Free Stealing the Bride by Mary Wine Page B

night it could be used to cover her head and provide warmth. It was a poor garment, for those who could not afford enough wool for a cloak.
    “Come on before Pherson comes seeking ye.” Daracha reached out and clasped her hand. The girl began leading her down another flight of stairs. The light from the bath house diminished until it was pitch black all around them. Daracha kept pulling on her hand and Elspeth placed her other one on the stone wall to help her maintain her balance. She shivered and her hearing became more sensitive now that her sight was inhibited by the darkness. Every sound began to echo, bouncing between the thick stone walls that the stairs descended through. The sound of water began in the distance and grew stronger.
    They finally emerged from the base of the tower. Even though it was dark outside, it wasn’t pitch black such as it had been in the stairway. The night was cloudy but there was a glow that seemed quite bright compared to where they had come from.
    “Follow the river. There is a small gate down the hill that the servants use to return to the village when their service is finished. If luck is with ye, ye’ll meet yer love on the road as he’s seeking to reclaim ye.” Tavia pressed a single coin into her palm.
    “Of course if ye meet someone else, ye shall just have to accept fate’s will.” Daracha’s voice sounded like an old woman did when the fire was banked for the night and there was no clergy about to keep the old Gaelic traditions from surfacing. That was when magic from years gone by was still toyed with.
    “Fate’s will?”
    Tavia nodded. “Indeed, the will that ye belong to another.”
    Both sisters smiled and their eyes shone with excitement as though they wished her to be taken on the road by another marauder.
    Pherson was one too many in her opinion.
    “Go now. Someone will question us if we stay here.”
    Elspeth turned without another word. The heeled shoes were not going to be comfortable on the road but she dare not quibble with how the sisters chose to set her free. Gratitude seemed rather misplaced considering the excitement shining in the girls’ eyes. They considered the unknown elements of the night to be things of fortune and not defeat.
    Well, that suited them, she supposed. The river was rushing along at a good pace and she followed it to the gate the sisters had promised her. Hope filled her heart when the men guarding it didn’t even look up from their game of dice. She passed through without trouble and into the night. She refused to fear, taking the advice given to her by Tavia and Daracha.
    She would rely on fate’s whim. But she added a prayer as well and pulled the arisaid up and over her head.
    “Do ye truly think me so shallow?” Pherson Dalry emerged from the shadows. Tavia and Daracha stiffened but did not tremble. He tilted his head and watched the last traces of Elspeth in the distance.
    “I have never thought ye two mindless creatures.”
    That sent both sisters looking to one another. Confusion surfaced in their expressions. Pherson shook his head.
    “What I craved was for ye to grow strong. There are plenty of men that believe women should be naught but ornaments to enhance their lives. The dangerous ones are the ones that think having yer own opinions is the devil’s work.”
    Daracha’s eyes flashed with her temper. Pherson eyed her. “Always keep that hidden, Sister. That is the reason I’ve allowed ye to believe that I want nothing from ye but perfect poise. Why do ye think I allowed ye to have tutors that just happened to be able to school ye in things other than courtly manners when ye thought I was nae watching?”
    “Ye wanted us to learn how to deceive ye.” It wasn’t really a question. Tavia knew she was correct; she was only unhappy about discovering she had been duped.
    “I wanted ye to know how to survive. Ye’ll both marry and have to deal with the unjust view many men have of women. With yer beauty, ye will