In that moment, Mairi froze, and the world seemed to drop away.Her mind went to Eoghan and his sister Betris, to all the unkind words she had said to Betris about Ailith, of how peculiar the woman appeared and how she was doing strange things she had not done in the past, including plotting to dethrone a king.
Only now that she reflected on it did she realize that if Betris, who seemed madly jealous of Ailith and had been since childhood, took her words and twisted them even a bit, then shared them with Eoghan, Mairi’s words might be the reason for their accusations against Ailith.
Her heart slammed in her chest and her head, and she blinked hard, trying to stop the tears from streaming down her face.Mairi’s tongue tasted of ash in her mouth, her lips dry even as she licked them.
Daniel must have noticed her state.“Milady?”he asked.
Seocan swung around.“Mairi?Do ye know something of this accusation?”
She tried to speak, but the words fell silent on her lips.Seocan spoke her name again, reaching for her.She stepped backward, out of his reach.
“’Tis my fault,” she finally whispered.“Ailith.‘Tis my fault.”
Seocan faced her and gently drew her hands from their grip on her bed robe.Though his eyes were soft and blackish green in the darkness, his jaw was fixed and tense.His broad body loomed larger in the darkness as he neared.
“What do ye mean, your fault?What have ye done, Mairi?”
Her breath raced out of control, and she couldn’t catch it.She shook her head as she spoke.“No’ intentionally, husband.Ye must know that.But I fear I spoke out of turn about your sister, my own sister-by-law.”
“What did ye say?And to whom?”Seocan pressed.
“I’m responsible,” she replied, keeping her gaze lowered.“I haven’t been treating her well before she married, and afterward, I took offense for the smallest slight.Her fighting, those plants, how William is around her, and I’ve been letting those rumors grow.I should have stopped them.Instead, I let them fester like a pus-filled wound!”
Seocan was both confused and incensed but endeavored to remain calm.Fury and love battled inside him, yet only cool heads would prevail.
Her voice had risen as she spoke, and Seocan hushed her lightly, fearing she might wake their son.While his voice remained tender, the rest of his body was tight.
Why had she behaved this way?What purpose did such poor speech accomplish?
“And I was sharing those words with Betris, Eoghan’s sister.She’s an old friend, and I’ve been so tired.I enjoyed her company.When she complained about Ailith, ‘twas far too easy to feed into those rumors and ignite them all the more.‘Tis my fault, Seocan.My fault.”
Seocan’s hands still held hers, but his grasp was rigid against her fingers.His fury radiated off him like heat, and he was doing everything in his power to control his anger and not lay a hand on her.He had never been violent with his beloved wife, but then she had never betrayed him and his sister this way.
Holding her brittle fingers, he forced himself to remember her breach of trust had been unintentional and the result of a weary body and mind.
“I may have used the wordbewitchedwhen speaking of William,” she added, dropping her voice.“I fed that festering wound.But haven’t we all referred to William that way?”
She finally raised her wide, sunken eyes.Her words held a note of truth – even he had joked at how Ailith had William ensnared in her web.He could not blame Mairi for those statements.Added to that, she was bone-thin tired, probably lonely, and trying to raise a son in a time of upheaval.Her expression broke Seocan’s heart in two.
“I am so sorry for my part in this, husband.My worries regarding Ailith were always about the danger that followed her.She left battles and broken bodies in her wake, and as her brother, ye might fall as well.Her actions might lead to your death.I only wanted her to stop bringing danger to ye.”She dropped her gaze.“’Tis my greatest fear, that ye dinna return.That ye leave me, and our wee Morgan.My heart ...I’d never recover.”
Then she flicked her fretful gaze back to his eyes.“I never meant to bring her any harm.I only wanted to protect ye.I meant it as foolish gossip, my husband.I swear.”
Seocan quieted for a moment as his eyes searched her face.Her words held truth.His death would render her wretched, as hers would do to him.He released a long, low breath.
“Though I am angry that ye felt the need to gossip this way about my own sister, did we no’ all do the same type of thing about William and use those suggestions to bring him low?To mock his love for Ailith?And did we no’ permit those rumors of Ailith to grow ourselves?I –” He flicked his eyes to Daniel.“Weare no better.”
Then he pulled on her hands to draw her into his embrace, and her entire body, her too-thin body, crumpled into him.He pressed his face into her smooth, black tresses.
“Do ye believe her a changeling or a witch?”he whispered.
“Nay!”Mairi exclaimed in a ragged voice.“Odd, and aye, she charmed William, but no more than I charmed ye!”
He chuckled against her hair.“And och, that did ye, lass.”
His words broke the tension in the room, and he felt like he could breathe again.
“But nay a witch,” she finished firmly in a tone reminiscent of his strong Mairi.
