The Raven's Moon (21 page)

And, like Jock with Anna, he enjoyed teasing her, but he would not make her suffer for it.

"Truly, Mairi, you did not have that much," he said gently. "You do not have a head for the stuff, is all."

"I will not drink it again," she moaned.

"Your shoulder is improved?"

She nodded. "Stiff, achy, but aye. Rowan—thank you for tending my injury. And for helping Christie."

He held her gaze. "Devil's Christie is the son of my good comrade. And I owed you some nursing. For this." He touched his forehead. "I might have died of this, but for you." He said it lightly, but meant it wholly.

"Though I gave it to you?" Mairi frowned. "Do not tease me. You owe me naught but vengeance, and that was paid last night when you took me down on the highway." She looked at him. "Now what? Will you chain me in your dungeon?"

He set down the cup. "I thought to put you there last night to teach you the ABC's of the Border alphabet. But you were hurt. Mairi, if I caught you in the red hand I am obligated to imprison you."

"Did you catch me in the red hand?"

"You should not have been out there. And we both know what you have been doing of late on that road, red handed or not."

"So you do mean to lock me in a cell."

"When I was imprisoned in England, I was held in a fine room in the warden's manor house, because I am a laird of some rank. 'Tis often the way for prisoners of merit. I will grant you merit, and confine you to my house. To my bedchamber."

She gasped and began to sit up. He raised his palm.

"I will not stay there myself. But you will not leave Blackdrummond until I say."

Her eyes flashed silver. "But this is not a pledge for Iain."

"It is not."

"Will you tell Simon Kerr that you have caught the Lincraig rider?"

He shrugged. "I need to find some answers first."

"Did you go to Abermuir?" she asked. He nodded. "So you have seen Iain."

"Simon would not allow it," he answered, and paused. What he must tell her would sit hard, he knew, but must be said. "Your brother... will be given over to the English at the next truce day meeting."

She stared at him, gripping the arm of the chair until her knuckles turned white. "How did Simon get the order?"

"I had it," he said quietly. He stepped toward her. "All the while, I had the council's signed warrant."

Mairi went pale. "And you never told me."

"What could you have done? It was not your matter."

"I would have taken it from you." She lowered her head. A tear slipped onto her hand. "I would have burned it."

He dropped to his haunches beside her chair, but she tucked her chin down. Another tear dropped onto the green robe.

"I tried so hard to stop this," she said. "And now you, of all of them, you are the one that condemns Iain." She smothered a little sob with her trembling hand.

Rowan hated to see her sad, hated to see her will drained of its customary fire. Hated that he had done it. And he realized again how genuine was her desire to protect her brother.

"The council would have sent another messenger, Mairi, and another warrant, and another after that," he said gently. He wanted to touch her, soothe her, but did not. "You could not stop it with your thieving. You could not really delay it. Simon or the reivers upset with your night rides would have taken you down. There had to be an end to this somewhere. Best it was me."

"Iain will die if the English take him."

"They will give him a trial. He has a chance."

She laughed bitterly. "What if it were your own brother?"

He set his jaw, a small muscle thumping there. "I would do what must be done for the law and for what is most right."

She scowled. "I do not care how dark your dungeon is, Blackdrummond, or how strong your chains. I will not stay here with you." She stood, wavering slightly. The blanket slid to the floor.

He stood. "You had best stay where I set you."

"I will not." She pushed away his hand and turned. Lifting her head, she walked toward the door, the green damask hem sliding like a queen's train.

Rowan muttered a curse and strode after her.

Catching her at the door, he took her right arm and drew her back. The pain that crossed her face made him instantly let go. But he towered over her, glaring, leaning his shoulder against the door to keep it closed.

"You will stay here," he said, "if I have to chain you in that room upstairs."

She pushed against his chest. "I do not care if you are King Jamie Stewart himself! You cannot hold me here!" She returned her efforts to the door, yanking on the iron ring.

"Where would you go? To raise a host of your Kerr cousins to ride their lances against me?"

"You are a rogue and a sneakbait," she snapped, smacking the door. "I will tell Simon that I have been riding the Lincraig road. I'll beg him to let me serve as a pledge, since you will not do it."

"You are the most daffin lassie I have ever met," Rowan muttered. "Now listen well. You are in as much trouble as your brother. I cannot allow you to leave here, lest you do something daft. Your brother's fate is set, and you cannot change it. If you go to Simon and confess that you are the Lincraig rider, you risk a charge of treason."

She stopped tugging on the door ring and looked up at him. "What treason have I done?"

"Attacking king's messengers is treason, lass. Holding Spanish documents will get you hanged alongside your brother."

She stared at him. "Spanish documents?"

"I found pages written in Spanish hidden at Lincraig, along with a broken messenger's wand and some council writs. No one else but you would have put those things where I found them. Where did you get them?"

She looked down. "From a king's messenger."

"I doubt a messenger at arms would carry foreign correspondence here." He came away from the door and took her by the elbow of her sound arm. "Come with me, where I can keep you safe until I know the truth." He pulled open the door.

"Let me go," she said between her teeth. He ignored her.

As they stepped into the corridor, Anna came up the steps from the kitchen. "Rowan! You see how well our Mairi is this morn." She smiled and came forward to envelop the girl in a soft hug. "Did your rest by the fire help you?"

Mairi shot Rowan a glance. "Not so much."

"Well, you'll be better soon. You need hot cloths on that shoulder." Anna looked at Rowan. "She was up before dawn, poor bird, with deep bruises, and so sore. And a headache as well—better now? Aye? I gave her an infusion of willow for the pain. She needs to rest. Can you stay here with us, Mairi? 'Twould be best."

"She can stay." Rowan moved Mairi toward the stairs.

"We'll give her your room," Anna said, climbing too.

"Let's do that," Rowan drawled, while Mairi cast him a dark look and went up the steps ahead of him.

Shoving open the door of his bedchamber, Rowan guided Mairi toward the bed. She shook him off and went to the chair, sitting with a stubborn flourish. Anna tucked a pillow under Mairi's arm and lifted her feet to a stool.

Thanking her, Mairi lanced Rowan another dark look, this one as ominous as the rain clouds outside the window. He breathed an exasperated sigh.

Anna went to the bucket of water on the hearthstones and tested it with a finger. "Warm enough to soak a cloth for that shoulder. I'll heat a stone for your arm, but wet heat is best for now." She looked from Rowan to Mairi. "You both look tired. I will have Grace bring the midday meal here for you to share."

Mairi looked horrified. Rowan made an awkward grimace.

"I have a meeting to attend at Abermuir. Keep Mairi in this room, Granna. She is not to leave here."

"What?" Anna looked puzzled.

"He means to keep me prisoner," Mairi said. Rowan sighed in dismay.

Anna blinked in astonishment. "Prisoner? Rowan, what does she mean?"

"I took her down last night—" he began.

Anna smiled. "I knew there was some secret between the two of you! You've abducted Mairi for your bride!"

"Bride!" Mairi burst out.

"Aye, as Jock did with me fifty years ago. Such marriages are often full of fire at first, but so much warmth later—"

"She is not my bride," Rowan ground out. "She is under March arrest."

Anna looked stunned. "Whatever do you mean?"

Mairi leaned forward. "Lady Anna, you've been kind to me. But you must know that I have gone against March law. I have been riding the Lincraig highway at night." She flashed a glance at Rowan. He watched her steadily, marveling at her ability to be gentle with others and honest about herself.

When it suited her, he reminded himself sourly.

"The Lincraig rider?" Anna stared at her. Mairi nodded. "And Rowan took you down for that?"

"Best keep her from harrying the neighbors further," he said dryly.

"Then you caused her injury," Anna said, frowning.

"That was an accident. But I caught her in the red hand—"

"'Twas not the red hand last night," Mairi interrupted. "I was not snatching anything."

"Well, I've witnessed her at it before."

"When I took you down myself!" Mairi snapped.

Anna blinked in sudden understanding. "The first day you came here, you said that you had met the Lincraig rider. Did your cracked pate come from her hand?"

"It did," Mairi said with a note of satisfaction.

He looked sternly at both of them. "My responsibility as the March deputy is to keep her confined until this matter is settled," he said coldly.

"What the devil is this? Mairi arrested as the Lincraig rider?" The open door swung wider, and Jock came into the room with Sandie behind him. "Mairi Macrae, what is this folly?" Jock asked.

Mairi shifted to face Jock, straight and proud. "'Tis true, sir," she said steadily. "I am the Lincraig rider. No one else."

Rowan had to admire the way she faced his formidable grandfather with grace and sincerity while protecting Devil's Christie and taking the whole blame on herself. He felt perplexed to see the depths in her. She was an innocent and a virago.

"Why did you ride that road?" Jock demanded.

"To help my brother," she said simply.

"Iain is held in Simon's prison. Raising a host o' reivers to break him out would have been better. What did you think to accomplish?" Jock asked.

Mairi looked flustered. Rowan cleared his throat. "She meant to stop the council from sending orders to Simon Kerr."

"Ah," Jock said, nodding. "That is a good plan."

"A fine idea," Sandie said. "I might have done the same, had it been Alec Scott was arrested. You did a brave thing, lassie. I like it, I do."

"Will you charge her and take her to trial?" Jock asked.

"I have not yet decided," Rowan answered. "For now she is a prisoner under the Leges Marchiarum."

"March laws or none, you will not imprison this lass in a household that I live in." Anna folded her arms decisively.

He sighed. "Granna—"

"She is injured," Anna said. "Last night you showed her kindness, Rowan. Last night you—"

"Aye," Mairi said. "Last night you—"

"Hush it," Rowan growled. "Last night she needed help," he told the others. "Today she must account for the trouble she has caused the dale."

"You cannot lock up a wee hurt lassie wi' naught but a flask o' water and a stale oatcake," Sandie said.

"I did not have that in mind, exactly," Rowan said.

"Every prisoner we have ever held has been treated wi' respect," Jock said. "'Tis the way o' the Blackdrummond Scotts."

"She is not being held for ransom. She chose to act the criminal. No one forced her to it."

"She had good reason," Anna commented.

"Aye, she did." Sandie nodded firmly.

"Kin helps kin in the Borders, even to the death," Jock said. "She's done an honorable deed. What crime in aiding a brother?"

Rowan avoided his grandfather's meaningful glance. "Mairi will have to face the consequences of her actions."

"How can we condemn her? Blackdrummond Scotts have broken every March law there is. Do you forget so easily?"

"Nay." Rowan drew a tense breath. "But I must follow the law." And if he did not discover the secret spy channel to Spain, his own head would be forfeit to the English.

But his grandparents did not know that. Nor were they aware that Mairi Macrae might be an essential link in the chain.

"Pish, March law," Sandie said.

Rowan set his jaw. "She will stay here, and will not be allowed to leave. Or I will imprison her somewhere else."

Jock scowled. "Verra well. Honorable confinement. Will you agree to that, Mairi?"

"She knows all about honorable confinements," Rowan said. Mairi looked sourly at him. "So, she has had trial by jury in my own household, and been declared clean of all charges. But she'll be held in Blackdrummond Tower. Where are the chains, Grandfather?"