She wished her father hadn’t insisted upon making the journey. If Alistair and Barrow had been her only companions, she was certain she would have had a mount of her own. Ember’s presence riding alongside two men would have given the pilgrims even greater cause to gossip, which would have delighted her. She would have ridden beside Barrow. Instead she was a prisoner in the dark carriage with only her whimpering sister and dour mother as company.
Agnes cried out and almost jumped into her mother’s lap when there was a sharp rapping on the carriage door.
“Peace, dear ladies.” Alistair’s cheerful voice was only slightly muffled by the barrier. “We’ve reached the north end of Glen Shiel and we’ve just spotted Tearmunn and Loch Duich beyond.”
Ember resisted the urge to clap in delight, knowing her mother would chasten her. She waited until her mother deigned to answer, “Thank you, Alistair.”
Ember swallowed a sigh, envious that Alistair had spent the trip out of doors astride his mount. Even with the constant rain chasing their party, Ember would have preferred enduring the elements to her confinement.
“At last this wretched trip is over.” Ossia wrung her hands, eyeing Ember. “Though if all goes as we expect, we’ll return on the morrow.”
Ember didn’t respond. Her hopes and those of her family diverged with no hope of reconciliation.
“Only if Mackenzie is present.” Agnes worried at the brooch on her cloak while Ember frowned. Agnes had grown deeply attached to what Ember had assumed was a love token sent from France by her betrothed. Ember had even been tempted to steal it and hide it, only to see if Agnes could survive a day without it. But Agnes had confessed the brooch wasn’t a gift from her betrothed. Whom could it be from?
Since they’d departed her father’s house, Ember hadn’t been able to speak to her sister alone. She worried over Agnes’s persistent gray pallor and frequent sickness.
“Father said he must pay his respects to Mackenzie given he’s the clan leader nearest Tearmunn,” Agnes continued, trying to keep the conversation pleasant.
“Of course, of course,” Ossia said. “But surely Mackenzie will be there.”
Ember’s mother wore an increasingly sour expression. She hated travel, being happiest in her own manor, directing the activities of the kitchen. Much to Ember’s despair, her mother believed that carding wool, spinning yarn, and occasionally embroidering were delightful ways to while away the hours and insisted her daughters spend their time doing the same.
“If Mackenzie is there, his son will be too.” Agnes’s gaze settled on Ember, and worry crept over her face. “I suspect Father hopes a match will be made.”
Ember gave her sister a tolerant smile and went back to musing about her future—one that she hoped wouldn’t involve matches of any sort. The carriage jolted again and Agnes groaned, clutching her stomach.
“We’re nearly there.” Ossia took Agnes’s trembling hand. Agnes nodded, her face pale.
Ember’s insides had begun to churn as well, but it had nothing to do with their transport’s inability to manage the poor conditions of the road. Soon they would arrive at the Conatus stronghold at Tearmunn, and on the morrow her fate would be decided. Ember closed her eyes, offering a silent prayer that the knights would find a purpose for her other than marrying a son of Mackenzie.
“Are you unwell also?” Her mother’s question snapped Ember’s eyes open.
“No,” Ember said.
Ossia smiled, turning back to still-whimpering Agnes. Ember watched her sister with concern, increasingly anxious that Agnes’s distress was the result of much more than a dyspeptic stomach.
An hour later the carriage rocking ceased and its door was flung open to reveal the ruddy, bearded face of Ember’s father. Though he didn’t look as ill as Agnes, he was obviously in a foul temper as he reached for his wife’s hand.
“My lady.” With his aid, Ossia carefully descended from the char branlant. Ember let Agnes exit second, despite the fact that she was desperate to throw herself from the close confines of the carriage. Agnes kept a handkerchief pressed to her mouth as she leaned heavily onto her father. She gave a small cry when the horses, restless and eager to be free of their harness, whinnied loudly and began pawing at the earth.
“There, there, lass,” he said. When Agnes was safely in her mother’s care, he turned to Ember.
“Ember.” His voice offered none of the coaxing tone with which he’d addressed her sister.
Though she didn’t want or need to, Ember took his proffered hand, allowing him to assist her out of the carriage. She’d done enough to incur her father’s wrath of late and had no desire to provoke him further. The moment Ember’s feet touched the ground, her father turned away, moving to join his wife and elder daughter.
“I don’t think Agnes will do well when she’s sent to France.” Alistair approached Ember. “Sea voyages can be much worse than overland travel.”
Ember laughed, but guilt made her offer an excuse for her sister. “It’s not entirely her fault. The roads were awful.” Her mind returned to the way Agnes clutched the brooch. How often she seemed close to tears. What was Agnes keeping from her?
“That’s because they’re rarely used.” Alistair’s words broke through her thoughts. “Tearmunn is at the ends of the earth because we don’t encourage nor do we want visitors.”
The ends of the earth, Ember thought with a shiver born of fear and excitement, and it’s to be my new home.
Alistair was watching her, only half hiding his smile. “First impressions?”
Ember frowned at him in confusion.
“The fortress?” he asked.
Having been so relieved to be free of the carriage box, Ember hadn’t bothered to take in her surroundings. Now she turned and gasped. The carriage had stopped outside of an immense stone structure that lay nestled against the steep hillsides of Glen Shiel. Spikes of sunlight pierced through the heavy gray skies, making patches of water sparkle on the backdrop to the fortress, Loch Duich, for a few moments before they disappeared again, leaving the waters dark and secretive.
Tearmunn itself was an imposing, solitary stronghold, its gray stone form as bleak as the skies that hung low above it. The outer walls of the keep shielded the inner buildings of the fortress from view. From below, Ember spotted archers keeping watch from their perches along the top of the walls.