Kicking the trencher aside, Helen crumpled onto the musty straw and bawled. Her voice box grated as she shrieked.
“I have done nothing wrong!”
She howled into the crux of her arm.
“I am innocent, yet I am being treated as horribly as the most heinous criminal. Is there no one who will stand up to Aleck MacIain?”
Tears burned her eyes as her throat closed.
My God, my God. Will I never again see the light of day? Will I never again rest my gaze upon my beautiful child?
Chapter Nineteen
Helen’s eyes snapped open when the lock clicked. She sat up with a jolt and rubbed her neck. The awkward angle in which she had been sleeping gave her a needling pain running from the base of her head all the way down her spine.
An eerie light drifted from under the door.
A wee voice cooed.
“Maggie?” Helen managed to choke out while a lump formed in her throat. The door opened, rendering her completely blind.
“Aye, m’lady.” Glenda’s voice rose above the creaking of the door. “I’ve your daughter and a satchel with your things.”
Helen barely heard the end of Glenda’s sentence. Blinking rapidly so to gain her sight, she braced her hand against the wall and stood. Goodness, her legs were trembling. She locked her knees and reached out her hands. “Please. I would like to hold her.”
Glenda’s ghostly outline became clearer as she stepped forward. “She has missed you, m’lady. I’m sure of it.”
A tear streamed from Helen’s eye when Glenda placed the wee bairn in her arms. Maggie’s tiny fists were curled under her chin as she slept without a care. “Praise to the heavens. I cannot tell you how much this means to me.” Sniffing, she touched her lips against Maggie’s forehead.
Someone in the corridor moved. “We mustn’t tarry.”
Helen glanced up at the sound of Mr. Keith’s voice. “Please. Allow me more time.”
“Nay, m’lady.” He gestured up the stairs. “’Tis the witching hour and the castle is quiet. I’ve a skiff waiting to ferry you away from here.”
She clutched Maggie to her breast. Surely she must have misunderstood. “Y-you’re helping me escape?”
“’Tis the only way. I wish I had time to brush your tresses and help you wash.” Glenda tucked a lock of hair behind Helen’s ear. “I overheard the chieftain when I was dusting your chamber. I could not make out every word, but plain as the nose on my face, I did hear him say you would perish in your cell whilst birthing a bairn. Are you with child, m’lady?”
Helen looked from Keith to Glenda and coughed. “Not unless the Lord in heaven has seen fit to grace me with an immaculate conception.”
Glenda clapped her hand over her mouth. “Then I fear the worst for you. You must go with Mr. Keith.”
“But what will you do once Sir Aleck discovers I’m away?”
“Me?” Glenda chuckled. “Why, how would I know you escaped from the dungeon? I’m a sound sleeper if there ever was one. Besides, I doubt even the chieftain would punish the mother of his henchman.”
“I do not trust him,” Helen said, shaking her head.
Glenda grasped her hand. “I can watch out for myself and I have Grant to protect me.”
From the intensity of Glenda’s stare, Helen knew she’d not be able to persuade her chambermaid to go with them. She shifted her gaze to the guard. Helen would see no one sent to the gallows for her escape. “And you, Mr. Keith. You’ve been assigned to guard me. Sir Aleck will punish you for certain—you said yourself you’d be sent to the gallows for helping me.”
He dipped his chin and raised his brows. “If it please your lady, I should be honored if you would appoint me your man-at-arms.”
“It would be my honor, but…” Cradling Maggie with one arm, she reached out and grasped his shoulder. “You do realize you will never be able to return to Mingary?”
“Aye, m’lady. I cannot stand idle and watch you be treated like a common criminal. I heard your cries earlier this day and you are right. You are innocent and the laird is...” Keith glanced over his shoulder as if he feared someone might be listening. “He has gone too far this time.”
Helen’s bottom lip trembled and she dropped her gaze to Maggie. Mr. Keith was offering her a chance at freedom and the protection of his sword. He was giving her a gift she could not refuse. Not when she had this precious bairn to protect. “I will see that you are safeguarded by my family. The Campbells are one of the most powerful clans in all of Scotland.”
He bowed. “I thank you m’lady.”
“Quickly,” Glenda said, holding up Helen’s sealskin cloak. “I’ve brought your mantle to keep you warm.” She draped it across Helen’s shoulders. “Pull the hood low over your head. Hold Maggie close and keep her quiet.”
“We shall spirit through the shadows, m’lady. I’ve left the sea gate ajar. No one will realize we’re gone…hopefully for days.”
Helen situated the bairn beneath the cloak and pulled the hood over her brow as Glenda suggested. “I cannot tell either of you how thankful I am.”
Glenda drew her into an embrace. “Slip away and never come back. You are too refined a woman to put up with the likes of Aleck MacIain.”
Helen took in a stuttered breath. Would she ever again set eyes on her loyal servant?
Keith swung the satchel over his shoulder. “We must make haste.”
“I shall miss you most of all.” Helen kissed Glenda’s careworn cheek, then followed the guard up the steps. There was no time to consider the consequences. She was fleeing her home and Aleck MacIain must never find her.
Mr. Keith doused the torch before they stepped into the courtyard. “This way, m’lady.”
Helen cradled Maggie as tightly as she dared and followed the guard into the shadows. Her heart beat a fierce rhythm, thundering in her ears while they made their way to the sea gate. She couldn’t recall ever being so afraid in her life, sneaking away from her home as if she were a criminal.
Blast Aleck for forcing me to this.
For a moment, her blood turned to ice. What if the Pope does not approve the annulment?
She stopped dead, but Mr. Keith grasped her elbow and pulled her along. “This way,” he whispered.
I cannot allow thoughts of doom to cloud my mind.
Once beyond the gate, Mr. Keith led her around the rocky outcropping to a skiff sitting askew on the stony beach where it was out of sight from the castle battlements. He placed the satchel in the boat. “Climb aboard and I’ll cast off.”
She did as told, her arms aching from maintaining the tight hold on her daughter. She sat on a bench toward the stern and arranged Maggie in her lap. The bairn launched into a wail that cut though the cold night air like a siren.
“Ballocks,” Keith grumbled while pushing the skiff into the surf.
Helen cradled the babe to her breast. “There, there. Wheesht, little one.”
Maggie’s cries softened to whimpers, but the damage had already been done. Shouts rang out from atop the wall-walk. Helen watched the guards assemble in the light of the blazing braziers while Keith heaved on the oars.