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.“I am ready,” Blair said as she braided her long, pale hair and wound the braid around her head.Graeme offered his arm.“Let us not keep my clansmen waiting.”Blair had no idea what Graeme intended to tell his people.She knew they feared her, and she wondered what Graeme could say to ease their minds.Talk ceased the moment they entered the hall.Blair wanted to cringe at the sullen looks directed at her but walked steadily beside Graeme.Graeme signaled for silence, and when he gained the attention he sought, began to speak.He started by explaining why King James had summoned the Highland chieftains to Inverness.Cries of protest filled the hall at the king’s treachery.“If not for the floods, I would have gone to Inverness and been executed along with five other unfortunate chieftains.Heath was there.He brought word of the executions.Forty others were charged with treason.The king ordered them taken to Edinburgh and imprisoned.“He rescinded those orders when he received word that the English army was massing at the border and threatening to take Sterling if his ransom wasn’t paid.James needs the Highlanders’ help to raise money for his ransom.He also needs them to fight on his behalf should the English invade.”“What about those poor bastards he executed?” Stuart asked.“Did he strip their families of their lands?”“I believe ’twas his intention,” Heath answered.“But he left Inverness with his army before he gave the order.For the time being, their families are safe.”“Thank God for the flood!” someone yelled.A chorus of ayes followed.Graeme signaled for silence.“Had I gone to Inverness as planned, I would have been executed.But as you well know, I committed no treason.”“ ’Twas MacArthur and MacKay who accused our laird,” Heath declared.“ ’Tis the witch’s fault,” a voice from the back of the hall charged.“My wife is blameless!” Graeme shouted over the din.“Yesterday she was attacked by a group of irate villagers.She almost died at their hands.My lady was thrown into the loch and would have drowned, had I not been nearby.“I am giving everyone fair warning.I will not tolerate violence of any kind against my wife.She is innocent of any wrongdoing.’Tis her brother who wishes me ill.He doesna want to part with Blair’s dowry.Anyone who tries to harm Blair will be punished.Do I make myself clear?”“She has bewitched ye!” one of Graeme’s clansmen charged.Graeme smiled at Blair.“Aye, Robbie, but not in the way you think.One day you or yours might need Blair’s healing skills, and when that day comes, you will be glad for her help.”He grasped her hand and held it against his heart.“I am wed to a Faery Woman and glad of it.Go now and spread the word.I will protect what is mine with my dying breath.”Blair couldn’t believe what she was hearing.Graeme’s protective words meant everything to her.No one except her parents and those MacArthurs who knew and loved her had ever spoken in her defense.“Thank you,” Blair whispered as Graeme seated her at the high table.“You saved my life.’Tis the least I can do.” He kissed her forehead.“I have to go.There’s still work to be done on the bridge.”The following days were some of the happiest Blair had ever known.During the day she worked with her herbs, and at night she lay in Graeme’s arms, making love until exhaustion claimed them.It was wonderful waking up with Graeme beside her.Sometimes they made love in the morning, and she savored those precious moments, for something told her they wouldn’t last.All her life it had seemed that happiness lay just beyond her reach.Others might attain it, but not she.One day Blair was in the stillroom when Alyce burst through the door.“Father Lachlan is here to see ye, lass.He says there’s sickness at Gairloch.”“Oh, no! I must speak to him at once.Pack my herbs and medicines.If my kinsmen need my skills, I will go to them.”“Yer husband will have something to say about that,” Alyce huffed.“I dinna think he will let ye go.”“We will see about that,” Blair said as she rushed out the door.Father Lachlan was waiting in the hall.His face lit up when he saw Blair.“Ye’re looking well, lass,” the priest said.“I am verra well, Father.What’s amiss at Gairloch?”“I dinna know the nature of the illness that has felled yer brother, for he allows no one inside his chamber but one or two trusted servants.I offered to hear his confession and anoint him, but I was refused entrance to the sickroom.”“Are others sick as well? What of Gavin and Cook?”“Niall has dismissed yer father’s people and replaced them with those loyal to him.No one else is sick that I know of.Niall’s man told me he has been asking for you.”Blair’s eyes went round with disbelief.“Niall is asking for me? ’Tis passing strange that he would do so.”“I thought the same.What prompted me to come here was fear that his sickness would spread.Niall wouldna ask for ye unless he believed he was dying.There is no skilled healer at Gairloch, and I fear a contagious disease will decimate our people.Will ye come to Gairloch with me, lass?”Blair considered Lachlan’s request.She knew the priest would neither harm her nor allow her to be harmed, but at the same time she wouldn’t put trickery past Niall.Still, if there was sickness at Gairloch, her kinsmen needed her skills to prevent an epidemic.She thanked God that despite her loss of powers, she still retained her healing skills and knowledge of herbs.“Verra well, Father.When do you wish to leave?”“The sooner the better, lass.I will speak with yer husband first, however.”As if on cue, Graeme strode into the hall.“Father Lachlan, I heard you were here.Is something wrong?”“There’s sickness at Gairloch,” Blair explained.“Niall is ill and sent Father Lachlan to fetch me.”“You want to go to Gairloch?” Graeme asked, astounded.“Nay, you canna.”“Graeme, be reasonable.My kinsmen need me.There is no healer at Gairloch.Niall wouldna have sent for me if he wasna desperate.”“I dinna trust him.”“Father Lachlan wouldna have come for me if he sensed danger.”“Ye’re right, lass,” Lachlan said.“I questioned Niall’s men closely, and they swore Niall is near death, and that he calls for ye.”“I would feel better about this if you had seen him yourself, Father,” Graeme said.“I must go, Graeme,” Blair insisted.“Nay.”“Father Lachlan will be with me.”“I can wield a sword as well as the next mon,” Lachlan said
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