A Beautiful Lie (The Camaraes) (102 page)

Bridghe stepped into the room, pushing her two children before her.  Muira murmured a soft
‘
hello
’
to the whole family, which none of them seemed to acknowledge. 
“
Now, you two will play calmly, and nicely,
and calmly
,
”
Bridghe was saying, turning the twins back around to face her. 
“
Your Uncle Lachlan will tan your hides if you break anything in here!
”

“
Aww, no he won
’
t mama,
”
Bridghe
’
s young son, Roan, argued emphatically. 
“
Remember when I broke that big vase of Grama
’
s?  Uncle just laughed!
”
  Bridghe seemed to pale visibly at the memory.

“
Grama didn
’
t laugh though,
”
Maeve chimed in helpfully. 
“
She said-
”

“
I don
’
t think we need to dwell on that little incident,
”
Bridghe said quickly.  She turned to Muira and smiled weakly. 
“
They can be lively little things when the mood takes them.
”
  But she seemed to scan the room quickly for breakables.

Muira glanced wearily at the two
‘
lively little things.
’
  They were currently bouncing on her bed, trying to see which of them could jump the highest. 

“
Mama!  Mama, tell Maeve I can jump better than her!  She
’
s just a girl-
”

Maeve gave an indignant scream and launched herself at her brother.  Bridghe dove between the pair of them, pulling them apart and hauling them off the bed. 

“
Maeve, why don
’
t you help me to get your Auntie Muira ready?
”
Bridghe said, trying to distract the little girl. 
“
And Roan, you can-
”

But Roan had already decided what he could do- it seemed to involve making a fortress out of the poor abused bed.  Maeve squealed at the unfairness, and Muira told Bridghe to let the twins do as they pleased, she didn
’
t have the energy to witness tantrums this morning.

“
You didn
’
t have to come and stay with me you know, Bridghe,
”
she said quietly, disappearing behind a screen while her sister-in-law selected an appropriate morning dress.

“
I don
’
t mind,
”
Bridghe said, her voice not void of its previous lightness. 
“
Lachlan didn
’
t want you left alone,
”
she confessed. 
“
And I agreed with him.
”

“
Why?
”
Muira sighed, allowing Bridghe to help her with her corset, but she didn
’
t listen to the answer. 

What difference did it make if she endured the morning alone or surrounded by people?  You could feel alone in a crowded room- that was how Muira currently felt.  Bridghe
’
s chatter, or the children
’
s squeals and shrieks should have distracted her, but it was as though she were standing outside of it all.  The one think that seemed real was the ominous tick of the clock. 

At six o
’
clock, that was when it would happen, on the first chime of the bells. 

Somehow, some corner of Muira
’
s mind had never expected six o
’
clock to come.  Time would stop, or skip forward, or
something
, it couldn
’
t really be going to happen, it was too awful, too unfathomable
…
and then it did, it had, and the castle shuddered with the tolling of the bells, and Muira jerked out of her seat and retched.

..ooOOoo..

He was going to remember the sight forever.

It wasn
’
t one of those things that would fade with time, or be forgotten as the years rolled by.  It was as if it had been scorched and scarred onto the very rawest corner of his memory.  Lachlan already knew that this imaged would stay with him for the rest of his life.  When he closed his eyes he could still see it
–
Tavish MacEantach
’
s body twitching and writhing at the end of the hangman
’
s noose, looking like some grotesque parody of a worm on a hook
–
and when he opened his eyes again, it was still happening there in front of him.

“
Poor bastard,
”
Ewan muttered quietly.  Tavish
’
s neck clearly hadn
’
t been broken by the fall and he now had to endure the slow horrifying torture of asphyxiation.  Often the crowd would force the guards to take pity in such a case and quicken the condemned
’
s demise
…
but not today.  Today they were wickedly thirsty to see the man suffer.

Muira
’
s brother was standing with Donaid beside the new Laird, watching the spectacle with a surprising amount of dispassion, Lachlan thought.  His own stomach was turning as he watched Tavish
’
s body gradual still as the life he had fought so frantically to cling to ebbed from him.   A few moments before, as Tavish had been lead to the gallows, he has search the crowd and found Lachlan, Ewan and Donaid easily.  The look he had shot them had been one of pure eternal hatred.

Lachlan wasn
’
t afraid of the dead, but he worried for the living.  He didn
’
t know how Muira was going to cope,
if
she was going to cope.  He didn
’
t know if he could help her, because he wasn
’
t sure how to help himself.  And then he worried that some MacEantach relative would show up at Eilean Donan one day in the future and demand retribution for the lose of a favour uncle or nephew or son.

How many times had Lachlan wished that things had been different?  That Graem, God rest his soul, had never extended an invitation to the Camerons?  Lachlan had warned Muira against such fruitless practice, but he couldn
’
t manage it himself.

“
His parents will want the body,
”
Donaid was said quietly.  The young Cameron tanist looked rather pale.  Lachlan began to shake his head.  Prisoner
’
s bodies were not given back over to their relatives; they were not buried in consecrated ground. 
“
Laird MacRae, the MacEantachs are a powerful family within my clan I-
”

“
Do not want them upset?
”
Lachlan finished smoothly. 
“
I think it is rather too late for that, sir.
”
  Donaid looked affronted, but Ewan laid a hand on his cousin
’
s shoulder. 
“
You can take his signet ring, and anything else of sentimental value, back to his mother, but I cannot let you have the body.  You say the MacEantach family is powerful within your clan?  Well my whole clan would revolt if I allowed the murderer of their friends, families and laird a proper Christian burial.
”

“
We understand,
”
Ewan said seriously. 

Donaid still looked unhappy, but he nodded his agreement.  Lachlan dipped in head in a bow in return, and then gave the order for Tavish
’
s lifeless body to be cut down.

The crowd had fallen eerily silent.  They had been baying for blood ever since Tavish had been led out in front of them, but now
…
now it was all over, and they seemed not to know what to with themselves.  They slowly dispersed, moved away from the erected gallows in a slow jumble of bodies.  It was as though they had just woke from a dream and were still coming back to their selves.

“
You
’
ll want to go and see Muira, no doubt?
”

Lachlan turned in surprise to Ewan.  He was looking very
…
brotherly and protective, and
brotherly
, for want of a better word.  And Lachlan wasn
’
t actually sure that he did want to go and see Muira
…
He hated to seem cowardly, but he was worried about how she was going to react.

“
I need-
”

“
I can deal with things here, sir,
”
Ross said quickly, and competently, and Lachlan didn
’
t really have a leg to stand on.  Things
were
in order, to his quiet astonishment.

“
All right, but I won
’
t be long,
”
Lachlan heard himself mutter as he headed back to the castle to speak to his wife
–
to tell her that her ex-fianc
é
was dead
…
executed
…
he may has well have been killed by Lachlan
’
s own hand.  He
’
d passed the sentence, and signed the death warrant.