Page 1 of Laird of Smoke
Chapter 1
Perth, Scotland
Spring 1160
The best thing about being a nun was the invisibility.
Eve tucked a stray wisp of her chestnut hair under her plain white veil.She lowered her eyes to the damp sod, her manner dutiful, humble.With her tresses hidden, and her feminine curves obscured by a nondescript gray habit, she was completely unnoticeable.Dull.Ordinary.No more conspicuous than a dead autumn leaf blowing along the ground.
Now she could venture wherever she willed without drawing attention.Which was how she managed to steal her way into the middle of the angry throng gathered before Perth Castle.
No one gave her a second glance as she wove her way through camps of striped clan pavilions, sparring soldiers, and muttering lairds.She attracted no attention as she shuffled past them all.Men-at-arms sharpening their weapons.Horses in harness stamping the sod.Maids in greasy aprons cooking oatcakes over scattered fires.
She’d learned about the siege at Perth at the nunnery.Her convent sisters might not be the most worldly women.But they had an ear for news and a penchant for gossip.
Word was King Malcolm had at last returned from abroad and was back home in Scotland.
Many of his lairds, however, were unhappy.They felt young Malcolm had made too many gestures of friendliness toward King Henry of England.At Toulouse, he’d even dared to side with Henry against Scotland’s ancient ally, France.
Rumor had it Malcolm had courted Henry’s affections simply for the honor of being knighted by the powerful king.If that had been the end of it, his moment of youthful vanity and hero worship might have been forgiven by the lairds.But to further appease Henry, Malcolm had offered to return to the English king some of the Scots lairds’ hard-won clan lands.
Six of the malcontent lairds had therefore gathered troops to lay siege to Perth Castle, where the Scots king currently resided.They hoped to force Malcolm to renounce his alliance with Henry and to secure the return of their holdings.
It was a challenging situation.King Malcolm could hardly go back on his word and undermine his new friendship with Henry.But as Eve passed through the ranks of clansmen, she heard their bitterness, their animosity.They felt betrayed by their king.The king to whom they’d once sworn an oath of fealty.
As Eve saw it, there was just one thing that transcended loyalty to king and clan.
One force that could unite them all.
One entity capable of returning peace to the realm.
God.
A sennight ago, sitting in her humble cell, packing her things, Eve had felt sure she could be a much-needed agent of change.She could bring the Lord God to these negotiations.Certainly she had the diplomacy to broker peace between the king and the clans.To be the instrument of His will.
It was what she always hoped.Spreading the word of God was her duty as a nun, after all.
Unfortunately, the abbess at the convent didn’t always agree with Eve’s liberal interpretation of God’s will.So Eve usually had to do the Lord’s work on her own, without the abbess’s knowledge.
Of course, Eve always confessed to whatever liberties she’d taken.Eventually.Then the abbess would furrow her brow, chew at her lip, and shake her head.But the large stipend Eve’s father sent to the convent was usually enough to keep the abbess from protesting too much.
It wasn’t that Eve was intentionally willful.She simply couldn’t help her sense of conviction.She got bored with the everyday charity the sisters practiced.Collecting alms for the poor.Feeding the hungry.Praying for the sick.
Eve was meant for more.She could feel that, even though the abbess warned her that was only the sin of pride whispering in her ear.
Eve didn’t believe that.She simply wanted to do good in the world.To right wrongs.To balance injustices.To take a stand for those who couldn’t defend themselves.
It was the reason she’d agreed several days ago to help an old acquaintance, Sir Hew du Lac of Rivenloch.The poor lovelorn Sir Hew had been torn from the object of his affections, Lady Carenza.Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, Carenza had been mistakenly betrothed to Hew’scousin,the illustrious Sir Gellir Cameliard.Natually, Hew was devastated.
As for Eve, she’d been more than happy to help untangle the star-crossed hearts.Praying for God’s blessing on her good deed, she’d stolen the bride-to-be right from under the bridegroom Gellir’s nose and spirited her away to the convent to marry Sir Hew in a clandestine wedding.
Had her intervention been a wee bit daring?Aye.
Had abducting the bride of a Rivenloch warrior come with risk?No doubt.
But Eve didn’t mind danger when it came to steering the course of fate.Especially when it was clearly God’s intention and in the best interests of everyone.When it came to the Lord’s good works, Eve felt it was her calling to help Him carry them out.
As was this.
