Page 11 of The Highlander's Alluring Spy
“Thank you, Betty. For introducing yourself, and for showing me here.” Magnolia said. “And, please, call me Magnolia.”
“Aye, all right,” Betty agreed. “It’s been really nice to meet ye… Magnolia.”
Betty curtsied and left. Once she was gone, Magnolia entered her room. She closed the door and was surprised by the generous size of the chamber.
There was a large bed with a beautiful patterned quilt and an abundance of soft pillows. In the corner was an ornate oak dresser, and along one wall sat an elaborate writing desk with an elegant matching chair. There was plenty of floor space without making the room look empty. There was even a rather delightful rug patterned with an astoundingly beautiful unicorn.
Magnolia walked to the large window and opened the shutters, and what she saw almost took her breath away.
It did not just look like she was in another country. It looked like another world. There were greenery and trees as far as the eye could see. She’d seen them on the way here, of course, but seeing them from above was…astounding.
Is this what a bird feels like when it soars above the forests?
Many of the homes of the MacFoihl Clan could be seen in the near distance, but they blended with the natural landscape rather than disrupting it. They looked almost as natural as the trees did, even the faint moving dots she guessed were the clan’s people going about their evening duties.
Between the castle and the start of the village and forest, there was a considerable body of water. It was a glistening clean loch, Magnolia knew, of the sort that she could only imagine in the South. It was more beautiful than even the lakes that were famed in the Borderlands.
I cannot see, but that loch must be teeming with fish and wildlife. It really did look like some celestial otherworld.Do the fish look the same as those at home? Do the birds sing the same way?
Somehow, this thought seemed overwhelmingly lonely, and a sob rose unbidden in her throat. Her eyes started to itch. She let no tears fall and no sound out, though.
Why am I so upset all of a sudden? Why do I suddenly feel so melancholy? I am here on a mission. I must not get emotional before I have even started my work.
She closed the shutters tight, holding them closed for a few seconds and taking some deep breaths to steady herself.
Easy, now. Breathe, Magnolia. Breathe.
She moved away from the window and focused on the necessary tasks immediately ahead of her. She unbuttoned her over-gown, determining that now was as good a time as any for a rest. She kicked off her shoes and lay down on her bed after loosening her bodice, staring up at the pretty pattern on the ceiling, then closed her eyes.
I must stay focused. I have a mission. I must be alert and keep my suspicions at the forefront of my mind. I have no access to my Father, my friends, the Crown’s protection. I am on my own and responsible for my own choices and fate now.
This place she would call home for the next moon-turn was foreign to her, in everything from the building to the fields to the smell of the air. She was under threat of death or worse if she misstepped even once. She was simply an Earl’s daughter, and this was like no task she’d ever completed before.
But I can do this. I will do this. More than that, I must. For my Country, for my Queen, and for my Father.
When she thought of all that green–of the trees outside, the scent of fresh grass, the daisy chain Elaine wore around her neck, a particular pair of eyes–it made her wary. She was not very far from home, but she may as well be entirely outside the Earth.
It does not matter. I am brave. I am strong.
Magnolia repeated it like a chant in her head, taking from it strength and comfort, hearing her father’s voice as she did.
No matter how brave and strong she was, though, she was alone and scared, and though she would never admit it aloud, afraid of this strange new world and its bizarre inhabitants.
She could not help but feel frightened that this alien world may be the last thing that her eyes ever saw.
* * *
The girl was lying about her name. Nathair knew that much, and he pondered it as he crept out of Elaine’s chambers while the child slept. Magnolia was more high-born than she wanted him to believe, and he knew of no Leighmoore family.
As Clan Chief, he made a point of knowing the top English names in case they should attack again. He’d never heard of Leighmoore, nor anything close to it. Even besides that, though she’d smiled prettily enough, there had been a hint of…something…in her eyes. Something he didn’t quite know.
But ye hired her anyway, Nathair. Why?
Well, there were a thousand reasons a noble lass could be fibbing about her own surname. It needn’t be anything sinister. Perhaps she was on the run from her father. Mayhaps she had been involved in a marriage gone wrong–those kinds of unfortunate situations were undoubtedly common enough when people were wed without love.
He knew that the English could be particularly restrictive of their women; even the Southern Scots were sometimes guilty of that. Perhaps she had tried to change her identity simply to escape the life she’d left behind.
There was no denying she was good with Elaine, either. Elaine was precious, pleasant, and bright, but she never took to anyone so quickly as she’d taken to Magnolia. If she could keep Elaine amused, safe, and educated, then she was already miles ahead of any of the nannies he had tried to retain so far.
