Elspeth cast them both a worried look.
“Nae, Elspeth,” her new mother reassured her quickly. “The Lochiel and I did not drink.” She turned to her daughter. “Remember, we were not poisoned, May.”
“But ye would have been if ye had been home,” May argued. “Both of ye, nay! All of us would have been poisoned! Who would have saved us? Who would avenge us?”
Elspeth immediately looked away, fearing the sound of her words coming from May’s mouth.
“Should we not make certain they die this time?” May asked, settling her gaze on her father.
“Who?” Elspeth asked her husband.
He hesitated for a moment and then cast his sister a dark glare. “Helen and Roderick.”
“What?” Elspeth asked, stunned. “But I thought…”
“Roderick helped her escape,” Logan told her. “She poisoned everyone’s afternoon water…and—”
“He saved everyone from dying with his theriac,” Elspeth guessed.
Did she remember him standing over her bed, or had she been dreaming?
Remember who saved yer life today, Ellie. Dinna make me return to show ye again. I might stay away.
She told Logan what she remembered. She felt safest with him here and took him by the hand when he stood by the bed.
Aye, she remembered who saved her life. Logan did. He saved her from more cruel masters, from a gloomy life of hate in her heart and hopelessness in her days.
When his cousins returned without finding Roderick, Elspeth felt guilt and shame for being the sister of a jackal.
“I am pleased that ye are all here,” the Lochiel told his younger cousins. “I want one of ye stationed at May’s door, one at this door, and one at my door.”
“I can protect Elspeth,” Logan growled.
“Aye, but ye will still need to sleep,” Jamie told him. “I will stand at yer door.”
“And I,” declared Ewen, “will stand at May’s door.”
“Good,” the Lochiel commended. “Steafan, ye will guard my wife. But first, go to the garrison and assign more men to the gatehouse and all the entrances of the castle. I want Woodburn caught.”
“Aye, Lochiel.” Steafan hurried about his duty.
“Now, come,” the Lochiel mumbled. “Let us leave this lady’s bedroom.”
Ewen and Jamie followed Elspeth’s father-in-law into the outer sitting room, but Logan lagged behind. His sister rolled her eyes heavenward. His mother smiled behind her fingers at her son’s obvious affection, then turned away just a bit to give them privacy.
“I will be right ootside the door,” he assured her.
“Go on, I will be fine,” Elspeth told him, smiling with a bursting heart when he held her knuckles to his lips for a kiss before leaving her.
“Goodness, he is completely transformed!” May laughed and then gave Elspeth an astonished look. “How did ye do it?”
“I dinna know, truly. He didna need any transforming to me.”
May gave her a doubtful look. “Truly? He smiled enough fer ye then?”
“Aye,” Elspeth told her.
“Did ye truly help him regain the use of his arm?”
