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"They could ha'e doubled the dose in any o' the drinks or stew I had during those three weeks I was sick," she pointed out. "But they did no'. They drew it out."
"Mayhap," Niels said thoughtfully. He was silent for a minute and then asked, "Is there anyone ye can think o' who may wish ye ill like that?"
Edith lowered her head and thought briefly, but finally shook her head, and then, trying to lighten the mood, said, "Apart from yer Annie, nay."
Niels blinked in confusion. "Who?"
"Yer neighbor in the pig story yer brothers told me," she said with a small smile. "If she's a brain in her head she must love ye madly and will surely wish me a slow, painful death fer marrying ye."
A chuckle slipping from his lips, Niels drew her against his chest for a hug and murmured, "Ye do make me happy, Edith."
"Well and sure I would," she said lightly. "I'm the perfect wife. One who comes with a castle and title and dies quickly after ye marry her, leaving ye free to marry another. That is the perfect wife, is it no'?"
"Nay," he said sharply. "And I'm no' letting ye die, Edith. I love ye."
Chapter 14
I love ye.
Those words echoed in Edith's head and she sat as if frozen for a minute, her eyes locked on her husband's, and then a knock sounded at the door.
Niels tore his gaze from hers and glanced toward the sound. Tossing the linens aside, he muttered, "That'll be Alick coming to hide."
"Husband," Edith said, scrambling off the bed, but it was too late, Niels was opening the door.
A squeak of alarm slipping from her, Edith dove back into bed and pulled the linens over herself. But Niels just murmured a few words and then closed the door. Turning around, he frowned when he saw she was back in bed, and asked, "What are ye doin'? Why are ye no' getting dressed?"
Edith hesitated for a moment, just staring at him, and then she slid out of bed. Hurrying to her chest, she rifled through for a gown and chemise and then quickly ran a brush through her hair before pulling her clothes on. She knew Niels was dressing even as she did, still it was something of a surprise to her when she turned and saw that he had finished already too. The man was fast at pleating his tartan when he wanted to be, that was for sure, Edith thought.
"We'll talk later," Niels said quietly as she joined him by the door.
Nodding, she let him take her arm and lead her from the room.
Edith didn't see Alick anywhere in the hall as they stepped out, but Cameron and Fearghas were there waiting to escort them below. Supposing Alick was waiting in one of the nearby rooms to hide in the bedchamber after they left, Edith nodded absently at the two soldiers and then promptly forgot about them as Niels led her up the hall. Her mind was too muddled with the thoughts rolling around in her head for her to think about much else. She kept seeing Niels's face as he'd said he loved her.
His declaration had caught her completely by surprise. She had never even dared dream she might hear words like that from him . . . at least not so soon.
When he'd asked her to marry him, Niels had said he wanted her something fierce, but that he liked her too. He'd said he thought her fine and smart and liked that she had a good heart. He'd said he thought they could be happy together. Those were all things Edith was thinking of him too. She too had wanted him something fierce, and she had thought him fine and smart. She'd liked his patience with Ronson and Laddie, and his caring and concern for her. And she too had thought they could be happy together. She still did.
If she were honest with herself, Edith had hoped that from all of that, love would someday grow. She hadn't even really acknowledged that to herself, but the hope had been there, like a seed taking root under the dirt before pushing its way through to the light. The possibility had seemed a hopeful one to her since she felt their mutual liking and admiration were a solid basis for it to grow in.
And I'm no' letting ye die, Edith. I love ye.
Could he really love her already? And if so, might the feelings churning inside her be love for him as well?
"Wife?"
Edith blinked her thoughts away, noted the bench before her and gave her head a shake. While she'd been lost in thought they'd descended the stairs and crossed the great hall to the trestle tables.
"Oh," she breathed, and immediately sat down, vaguely aware that Cameron and Fearghas were moving off to claim seats farther down the table where they could keep an eye on her without intruding.
"Good morn, m'lady."
Edith smiled automatically at the man on her left as Niels settled on her right, and then blinked as she saw that it was Tormod. "Ye're back."
"Aye," he said and then tilted his head quizzically. "Are ye all right, m'lady?"
"Fine," Edith murmured and then glanced past him to Geordie.
"Tormod was just telling us that they found no sign o' Victoria's maid, Nessa, at the hunting lodge," her brother-in-law said.
Edith sat up straight, her eyes widening. "I forgot about Nessa. She went with them too."
"Aye," Niels said, and explained, "But Geordie and I did no' find her in the lodge with the others. Tormod was going to look fer her when they went to collect yer brother and the others."
"But she was no' there," Tormod finished. "We searched the entire lodge and then a good way into the woods around the lodge, but there was no sign o' her at all," he assured them solemnly and then added, "Yet none o' the horses were missing. She rode with one o' the soldiers on the way out because Brodie did no' want a cart to slow them, and there were seven dead horses there in the stalls. Only Lonnie's was missing, so she did no' ride away."
"Not on her own," Niels agreed, and then added, "But she could have left the lodge with Lonnie to return here."
There was a moment of silence as everyone considered that, and then Tormod sighed. "If so . . ."
He didn't finish his thought, but then he didn't have to. They all knew the rest of what he hadn't said. If Nessa had been with Lonnie when he was killed, and if the man had been killed by bandits as they'd assumed, then the maid had most likely been taken by them. Nessa had been a pretty little thing. If bandits had taken her, she'd probably been sorely used and then left dead in the woods somewhere. If not on Drummond land then wherever the bandits traveled after Drummond.
Shaking his head, Tormod said into the silence that had fallen, "Between Effie being poisoned and possibly dying, Victoria poisoned and dead and Nessa taken and probably murdered by bandits, Victoria and her maids did no' make out well here."
"Nay," Edith murmured, but frowned and stared down at the tabletop, her mind racing as she tried to put together the bits of information those words had suddenly sent bouncing around inside her head. None of them made sense, or meant anything on their own, but she was sure they would if she could put them together properly.
"What are ye thinking, lass?" Tormod asked.
Edith shook her head, but then grasped at one bit of information that kept flashing through her mind and said, "The murders started after Victoria and her maids got here."
Dead silence met her words and Edith glanced around to see her husband, his brothers and Tormod all staring at her wide-eyed. It seemed obvious that hadn't occurred to them. It also seemed obvious they weren't sure what to make of it either.
Sighing, she said, "It just seems to me that we have been asking who and why without being able to sort it out. But we have no' once considered when it started as possibly being important, and yet why would it start all o' a sudden like that? One day all was well at Drummond, and then the next me father was dead, me brothers dying and I was ill, and it all happened shortly after Victoria arrived. The day her maids got here, actually."
"I had no' thought o' that," Tormod said slowly.
"But Nessa is missing and Effie was poisoned too," Rory pointed out with a frown.
"Aye, we can no' find Nessa," Edith said thoughtfully.
"But that does no' mean she's dead necessarily, does it?" Niels said now, following her train of thought.
"Nay, I suppose not," Rory acknowledged. "But Effie is definitely poisoned and likely to die eventually."
"When?" Edith asked.
Rory stared at her blankly.
"I mean is she showing signs of weakening?" Edith asked, and then pointed out, "Ye said the other day that she was looking better and had more color. That ye'd almost think she was getting food other than the soup ye dribble down her throat."
"Aye, but I test her daily. She is no' conscious and can no' be eating," he said firmly.
"How do ye test her?" she asked at once. It was something she'd wanted to ask since Niels had mentioned this testing business to her. Because she suspected she knew how. At least, she knew how she would test, and if Rory was testing Effie the same way--
"I stick a needle in her foot," Rory said, his eyebrows slightly raised at the question, and then he added, "Quite deep too. There is no way she could pretend to sleep through it."
"Ah," Edith breathed out the word, her head going back slightly at this news, and then she turned to stare down at the tabletop again, more pieces connecting in her mind.
"Lass?" Tormod asked. "What are ye thinking?"
Edith was silent for another minute, and then admitted, "I'm thinking that twice now I've seen what looked like a woman in one o' the windows o' the upper chambers, and--"
"When?" Niels asked at once.
"The day the arrow was shot at me was the first time," she admitted. "I landed on yer chest on me back, and just before ye rolled me under ye, I saw someone in the window o' me room. 'Twas just a quick glance, and I only got an impression o' the person, but now that I'm thinking on it, it could have been a woman."
"And the second time?" Geordie asked.
"Yesterday on the way back from the market," she admitted. "As we started into the bailey I remembered what I'd seen the day the arrow was shot at me and I leaned out around the shield to look toward the window."
"Aye, I remember," Niels said quietly. "I pushed ye back behind the shield."
