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"Aye. Again," Edith said, caressing him.
"Greedy," he accused, but sounded pleased and the hand at her back drifted down to squeeze her bottom, before drifting between her legs from behind to tease her.
Edith moaned and kissed his chest appreciatively. They had been in bed ever since he'd walked in on her bath the afternoon before. Well, really they had not been in the bed the whole time. She'd been on the table, then they'd been on the fur, then he'd carried her to the bed and made love to her again before they'd drifted off. They'd woken up several times in the night, each time reaching for each other again.
In truth, Edith couldn't seem to get enough of him. The pleasure he gave her was heady, and she just wanted more and more. She wanted to learn more too. Edith hadn't known there were so many positions and so many different things to do. And with each new position, her confidence grew and she became bolder.
"We need to talk first," Niels growled, but his fingers continued to fondle her, and he didn't stop her caressing him.
"Aye. Talk," she murmured, shifting her head so that she could lick and then nip at his nipple.
Niels groaned, but then caught her hand and dragged it from his erection before grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her up and away from him. Expression serious, he said, "We really do need to talk, Edith. 'Tis important."
She considered his face for a moment, and then sighed and nodded.
"Thank ye," he murmured and then shifted to sit up in bed with his back against the wall.
"What for?" Edith asked uncertainly, shifting to sit next to him.
"Had ye pressed the issue, I could no' have resisted loving ye again, and this is important," he promised her.
For a moment, Edith was tempted to press the issue after all, but he'd said it was important and his expression had turned grim, so she behaved herself and tugged the linens up to cover herself as she waited for him to begin.
"Rory came to me yesterday afternoon," he began in a soft voice.
"Aye, when we returned from the market," she said.
Niels nodded. "He had something o' a plan to catch the killer."
"Really?" she asked with interest. "Tell me."
He hesitated, and then sighed and said, "His plan was fer ye to die."
"What?" Edith squawked, jumping to her knees to gawk at him with disbelief.
"Aye, that was me reaction," Niels said dryly. "But his thinking was that we fake ye dying, lay ye out here as if ye've been cleaned and prepared fer burial and then see who steps forward to try to claim Drummond."
Edith shook her head. "That will no' work. We already ken that Tormod would be the next in line and I am quite sure he is no' the one behind all o' this. So if the killer is really after Drummond, they may be just trying to make him look guilty so that he is blamed for everything and hung, leaving them to make a claim for the title." She frowned and added, "And if we fake me death and then do no' accuse Tormod the killer may just kill him to get him out o' the way."
"Aye," Niels grimaced. "Well, that was no' me argument, but 'tis all true."
"What was yer argument?" Edith asked curiously.
"That I'd no' risk ye that way," he said solemnly. "I pointed out that the murderer might slip into yer room while we had ye laid out pretending to be dead and stab ye or some such thing when they realized ye were still breathing."
"Oh, aye," she said weakly. "That would be unfortunate."
"Most unfortunate," Niels agreed dryly, and then sighed and admitted, "But as we talked I came up with an idea o' me own."
"Oh?" Edith asked with interest. "What is that?"
"To give them the opportunity to poison ye, and catch them at it," he answered.
Edith raised her eyebrows. This did not sound much better than Rory's idea on first blush.
Noting her expression, he explained, "Ye would no' be poisoned."
"Oh, good," she said on a laugh.
Niels grimaced, and said, "We will go below to break our fast. Ye'll notice that Alick is no' there and ask after him," he instructed.
"All right," Edith agreed solemnly.
"When ye do, I'll say I sent him to Buchanan and then on to MacDonnell with messages to let them ken we're no' coming after all and what is happening here."
"But ye did no' send him anywhere," she guessed.
"Nay, I did no'. He's in his room right now, waiting to come in here and hide."
"Hide?" Edith's eyebrows rose and she glanced around. "He could hide under the bed, or in the larger chest there. Moibeal has mostly emptied that one out, I think, and we can transfer whatever is left to the other chests."
"Under the bed may be better," Niels said glancing around the room as well. "We'd have to put holes in the chest so that he could see out otherwise and I do no' want his view obscured in any way."
Edith nodded and then turned back to him as he continued.
"Anyway, after I explain about Alick being away, ye should rub yer forehead and complain that ye've a headache. I'll suggest ye go lay down fer a bit, that it may help. You then say that ye'll just fetch some cider to take up with ye and I'll say, nay, I'll take care o' it. Ye go ahead."
"Then I come up here where Alick is hiding," she suggested.
"Nay, ye wait out o' sight on the upper landing," Niels said firmly. "I will fetch the cider or mead or something else, but rather than take it up meself, I'll tell Moibeal to take it up to you and then return to the table to talk to me brother. And then ye come downstairs before Moibeal can get to the top and tell her to put it in yer room, and then to return and find ye in the kitchens, that ye want a word with her and Jaimie ere ye lay down. Ye must say it loudly enough that all can hear," he added, and then continued, "And then ye go to the kitchens."
"So, Moibeal will take the drink up and put it in the bedchamber where Alick is hiding, and then come below, leaving it alone," Edith said slowly.
"Aye. I'm hoping our killer will risk slipping up here to poison the drink ere ye return and Alick will see who 'tis."
Edith nodded and said cautiously, "It may work. If they're desperate enough to risk coming up here when everyone is in the great hall and they might be seen."
"Aye." Niels frowned and then sighed and said, "We shall just have to hope they are desperate enough fer the title o' laird to risk it."
"If they are even after that," Edith said glumly.
"What else could they be after?" Niels asked with surprise.
Edith shook her head. "I'm no' sure, but the killings . . ." Swallowing, she said, "Roderick and Hamish suffered horribly before dying, and me father would ha'e too had he no' already been weakened by his heart complaint. I suffered too," she added, "And I ken Rory thinks I survived because me body kept rejecting the poison, but the last time me drink was poisoned, he said that the killer had increased the poison and I surely would have died had I drank more."
"Aye, I recall," Niels said when she paused.
"Well, why did they no' give a stronger dose the first time they poisoned us?" she asked quietly. "Why put in just enough to kill them after great suffering? From what ye said, Brodie and the others died quickly, so the killer kenned how much to use, and simply did no' do that for the wine that killed me father and brothers and made me sick."
"Ye think they wanted ye to suffer," he said thoughtfully.
