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‘A temper, you say. Is he often in a temper?’
The lass looked alarmed at her indiscretion. ‘Oh, I should not say. I…I do not know the Laird’s son well, you see. Pardon my tongue running away with me.’
Now the lass would not meet Orla’s eye.
‘Did my husband say where he was going, Elva?’ she said gently.
‘He said there were some redcoats he had to deal with.’
Orla’s stomach clenched. ‘Well, that sounds like trouble,’ she said. ‘We encountered some rather insolent redcoats on our way here yesterday, and I had to stop Wolfric from unleashing violence upon them. I do hope he has not gone out to find those same men. Do you think he has?’
‘Oh, I hope not,’ replied the lass, tears welling in her eyes. ‘He gets fearfully angry about the soldiers, and then he breaks things.’
‘Well, Elva, you need not fear his temper nor any breakages. I will not stand for it,’ said Orla.
The lass’s eyes widened further, and her mouth fell open. She bobbed again and rushed off, leaving the fire untended.
‘What a strange, nervous little creature,’ thought Orla as she threw a log onto the glowing embers. Perhaps Rufus Munro and his son ruled Blackreach with an iron hand and had frightened their servants into obedience. God’s teeth, the lass had looked positively terrified at the mention of Wolfric’s name. He was clearly a black-hearted villain. And now she would have to face him, for she had nothing else to do this day but to go and pick a fight. Orla finished her breakfast and set off.
Unfortunately, the first Munro she encountered as she crept past the door to the hall was Rufus.
‘I see you, lass, scurrying past like a frightened mouse,’ he called out. ‘Are you not going to come in and kiss your father-in-law and wish me good morning?’
Orla squared her shoulders and entered. She strode up to Rufus and, with a devilish grin, placed her hands on his shoulders and kissed him on the head. He smelled unwashed, like sour sweat and old cheese combined.
Rufus wiped at the spot where she had kissed him. ‘Bah, you do not convince at playing the dutiful wife and daughter, not a bit of it. I know it cost you dear to do that, lass, as it did to share my son’s bed last night, eh?’
‘We all must face our trials with fortitude, Laird,’ she replied, glancing down at his leg, propped up on a stool and resting atop a cushion. ‘What ails you?’
‘Indulgence, vice and hard living, lass,’ snarled Rufus with a sneer.
‘Gout is it?’ Orla sucked her breath in through her teeth. ‘I do hope it is not too painful.’
‘Oh, you will be happy to know it plagues me day and night, lass. ‘Tis the result of embracing life’s pleasures too heartily, but fear not, you will not have those vices to worry about. You will come to heel and do your duty by my son and me, and behave yourself.’
‘And where is your son?’
‘Pining for him already, lass?’ Rufus smirked and sank into his collar like a turtle into its shell. ‘I’ll not tell you. But, rest assured, when and if he wants you, Wolfric will send for you, and you will learn to come running.’
The man was insufferable, and Orla could not bear to be in his presence any longer. ‘You obviously find my company tiring, Laird, so I will leave you to your ailments.’
‘You could divert me from them. Do me the indulgence of sitting a while.’
‘I must go. I….’
‘You have nowhere to go and nothing to do save divert me, lass. Sit!’
At his command, one of his mangy lurchers sank to the floor. ‘Not you, stupid hound,’ he barked before casting beady eyes to Orla’s. She wondered at him siring such a son as Wolfric, for he had no beauty to his face whatsoever.
‘Your parents, did they mourn your loss?’ said Rufus.
‘I am not lost. I am here.’
‘As good as lost - dead to them, in fact. They will not deign to visit, and if my son does not allow it, you cannot go to them.’
‘I will go to them whenever I please, Laird.’
The two of them locked eyes, neither backing down. ‘Will you now?’ said Rufus. ‘You shock me, Orla Munro. For a clever lass, you have not yet taken the measure of the man you wed, have you? Wolfric is as hard as a diamond and stubborn with it, and his temper is legendary. Oh, never get on the wrong side of that if you know what’s good for you.’
