Lord Fergus stepped forward as if coming out of a haze and just realizing what was happening.
Odran’s arm shot out to prevent his father from taking another step. “Elysia knows what she is doing. I’ve seen her heal many.”
His father paused, uncertain for a moment, then conceded with a nod.
Odran ordered a servant, standing off in the corner, to find the woman who arrived with them and bring her there.
“You can’t help me,” Lady Margaret said, tears clouding her eyes. “The curse has come to claim me.”
“I cannot speak for the curse, but I can make sure the leeches don’t take your life,” Elysia said with a gentle smile.
“Who are you?” Lady Margaret asked, her aged eyes squinting as if trying to recognize the woman.
“I’m Elysia, Odran’s wife.”
“NO!” Lady Margaret wailed. “NO! Why did you wed, Odran? Why did you condemn this woman to a living hell?”
Elysia raised her voice to be heard over the wailing woman. “He didn’t condemn me. I freely chose to wed him.”
Lady Margaret’s wailing stopped abruptly. “Why?”
Elysia dropped the last of the leeches in the bucket. “I wed your son because I love him. He has my heart and always will. Now when did you last eat.”
“She cannot stomach food,” Glenis snapped.
“Then we’ll have to find a food she can stomach,” Elysia said.
Lendra entered the room.
“Fetch my pouch, I need you to brew a drink,” Elysia said and Lendra bobbed her head and hurried off.
“I am the healer here,” Glenis objected.
“If you feel she has little time left, what would it hurt for me to see if I can be of any help?” Elysia asked, challenging the woman.
“Let her try, Glenis,” Lord Fergus ordered and the woman held her tongue but anger flared in her dark eyes.
Elysia turned a soft smile on her husband. “Go and talk with your da. I will see to your mum—alone.”
Odran understood his wife wanted everyone gone and he ordered the two servants from the room and Glenis as well. He looked to his wife fussing over his mum and pride swelled in his chest. His wife may be a wee one and softly spoken but he believed that with her sisters’ departure, Elysia had found not only her strength but her courage as well.
Odran went to the bed, leaned down and kissed his mum’s brow. “Trust Elysia, Mum, she has a kind heart and an honest tongue.”
Lord Fergus went to his wife and touched his lips to hers. “I am close, mo ghràdh, if you need me.”
When the door closed on everyone, Lady Margaret spoke. “Fergus has my heart. I lost it to him when I was young. I thought once that I could keep my family safe from the curse. I was wrong. I couldn’t stop it. At least be wise and don’t have any bairns so you don’t suffer the endless heartbreak that I have endured. Let the Clan MacBridan be no more so the curse has no MacBridan to feed on.”
Elysia thought about the bairn snuggled safe in her stomach and she silently prayed and pleaded that Annis would find a way to break the curse and save them all.
“You are sure your wife knows what she is doing?” Odran’s da asked for the umpteenth time since retreating to the Great Hall an hour ago.
“Elysia may not be a seasoned healer, but she saved more warriors from dying of wounds they suffered on the battlefield than any healer I have known,” Odran said. “She possesses a talented stitching hand as well.”
Fergus looked at his son, his heart heavy. “Your mum begged me not to seek a wife for you and now—seeing how she has suffered through the years—I wonder if I should have listened and not been selfish.”
“I believe fate thought differently, Da, and I’m glad for it. I love Elysia. She has given me something I haven’t had in years—hope for a better tomorrow.”
“That would be wonderful for us all, son,” Fergus confessed. “But she’s a wee bit of a thing. Make sure you hold onto to her in a storm or she’ll get blown away.” Fergus was surprised to see his son laugh. He couldn’t recall the last time he heard him laugh.
“Elysia is much stronger than she looks, brave as well.”
Fergus hugged the tankard in front of him on the table and kept his voice low as he spoke. “I’d love to see you and Elysia have sons and daughters but your mum is right—don’t have any bairns. Don’t let them suffer as you have.”
“I’ve already made that clear to Elysia. We won’t be having any bairns,” Odran said and almost cringed from the stab to his heart the words had caused. He would love to have bairns with his wife, a whole gaggle of them. But he refused to have them suffer the curse as he had, as his whole family had, and he still worried over Elysia and what the curse might do to her.