What a marvelous beast!
Curious to see how the cool Lady Margaret reacted to the lions, he turned to look at her. She had moved from where she had been standing, but so had everyone else when the lions were brought in. Finn scanned the hall, trying to catch sight of her.
O shluagh, she was gone. How long had he been distracted by the damned lions?
He ducked out of the door that was closest to where he last saw her. Hoping to catch her before she returned to the hall, he half ran down the corridor, glancing into rooms as he passed them. Though he had not planned to take her hostage tonight, if he found her alone while everyone else was distracted by the lions, he just might be able to sneak her out through the abbey.
He slowed his pace to a walk as he passed a serving woman so as not to draw attention to himself. He did not want to be remembered.
###
Margaret found Lizzie donned in her breeches and cap and waiting, as planned, with her horse in a dark corner of the courtyard behind the stables.
“Ye told your father you’re staying at your stepbrother’s house tonight?” Margaret asked. Lizzie’s stepbrother from her mother’s first marriage was a successful Edinburgh merchant. “I don’t want anyone to find out ye had a part in this.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve done this before,” Lizzie said. “My stepbrother and father don’t speak, so neither ever finds out.”
Margaret mounted the horse behind Lizzie and averted her face as they approached the gate. Unfortunately, the guards were more astute than Lizzie’s father.
“Lady Elizabeth, where do ye think you’re going at this hour?”
“This poor servant’s mother is near death and asked to see her,” Lizzie told the guards. “’Tis on the way to my brother’s house, so I’m taking her. We’ve no time to waste if she’s to hold her dear mother’s hand before she expires.”
Lizzie could spin a tale like no one Margaret knew.
“With such an important feast tonight,” the guard said, narrowing his eyes at Lizzie, “I would not expect a servant to be allowed to leave before the guests are abed, dying mother or no.”
“Lady Margaret gave her permission,” Lizzie said. “Ye know how soft-hearted she is.”
“All right. But ye shouldn’t be allowed to go out and about the way ye do,” the guard grumbled as he waved them through the gate. Then he called after them, “You be careful and go straight to your brother’s!”
“We’ll be at Blackadder Castle in a couple of hours,” Lizzie said as they started down the cobblestone street.
“’Tis not safe to ride there in the dark,” Margaret said. “We’ll need to find a tavern where we can take a room for the night.”
“We’ll be fine,” Lizzie said. “My horse knows the road to Blackadder Castle, and he’s faster than any bandit’s horse.”
“Lizzie, ye worry me,” Margaret said, which made her cousin laugh.
“Alison and David will be furious when they hear that your brothers welcomed Wretched William back,” Lizzie said. “David won’t give ye up no matter what Archie threatens.”
Relations between the two men were already tense. David was still angry with Archie for fleeing the country and leaving Alison vulnerable—even though it was David who had taken advantage of that and laid siege to her castle. When two powerful magnates with hundreds of warriors at their command have a dispute, it could too easily escalate to bloodshed.
What had she done? Acting rashly was unlike her, but she was so desperate to escape she had not thought through the repercussions. The last thing she wanted was to cause trouble between her brothers and David, especially with Alison so close to her time.
“Let’s leave Alison and David out of this if we can,” she told Lizzie. “Instead of the castle, we’ll go to Thomas’s cottage in the village.”
Margaret knew she could not escape for long. How could she? Running off like this would buy her a few days’ reprieve, at best. But perhaps her bold act of rebellion would persuade her brothers not to attempt to force her to wed again.
###
Finn could not find Lady Margaret, so he returned to the great hall, where she was bound to return eventually herself. He relieved a passing servant of a silver carafe and a cup. While he waited for his quarry to reappear, he may as well avail himself of some of the palace’s fine wine.
“Where’s Lady Margaret gone?” The king’s thin, petulant voice a few feet away told Finn he was not alone in his vigil.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Archibald’s subtle nod to a man who bore a strong resemblance to him. This second man put his arm around the king’s shoulders and led him to a group of bonny, but very young lasses. While the man talked and the lasses giggled, the king’s gaze continued to search the hall for Lady Margaret.
Finn had the nagging feeling he had missed something, some telling detail he had seen but ignored. When Lady Margaret failed to reappear after an hour, he drank down the rest of his wine and left. He paused on the palace steps and drew in a deep breath of the cool night air. That nagging thought was just out of his reach…