“I would,” Bridgette replied,looking as enraged as Iain felt.
“Will ye stay here and watch overMarion?” he asked Alanna. She nodded immediately.
When Iain and Bridgette opened thebedchamber door, Angus was waiting, as well as Kyla, Neil, Archibald, andIain’s brothers. Angus was the first to speak, and Iain had to swallow hardwhen he saw tears in the man’s eyes.
“How is she?” Angus croaked.
“Nae good,” Iain managed to say ina steady voice.
“Laird,” Kyla said, “may I be ofservice?”
He forced a smile. “I thank ye. Ifye’d stay with Alanna and Marion, Bridgette and I are going to see Elspeth.”
“Certainly,” Kyla replied and quicklymoved past him into the bedchamber.
When the door shut behind her, thequestions came at him from every direction. “I’ll explain as we go,” he said,and as the group worked its way to Elspeth’s house—only to find it empty—andthen to the kitchen, he told them all he knew.
When he opened the door to thekitchen to find it empty of all the women except Elspeth, Iain knew he hadmissed something he should have seen long ago. Elspeth was the only one who hadnot come to attend Marion when word had spread so rapidly of her illness.
“Laird,” Elspeth cried out. “Whokilled Marion?”
“Who killed Marion?” Angusbellowed. “She’s nae dead yet.” The older Scot snarled and stepped towardElspeth, who scrambled away.
Iain reached out and pulled Angusback, though it was hard to see with the anger clouding his vision. He handedAngus to Lachlan and motioned to Graham and Archibald. “Seize her.”
The men had Elspeth by the armsjust as she let loose a shriek. Iain ignored her screams and went withBridgette to Elspeth’s workstation. Bridgette began to poke around, shaking herhead and mumbling. “I don’t see anything,” she said, slamming her hand againstthe counter. A tankard fell from the edge, landing between Bridgette and Iain’sfeet, and dark blue berries poured out. Bridgette gasped and knelt to theground, carefully picking up a berry with the edge of her skirt. She rose andnodded as her face twisted into a mask of fury. “This is belladonna.”
All the blood rushed from Elspeth’sface, and she suddenly went limp in Graham and Archibald’s hold. Iain stareddown at the woman. He wanted answers, but now that Elspeth would be safelylocked away, she could wait. Marion needed him.
“Put her in the dungeon,” he toldGraham and Archibald and then stepped around her without a backward glance andheaded back to Marion.
He spent the night watching hiswife, who lay still as death until she was suddenly screaming and delirious.She thrashed on the bed and tried to claw at her skin, which had broken into ared, angry rash. He held her until the fit had passed, and then he took thesponge that Bridgette silently handed him and dabbed her until his eyes were soblurry he had to close them.
Iain woke with a start at the hand on his shoulder,and when he glanced up, Fiona looked down at him. He stood and inhaled a deepbreath, stilling as a familiar scent filled his nose. Swiveling back towardMarion, he leaned over and started to lower his head to her chest whenBridgette spoke. “She lives. Barely. Fiona just arrived.”
He swallowed. Suddenly, he was backat Catriona’s deathbed, and he recalled clearly the sticky-sweet smell ofdeath, hanging heavy in the air like an overly ripe fruit. He shut his eyestight and then opened them once more to find Fiona brushing past him.
For several long silent moments,she examined Marion, and then she started talking to—or rather barking ordersat—Bridgette, telling her what she needed and to make haste. Bridgette scurriedfrom the room, and Iain moved to Marion’s side and took her hand with one ofhis. He brushed the other over her forehead.
Fiona stood still beside him as helooked down at Marion. “Yer sister did this. She tried to kill Marion,” Iainsaid. He turned to look at Fiona. “Have ye any idea why she would do such athing?”
Fiona gaped at him, but after aspell, she managed to speak. “I imagine she wanted to have ye for her own. I’vethought on why she did what she has done to me, and that is what I concluded. Ithink it’s why she stirred the other clanswomen’s hatred of me and why shetricked me into being the one to actually give Marion Catriona’s gown. I vow Ididn’t plot it, but I did do the deed, and my envy is unforgivable.”
Iain nodded, not ready to offer anysort of forgiveness, in spite of her apparent regret.
Fiona took in a long rattlingbreath. “I think Elspeth was intending to rid herself of me from the very startbecause she knew I hoped to marry ye,” she said bluntly, casting her gaze downas her cheeks pinked. “When ye returned with a new bride, I suppose Elspethsimply altered her plot to include ridding ye of Marion, as well. Have yespoken to Elspeth yet?”
“Nay. I’m afraid my hands wouldfind their way around her neck.”
Fiona sighed. “I understand. Ikinnae imagine what she was thinking to poison Marion. Bridgette told me ofit,” Fiona offered before he even thought to ask how she knew. “I hope ye canforgive me one day.”
Iain stared down at Marion, whosebreathing was still irregular. “Ye save Marion and I’ll forgive ye.”
The vigil lasted three days. And though it was thesecond time he’d stood such a vigil, it was not any easier than the first.Perchance it was harder because he knew the pain that might come.
Fiona had stayed by Marion’s siderelentlessly, and Iain knew that even if Marion did not live, he had to forgiveFiona. She was as haggard as he was from lack of sleep.
On the third night, moments afterhis brothers had left the room to report clan news and try to entreat him tolet one of them watch over Marion so he could sleep, Marion’s eyes flickeredopen. The moment they did, her hand fluttered to her belly. The bright joy hefelt to see her green eyes fixed on him dulled at the thought that he had totell her of the bairn. He shoved out of his chair, and Fiona stirred besidehim. She blinked her eyes, looked at Marion, and smiled brightly, then hastilygot up and scurried from the room, softly shutting the door behind her.
