Читать книгу Highland Vampire - Hannah Howell - Страница 10

She did not care that she had not seen Jankyn for a week, Efrica told herself firmly as she left the garden and entered the castle. The fact that she had spent a large part of her time in the garden looking up at the window to his chambers was just a matter of curiosity. It was a huge lie, but she clung to it. It was best to remind herself that the time she had just spent in the sun, enjoying its warmth and savoring the scent of roses, was exactly why Jankyn was not the man for her. He could not have even looked out upon the garden if the sun was shining in the window.

“Greetings, Efrica.”

Startled, she looked around and saw David sitting on the floor, his back against the stone wall. That was odd enough, but looking more closely, she realized he looked pale. As she stepped closer, she also noticed that he trembled slightly. Quickly kneeling by his side, she lightly touched his face, wondering if he was fevered.

“Are ye ill?” she asked.

“Nay, only weakened.” He smiled faintly. “I took Mistress Fiona for a stroll in the gardens and lingered longer than was wise. Twill pass. I can abide the sun, ye ken, but must be wary when ’tis at its strongest, and I forgot that for a wee while.”

Efrica sat down beside him. She wondered how long he had sat here, for she had not seen him or Fiona in the gardens. He had the look of his father despite his dark red hair. The purity of his features, his lean, graceful body, and his dark golden eyes marked him as a MacNachton. Obviously there were other less welcome similarities as well.

“Do ye need anything? I could help ye to your chambers.”

“Nay. Och, aye, a wee bit of Father’s wine might speed my recovery, but I try to resist that cure. I wish to marry, ye ken, and that sort of thing can alarm a wife.”

“Aye, but do ye mean to ne’er tell your wife about the MacNachtons? Ne’er return to Cambrun?”

He shook his head. “Nay, I willnae live a lie nor scorn my kinsmen.” He sat up a little straighter. “I want to wed Mistress Fiona, and it appears her family welcomes my wooing of her. I have begun to carefully prepare the way for the truth, though it may need to be hidden from her kinsmen, at least for a while. Howbeit, I cannae hide all that I am from my wife, can I?”

“Nay, ye cannae. Especially if ye feel the need to, weel, mark her as your mate.”

David nodded. “I feel it. That will be the hardest thing to explain. I fear I could lose her because of it, but I will have to tell her ere we wed. I but hope to make her love me enough to accept it all.”

Thinking of how the dainty, brown-haired Fiona looked at David, Efrica smiled. “I think she does care for you.”

“I think so, too, but it needs to be deep and strong. Father warned me that some women cannae accept it all. Aye, my mother couldnae. Tis why she wouldnae marry him. That and the fact that she foresaw how he would look as she aged, that he would soon look more like her son than her husband.”

Efrica knew that feeling. “That could also cause ye some trouble, I suppose.”

“I dinnae think I am of that ilk. I have aged as I should thus far. I dinnae heal as easily or as fast, either. Most of us who are bred of both worlds do live long lives, but nay so long as to raise much more than admiration in others.” He started to stand up, smiling when Efrica moved to help him. “My strength is returning. Since meeting Fiona, I have occasionally cursed my heritage, but there are some verra good things about it, too.”

When he took a step, he was a little unsteady, and Efrica quickly linked her arm through his. “Do ye want to go to your father now?”

“Wheesht, nay. I just need a bed to lie on, and mine suits as weel as his. He isnae in his chambers now, anyway, but in the ledger room, or whate’er it is called. He has been hard at work in his search this last sennight.”

Efrica ignored the curiosity in the look he gave her as she walked with him. “He said something about researching his heritage, but exactly what does he search for? I thought the MacNachtons had already gathered all that was kenned about their heritage yet he apparently has some questions about his own.”

“He does. We dinnae ken it all. Tis difficult for a MacNachton to travel in search of information, aye? Dangerous, as weel. Not long afore our laird wed Lady Bridget, one of ours was caught whilst aroaming and brutally executed. The priest of a village declared him a demon, ye ken.”

“Ah, of course.” It was yet another reason to tame her infatuation with Jankyn. If they wed, when she traveled to see her kinsmen, she would undoubtedly do it alone or risk losing her man to a hastily built pyre in some village.

“Father has discovered a few missing pieces in his lines, a few mysteries. He looks for answers. He begins to wonder if he is truly as pure-blooded as he was told. One thing that stirred his curiosity was how I am—more Outsider than Pureblood. Tis true that a mating of the two produces varied offspring, but I am more akin to my mother than my father in too many ways. That is unusual.”

Efrica was unable to stop herself from being intrigued. Was Jankyn not a full MacNachton? Could he be more akin to his laird than to the ones who spent most of their long, long lives in the caves beneath Cambrun? It did not matter, she told herself firmly. He was more one of the cave dwellers than his laird was. More feral, more a creature of the night. There may be more Outsider blood in him than he thought, but it had obviously been well cowed by that of the pure-blooded MacNachtons. David may be more like his mother, but he still suffered some beneath the sun and still had a taste for blood, even a need.

Once she had left David at his chamber, Efrica sought her own. She was a little surprised to find Barbara there. Although they shared the chamber, Barbara was more often out than in.

“Looking for me?” Efrica asked as she moved toward the basin of water to wash her hands.

Barbara turned a little in the chair she sat in, warming her feet by the fire. “Nay, although I did wonder where ye had gone. I but grew weary of listening to the gossip of women, useful though it can be.”

“I think ye begin to miss your husband.” Efrica poured herself a tankard of cider and sat in the chair facing Barbara. “We can leave, ye ken.”

“Nay. I do miss him and my bairns, but we shall linger here for a while longer. The finding of a husband for ye isnae something one can do quickly. Ye have stirred interest. Best to give it more time.”

Efrica grimaced and drank some of her cider. “I could weel do without some of that interest.” She brushed a clinging rose petal from the skirts of her elaborately embroidered blue gown. “Those two swine who attacked me are out of hiding again.”

“Have they troubled ye?”

“Nay, save that they make my skin crawl. They humbly begged my pardon, blaming drink for their crimes against me, and I gave it. A quick exchange of lies and polite smiles. E’en Lady Eleanor has begged my pardon, proclaiming herself appalled that her innocent, friendly suggestion caused me such trouble.”

“How did she ken it caused ye trouble?”

“A good question. I ne’er told anyone save ye and ye would ne’er tell. Nor would Jankyn.” Efrica stared into the fire. “I believe she aided those two, was fully aware of their intentions.”

“Best to avoid all three.”

“I try. Lachlan and Thomas I can avoid without raising questions. Tis a little more difficult to avoid Lady Eleanor if she doesnae wish to be avoided. Whore she may be, but she is a verra highborn, rich whore who has many a powerful friend. Most of them men, of course. She willnae trick me again, howe’er.” Thinking of how the woman had questioned her about Jankyn and the MacNachtons, Efrica frowned. “Her interest in Jankyn is verra keen.”

“I believe they were lovers for a brief while, but nay since we arrived. Indeed, nay since a long time before.”

That was something Efrica wished her cousin had not told her, although she had suspected it. “She obviously doesnae consider the affair over. Judging by some of her questions, she is also wondering if I am to blame for Jankyn’s sudden loss of interest. Then again, from what ye say, ’tisnae sudden.” She shrugged. “It doesnae matter. She need but look about and she will see that I have naught to do with it.”

“I dinnae like the sound of that. Be verra careful around the woman, Effie. Verra, verra careful.”

“Oh, I intend to be. She chills my blood. I had the passing thought as to how she would react if she saw Jankyn at his most feral, and got the feeling that would stir her lusts.”

“Because of his strength?”

“Oh, that is astonishing and it can be, weel, exciting to see him so. What woman wouldnae be stirred to see a mon so valiantly and impressively deal with her enemies? But nay, I was thinking she wouldnae have stopped him from killing those two pigs, even though it could have put Jankyn in serious danger. Nay, I think she would have encouraged it, reveled in it, had her lusts roused by the bloodiness of it.”

“Oh dear.”

“Exactly. I think that, within Lady Eleanor, is a beast more feral, more bloodthirsty, than any MacNachton e’er was. They at least can be excused because of their nature, their need, their breeding. One they have worked hard to control. Lady Eleanor has no such inclination. As we cannae completely shed the nature of the cat bred into us from that ancient Celtic priestess, thus the MacNachtons cannae completely shed that nature of the predator, the wolf, from their bloodlines. Ah, but Lady Eleanor holds a true darkness of the soul, I think.”

Barbara slowly nodded. “It would explain a lot. And ye are right. As with us, what is within the MacNachtons is the spirit of the beast. It has naught to do with morals or inclinations. It is what it is. But if what ye sense in Lady Eleanor is truly there, that is a sickness of the soul, a dark, hellish thing, and nay natural.”

“I could be wrong,” Efrica felt compelled to say.

“Ye rarely are and I saw it, too. I just couldnae name it as ye have. So, where have ye been?”

“The gardens.” She told Barbara about her meeting with David.

“Ah, so the threat of the sun doesnae completey fade in all the children of mixed blood. A shame. Howbeit, David’s bairns may nay suffer that weakness. And Fiona would be a good choice of bride. I think that beneath that sweet, shy exterior lies a strong heart, too. If the lad wins it, I think all will be weel.”

“I hope ye are right. I think he has already lost his heart. He said he feels the urge to mark her as his mate.”

Barbara smiled faintly. “Fair caught then. I must say, I was appalled when Bridget told me of it, but she said it was naught. A wee sip, she said, and only the once. Somehow I think Fiona willnae balk. Now, about this search Jankyn is on. Ye must direct him to our cousin Malcolm.”

Efrica’s eyes widened with surprise. She had completely forgotten about Malcolm. He was an odd little man with a voracious appetite for gossip, rumor, tales of the past, and any written record of any clan he could get his ink-stained hands on. If any clan had a secret, Malcolm probably knew it and had recorded it. He also lived close at hand. She realized she was eager to tell Jankyn and frowned. Honesty compelled her to admit to herself that one reason she was eager was because it would allow her to see him again.

“Mayhap ye should tell him, Barbara.”

“I fear I cannae,” Barbara said as she stood up and brushed down her skirts. “I am to meet with the ladies Beatrice and Margaret in but a few minutes. Come, Effie, ye cannae hide from the mon forever. If naught else, he abides in the same keep as your sister. There is a great difference between telling him something useful, mayhap escorting him somewhere once, and keeping company, so to speak. And mayhap ’tis best to see if ye can keep something this simple from becoming complicated. If ye cannae e’en take the mon a message, mayhap ye ought to think hard on why he afrights ye so.”

Before Efrica could respond to that, Barbara was gone. While all Barbara said was true, Efrica had the feeling there was far more to the woman’s insistence that she be the one to tell Jankyn about Malcolm. Efrica hoped her cousin was not matchmaking, had not decided that her infatuation with Jankyn ought to be fed instead of starved.

Once out of her chambers, Efrica had to find someone to tell her where the records were kept. It did not surprise her to find herself heading down into the bowels of the keep. It certainly seemed most fitting to meet Jankyn there. As she walked along a torch-lit passage, she sternly reminded herself of all the reasons she could not give in to her attraction to Jankyn. She must greet him as a kinsman, with no more than a gentle amiability. She would be strong, stalwart in her defense of her own heart. She was a woman now, not some heedless girl who had no control over her emotions.

Efrica stepped into the room where the records were stored, saw Jankyn studying some large book, and nearly cursed out loud. Her heart clenched at the sight of him. Her pulse grew a little faster. For some odd reason she felt inclined to sigh as she studied his lean form. Her mouth suddenly warmed with the memory of his kiss. For a brief moment, she wanted to flee, then her cowardice shamed her. Efrica straightened her back and moved toward him. She refused to run.