Merida knew she must look like a fish gasping for breath the way her mouth hung open, but she could not close it. She just stood there, staring at the princess. She must have heard her wrong.
“Did you say you are planning your escape?” Merida asked when she was finally able to speak.
Elinor nodded excitedly.
“But…why?”
“Why I am leaving is not important. The only thing that matters is that I leave before the Highland Games begin,” Elinor replied.
“What is so undesirable about the Highland Games?” Merida asked.
But then understanding dawned. Had she herself not just run away from DunBroch during the Highland Games? She knew better than most exactly what significance the games held to a princess of a certain age.
This must have been the year in which the firstborn sons from various clans would compete for her mother’s hand, with her betrothal being announced shortly after. Apparently, like Merida, Princess Elinor did not agree with being handed out like a prize at a village fair.
Merida tried to summon a modicum of sympathy for MacCameron Castle’s princess, but all she could feel in the moment was an overwhelming sense of resentment.
How many times had she been forced to listen to her mother go on and on about the importance of marriage and how it was a sacred duty she should embrace? Yet here Princess Elinor was, planning her big escape because she did not want to honor this archaic tradition. What about those stories of how marrying King Fergus was the best thing that had ever happened to her? To hear her parents talk about their romance, one would assume her mother had been delighted at the thought of becoming betrothed.
Merida’s heart skipped as a thought suddenly occurred to her.
Was this the answer to her dilemma?
If her mother were to stay until the Highland Games, and her father were to enter and win her hand, Merida would not have to go through the trouble of bringing them together.
Freya did not say that her parents must meet in the same way they originally had, just that they must fall in love. Her father winning the princess’s hand would take care of the first part of that equation. She could only assume that love would eventually blossom between the two of them once they were together. It had happened once, hadn’t it? Merida saw how her father lit up whenever her mother walked into a room, how the queen’s eyes sparkled when he shared an anecdote. There were no two better suited for each other. And wouldn’t an automatic betrothal help speed things up?
Merida could scarcely believe it, but it seemed the tradition she had despised with all her soul would be her saving grace.
Except that Elinor was determined not to go through with a betrothal at all.
“Is that what you were doing when you found me?” Merida now asked. “Were you trying to escape?”
“Shhh,” Elinor said. She looked back at the door again, then answered Merida with a short nod. In a low whisper, she said, “And that is why you must help me, because I abandoned my plans in order to help you.”
“But—”
Elinor reached out and covered Merida’s mouth with her palm. She stuck her head in the air, listening. That was when Merida also heard it. There was shuffling on the other side of the door. Elinor put a finger to her own lips a moment before the door to the bathing room opened and the maid, Orla, entered.
“Princess,” Orla said. “What are you doing in here?”
“I…uh…I wanted to check Merida’s wound but was afraid to do so on the bed. I did not want to dirty the linens in case her injury was bleeding.”
“Oh, you should leave that for the physician, Princess.” Orla came farther into the small room, her eyes roaming over Merida. “How is that head?” she asked.
“’Tis better, I think,” Merida said.
“But not healed completely,” Elinor said through clenched teeth. She glared at Merida before turning to the maid. “I fear it is too dangerous for Merida to make the journey back to her home. In fact, I am not sure she even knows where her home is. She first claimed to be of Clan Argyll, and now she is saying she is from Lothian.”
Merida was shocked at how easily the lies flowed from her mother’s mouth.
“Do you not know your people, lass?” Orla asked.
“I…” Merida looked to Elinor, wondering why she would choose clans that were so far away. But then she remembered what the princess had said about the fragility of the peace alliance. War and strife had ruled this land prior to the treaty between the clans; it was all many of these people had ever known. Merida understood why it might be difficult to forge trust between the clans—despite the peace accord—after so many years of fighting.
“I wish I could remember my people,” Merida said, putting a hand to her head. “I cannot remember anything.”
“You poor lass,” Orla said.
“A head injury like hers may take days to recover from, even as much as a fortnight,” Elinor said. “I believe she should remain at MacCameron Castle until she is well.” She held her clasped hands to her chest. “I, for one, would not be able to live with myself if she were to suffer an even nastier injury because we turned her loose too soon.”
Merida was stunned by Elinor’s performance. Her mother had nearly convinced her that she was not well enough to travel.
“I understand, Princess.” Orla nodded. “But, as you know, it is up to the king and queen whether or not she is allowed to remain here. Queen Catriona is not fond of guests.”
“No, she is not,” Elinor said. She bit her bottom lip, and Merida could practically see the wheels turning in her head. A moment later she snapped to attention, her eyes widening as she looked from Orla to Merida and back again. “But what if Merida was to work here?”
“What?” Merida and Orla asked at the same time.
“The queen would be more inclined to have her stay if she were earning her keep, would she not?” Elinor turned to Orla. “What about in the kitchens? Hilda is with child and will deliver soon. Merida can take her place until she returns. I believe Mother would not object, don’t you, Orla?”
“Well, I don’t know, Princess. We are short one girl in the kitchens.” The maid looked to Merida. “Can you cook?”
“I…I can clean,” Merida said. “And chop. I chop turnips all the time.”
She did not, but Merida figured if Elinor had no problem telling untruths so freely, she should be able to do so also.
Elinor nodded. “And this way, the physician can continue to care for her wound until all her faculties have returned.”
“Maybe ’tis dangerous to have her in the kitchens if she does not have all her faculties about her,” Orla said.
Elinor waved that off as if it was unimportant. “You can instruct the staff to keep her away from the fire and the knives. As long as she is safe, but deemed useful, the queen will not demand she leave.”
Orla looked skeptical, but after a moment, she lifted her shoulders in a helpless shrug. “Maybe she can work in the larder and Rhona can move into Hilda’s place until she has that wee babe. I will suggest it to Duncan. He has control over the kitchens.”
“Yes, please talk to Duncan. Let him know how important this is to the princess,” Elinor said.
“Sorry, lass, but Duncan will not be thinking of you when he makes his decision. He will be thinking about what Queen Catriona will say.”
Merida had yet to meet the queen, but from the tone of this discussion, she gathered her grandmother ran a very strict household.
She did not care what she had to do to convince the queen that she should stay. Merida would scrub pots and pans in the scullery, if necessary, as long as she was able to remain here until the start of the Highland Games.
Ensuring that her father was the suitor who won her mother’s hand in whatever challenge the princess chose for the competition was another matter, but Merida would figure out how to deal with that later. All that mattered at the moment was that she had a plan.
The three of them filed out of the bathing room and back into the sleeping chamber. The moment Orla left the room, Elinor turned to Merida with a gleeful smile.
“This will be perfect,” the princess said. “It will give us all the time we need for you to teach me everything you know.”
“But how? If I am being hired to work, will I not have to…well…work?”
“I shall talk to some of the lasses in the kitchens and let them know that you are not to be tasked too hard. Maybe we can work it out so that you must work only in the morning! And once you are done with your duties, we can head to the forest, and you can train me.”
The resemblance to her mother was a little disconcerting. Queen Elinor had a knack for conceiving meticulous plans at a moment’s notice.
“I am not entirely sure this will work,” Merida said. “What if your mother does not allow me to stay?”
Elinor chewed her bottom lip again, contemplating. “Then I’ll hide you,” she finally said. “What about the stables?”
“You want me to sleep with the horses?”
“It was just a suggestion,” Elinor said. She waved that off. “But it will not matter, because I will talk to Duncan myself. He will convince the queen to let you work in the kitchens.” She walked over to the bed and lifted a feather pillow. “Now, I must warn you that the servants’ quarters are not as nicely appointed as these. I have not visited them in ages, but from what I remember they are very small. You shall have a room for yourself, however, and I will sneak in better linens for you.”
She walked over to Merida and grabbed her hands. With an earnest smile, she said, “I will make your stay as comfortable as possible, I promise.”
“You are willing to do all of this just so that I can teach you to start a fire?” Merida asked.
She wanted to remain at MacCameron Castle—needed to remain here—but still could not believe that Elinor would go to such lengths for these lessons.
“Yes,” Elinor said. “And to fish, and hunt, and do all the other things one must do to survive several days’ journey in the forest.”
Merida stared at her for a moment before asking, “Where will you go?”
Elinor shook her head. “I shall not say. Even to you. It is too dangerous. Once the king learns of my escape, he will send for me. And if you know where I am headed, he will do all he can to retrieve the information from you.”
“But what is to stop him from doing those things anyway? Won’t he think I am not being truthful if I say I do not know where you have run off to?”
Elinor released a deep sigh. “This does not matter. When the time comes, we shall leave together. You for DunBroch and me for my new life. We can even travel the same path until you reach your home.”
“So your plans will take you farther than DunBroch?”
“Of course,” Elinor said. “All I am willing to share is that I plan to go far from this kingdom and the lands surrounding it. Any chieftain that owes fealty to the king is a danger to me. They will all inform the king if I am seen on their lands. That includes DunBroch.”
The princess’s earnestness was troubling. It was obvious to Merida that her mother had thought this through and was determined to stick to her plan.
Convincing Princess Elinor to give Fergus of DunBroch a chance to win her hand was going to be harder than Merida thought.