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Chapter 5
Fia burst into Willow and Maira’s bedchamber, letting the door hit the wall. She had run all the way up there, having avoided Lord Beaufort in the courtyard. Morag was in the room, too. They all looked up when she entered.
“Fia, ye’re back,” said Morag. “We were worried about ye.”
“Morag told us where you went,” said Maira. “It wasn’t smart of you to go out alone, Fia. Especially after the battle that just took place.”
“Of course, Morag told ye,” she grumbled, knowing her sister could not keep a secret if her life depended on it. “I had to go. I was so worried about Imanie.”
“How is she?” asked Willow, lazily running a boar’s bristle brush through her long hair.
“She’s dead,” said Fia, holding back her tears.
“Dead?” Maira rushed over. “Are you sure?”
“I saw her layin’ there lifeless with my own eyes.”
“What happened?” asked Willow, putting down the brush and coming to join them.
“I am no’ sure. But when I entered the garden, I saw a bluidy handprint on the gate and then the plaid of a Scot on her porch.”
“Highlanders!” squeaked Morag “They killed her.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Fia. “But he said he didn’t kill her.”
“He? Who is he?” Maira demanded to know.
“It was the real chieftain of the clan, no’ the liar in the dungeon. He was the man who saved my life three years ago.”
“Fia! I canna believe ye escaped from him alive,” said Morag.
“I didn’t escape. I helped sew up his wound.” Fia sat down on the bed, and the girls gathered around her.
“Don’t tell me you helped the man who killed Imanie? How could you?” asked Maira in disgust.
“He said he didna kill her. He told me she dropped dead at his feet after agreein’ to help him.”
“I don’t believe it.” Willow crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.
“She dropped dead?” Morag’s hand went to the heart brooch pinned on her bodice. A look of horror washed over her face. “Oh, Fia, I killed her.”
“Morag, quit talkin’ like a fool,” Fia scolded. Her sister tended to have crazy thoughts at times, and this was one of them. “Ye werena even there so how can ye say that?”
“Dinna ye see?” Tears formed in Morag’s eyes. “Imanie gave me this heart brooch because she kent how much I wanted it. But she also told us the last time she did somethin’ like this, someone died. Now she was the one to die, and it is all because of me.”
“Morag, why couldn’t you be happy just watching?” asked Willow. “You always cause trouble.”
“Stop it. All of ye.” Fia held her hands up, palms facing out. “No one killed Imanie.” She said the words to calm her sister and cousins but, down deep, she couldn’t be sure the Scot hadn’t really killed her after all. “Imanie was rubbin’ her chest which tells me she had heart problems. I saw her do it before she sent us away. My guess is that she kent she was goin’ to die. That is why she gave the brooch to Morag.”
“Oh, Fia, do ye think so?” asked Morag, tears dripping down her cheeks.
“Come here – all of ye.” Fia gathered the girls in a circle and gave them one big hug. They all cried together for the death of Imanie. “We need to be strong,” stated Fia. “After all, isna that what Imanie has been teachin’ us to do for years now?”
“But what about Imanie?” asked Maira. “What did you do with her body?”
“Alastair was goin’ to bury her for me in a deal we made. I sewed up his wound, and he was goin to help me in return.”
“Alastair?” Maira raised a brow. “You are calling him by his first name now as if you know him.”
