskin cloak. “I’ve brought your mantle to keep you warm.” She draped it across Helen’s shoulders. “Pull the hood low over your head. Hold Maggie close and keep her quiet.”
“We shall spirit through the shadows, m’lady. I’ve left the sea gate ajar. No one will realize we’re gone…hopefully for days.”
Helen situated the bairn beneath the cloak and pulled the hood over her brow as Glenda suggested. “I cannot tell either of you how thankful I am.”
Glenda drew her into an embrace. “Slip away and never come back. You are too refined a woman to put up with the likes of Aleck MacIain.”
Helen took in a stuttered breath. Would she ever again set eyes on her loyal servant?
Keith swung the satchel over his shoulder. “We must make haste.”
“I shall miss you most of all.” Helen kissed Glenda’s careworn cheek, then followed the guard up the steps. There was no time to consider the consequences. She was fleeing her home and Aleck MacIain must never find her.
Mr. Keith doused the torch before they stepped into the courtyard. “This way, m’lady.”
Helen cradled Maggie as tightly as she dared and followed the guard into the shadows. Her heart beat a fierce rhythm, thundering in her ears while they made their way to the sea gate. She couldn’t recall ever being so afraid in her life, sneaking away from her home as if she were a criminal.
Blast Aleck for forcing me to this.
For a moment, her blood turned to ice. What if the Pope does not approve the annulment?
She stopped dead, but Mr. Keith grasped her elbow and pulled her along. “This way,” he whispered.
I cannot allow thoughts of doom to cloud my mind.
Once beyond the gate, Mr. Keith led her around the rocky outcropping to a skiff sitting askew on the stony beach where it was out of sight from the castle battlements. He placed the satchel in the boat. “Climb aboard and I’ll cast off.”
She did as told, her arms aching from maintaining the tight hold on her daughter. She sat on a bench toward the stern and arranged Maggie in her lap. The bairn launched into a wail that cut though the cold night air like a siren.
“Ballocks,” Keith grumbled while pushing the skiff into the surf.
Helen cradled the babe to her breast. “There, there. Wheesht, little one.”
Maggie’s cries softened to whimpers, but the damage had already been done. Shouts rang out from atop the wall-walk. Helen watched the guards assemble in the light of the blazing braziers while Keith heaved on the oars.
“Do you think they’ll come after us?” she asked.
“And leave Mingary unprotected?” He shook his head. “Besides, I made certain there were no boats nearby.”
“You put a great deal of thought into my rescue.”
“Aye, m’lady. I suppose I did.”
“I am indebted to you for my very life.”
“You are my lord and master…och, I mean my lady and mistress. I will see to your protection as long as you should need me.” He steered the skiff through the heavy swells of Loch Sunart. “Once we cross into Argyllshire, we’ll hug the coast to avoid being capsized should the sea decide to turn angry.” He pointed to the dark outline of the far shore. “After we traverse the Firth of Lorn, I reckon we should row through Loch Etive until we reach Taynult. ’Tis but a day’s hike to Kilchurn Castle from there.”
Helen couldn’t imagine hiking through the rugged Highlands along the River Awe with a bairn in her arms. Besides, that would be dangerous. “Kilchurn is the first place Sir Aleck will look, and if I know Duncan, he’ll be so irate with me, he’ll bow to Aleck’s claims before I’ve had a chance to explain.”