“I’ll tell Finn,” she said, trying to calm him.
“Promise me,” he demanded, his feverish eyes drilling into her. “Promise!”
“I promise,” she said. “Finn will take Alex to safety.”
Only then did the earl release his grip on her arm and allow his men to carry him upstairs to his bedchamber, where his wife had already been taken.
Margaret told herself others would care for the ill couple and resisted the urge to help. The earl feared someone here had intended to poison Alex as well—and still meant him harm. She had to warn Finn and Alex.
Ella!Panic raced through Margaret’s veins at the thought of her daughter. What if the poison was in their supper? She ran up the stairs to their bedchamber and flung open the door.
Her heart pounded in her ears as she took in the scene, which seemed unnaturally ordinary. Una was stitching. Ella was on the floor playing with her doll. Her gaze caught and held on the tray of half-eaten food on the table.
“You’ve not fallen ill?” she choked out.
“Ella just has a wee cold,” Una said, “but you look like a banshee chased ye up the stairs.”
Margaret knelt beside Una and quickly told her what happened in a low voice so that Ella would not hear.
“If it was poison, ’twas a kind that works its evil quickly,” Una said. “Ye needn’t worry about us. We ate our supper long before the rest of ye. As ye can see, we’ve no ill effects.”
“Praise God!” Margaret grabbed her cloak from the back of the door. “I’m going to wait for Finn and Alex in the stables. I must hurry if I’m to catch them before they come inside.”
Before she reached the bottom of the stairs, however, she heard their familiar voices. Finn locked his gaze on her the moment she rushed into the hall, and she could tell he had already realized something was dreadfully wrong at Helmsdale.
“Ye should see the size of the stag I got,” Alex boasted. “Finn says it’s the biggest…” His voice trailed off as he looked about the room, which had fallen into a deadly silence.
“What’s happened?” Finn asked, taking Margaret’s hands when he reached her.
Before she could explain, she heard Isabel behind her telling Alex about his parents.
“Your father and mother have taken ill, and I’m afraid ’tis rather serious,” Isabel said, her tone surprisingly gentle. “Come, they’ll want to see ye while there’s still time.”
The earl did not want to see Alex—he wanted him sent away. Margaret spun around in time to see Isabel put her arm around Alex and lead him toward the stairs.
When she saw a cup in Alex’s hand, her blood froze in her veins. He was ten feet away and lifting it to his mouth.
###
“Nay!”
Finn was stunned when Margaret shouted and charged into Alex. She hit him with such force that the cup flew out of Alex’s hand and splattered wine in a wide arc over Alex, Isabel, and half a dozen others before clattering against the wall.
Margaret, who was usually so cool-headed, would not do anything so dramatic without good cause. While the others were still staring slack-jawed at the spilled wine or wiping it from their clothes, he drew Margaret and Alex aside so she could tell them the reason.
“Ye must leave at once,” Margaret said in a hushed voice. “Alex’s parents have been poisoned, and—”
“We don’t know that,” Finn’s mother interrupted as she joined them. “I expect ’tis just a passing fever. Or even more likely, spoiled meat—Helen has no skill at managing servants.”
“Alex is in danger here,” Margaret whispered to Finn. “I’ll explain as we go to the stables for your horses.”
“If my parents are ill, I must see them,” Alex said.
Finn saw the panic in Margaret’s eyes when Alex started for the stairs and caught Alex in an iron grip. Together, he and Margaret half dragged Alex out of the hall. Outside the door, they were met by a curtain of rain. The storm was growing worse by the moment.
“Your father fears for your life, Alex,” Margaret shouted over the wind as they splashed through puddles in the yard to reach the stables. “He gave me orders that Finn is to take ye away at once.”
While Finn saddled their horses by the light of a lantern, Margaret told them all that had transpired.