BEATRICE woke up to the shrill scream of a servant.
“’Tis best if ye both hurry. The new laird is not in the habit of waiting for anything, least of all his food.”
Beatrice nudged Lady McIntyre, who rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
“We’ll be only but a moment.” Beatrice called out.
The servant left the cell open, but Beatrice suspected the servant waited outside in the hall beyond the passage. She righted her gown to ensure the sachets were still stitched beneath.
Lady McIntyre raised a brow when she noticed that she was bringing the sachets.
“What are those?”
“A pleasant surprise.”
They raced out the door and followed the servant into the kitchen where others were preparing oatcakes and salmon. Beatrice, noticing the pitcher of ale had been left unattended, raced to pick it up, but not before dumping the contents of one sachet in. She swirled the contents, hoping no one would notice when the ale was poured.
As the other servants left the kitchens with the food, Beatrice and Lady McIntyre followed behind.
“Ah, such a pleasant sight to see. Our prisoners already put to work,” Angus McKenzie said gleefully.
Luckily for her, the men and women were drinking out of tin goblets, and the cloudiness the herbs would create would be masked. She went around the table, pouring generous portions and moving on to the next individual. Once she was done, she left the hall and raced toward the kitchen again. She was going to dump the contents when another servant came in.
“You doona mean to dump that before the English outside have been served, do ye?”
“I am sorry.” Beatrice’s body hummed with an unfamiliar excitement. Not once had she dreamed she’d live to see the day she’d poison English. “I did not know they were wanting some. I will be out there momentarily.”
What she wouldna do to see some Englishmen foam at the mouth. A fitting end to their journey here in the Highlands. She added some more ale into the pitcher before adding some of the new herbs. She had to wonder how much poison was in the sachet, but the less she knew, the better it was for her.
By the time she reached outside, she observed servants leaving the English tent.
“That best not be water, wench. Our men prefer an ale at this time of the morning.”
“’Tis ale.” Ye idiotic creatures.
She entered the tent and poured the drink into their goblets and watched one by one drink from it. Pride swelled within her chest. This was a moment she wished Colin had been here to see, but he wasna. With any luck he was waiting beyond the crest to strike at the McKenzies.
What she didna count on was what would happen if the clan suspected that they’d been poisoned. Before that would happen, and at the first sight of all the warriors falling ill, she and Lady McIntyre would race for the hills behind the keep and escape out of plain sight.
Beatrice returned to the keep to notice out of the corner of her eye a few soldiers swaying on their feet.
“I’m not feeling too well.”
“I too doona feel well,” said Angus.
It was then she came face to face with Mary Gwendolyn, who shoved her and took the pitcher. “What have ye done?”
The woman then put her nose to the pitcher, and when she didna notice anything out of the ordinary, she took a swig from the pitcher and shoved it back into Beatrice’s hands.
“If I find out ye have meddled with their drink, I will kill ye myself.”
Beatrice shrugged. “You know, after all ye have said and done, I personally cannot think a better way for ye to die.”
She walked away and headed to the kitchen in hopes of finding Lady McIntyre there. When she arrived, she did notice Colin’s mother was there, albeit not alone. Angus McKenzie was there and furious, yet also ill.
“What did ye wenches do?” he roared, trying to hold back vomit.
It was then they heard something off in the distance. It sounded like a battle cry and…
Her thoughts were broken when servants came running into the kitchens. The cook waved her arms in the air. “We are under attack! And all the soldiers are ill.”
McKenzie barely stirred as he fell to his knees and vomited. Between heaving breaths, he tried to rise to his feet but failed with every attempt.
Beatrice grabbed Lady McIntyre’s hand and pulled her along. “Let us leave this place before we get caught in the middle of the battle. With fortune, Colin might see us running out of here.”
The ladies ran with all their might. Instead of running toward where the battle was taking place on the south side of the keep, they ran west, headed for the trees.
They’d barely made it when horses came up behind them, nearly trampling them over.
“Ladies! Do stop, would you?” Cormac shouted.
Shaking and out of breath, Beatrice turned to find Cormac, Giric, and Colin.
Relief flooded her body. Beatrice fell to her knees and began to cry. Her laird came to her side and cupped her cheeks.
“My dear Beatrice. Why are ye crying? Ye are finally free. Ye and my mama will travel with Giric and Cormac to the keep. I will take care of the rest with Armstrong and MacNeil.”
“As ye wish, laird.”
She could barely look at him in the eye after everything that had transpired. It wasna her wish to dishonor him now, but she’d gone and poisoned the lot of the enemies in order to get them out of the keep, and she’d have to take her penance just as soon she arranged to make her confession.
“Look at me, lass.”
His mama interjected. “Ye do realize we are alive because of her.”
“I do, and I cannae be more proud of ye, Beatrice.”
Beatrice looked up. When their gazes met, he brought her hands to his lips and kissed them.
“Whatever troubles ye will be nothing more than a distant memory. Leave this place with the only memory that ye will be mine, and from this day forward, ye will never, ever have to find means of escape.”
“We best be going, ladies,” Giric announced. “The longer we wait, the more we are asking for trouble.”
Beatrice and Colin’s mama climbed up to their mounts with the aid of their laird. She was pleased, but at this moment, she quaked with fear from her actions. Would the good Lord strike her down for her sins, or would he forgive her transgressions?
Many people had fallen ill because of her, Sinclairs and the McKenzies. These last few days would forever be ingrained in her mind.