"When they returned, he wanted her to give him his son, an heir for Dunglais. But she kept him from her bed, wept most of the time, and still showed little interest in Fiona. She wanted to go back to court. It was then she took to riding out alone. That must have been when she met Black Ian. Suddenly she was in a state of high excitement much of the time. The laird became suspicious, of course, for he is no fool. One day as he watched her ride out, the lady's tiring woman came to him and told him that she had watched her mistress take her jewelry from its box and secret it upon herself.
"The laird immediately called for his horse and rode after her. Even a man in love knows a woman who rides off with her jewelry is up to mischief of some kind. He found her, of course, with his half brother. What transpired between them that day only the laird is left alive to say. The fight ensued. We know that because the laird brought his half brother's body home to bury. Black Ian bore the Scott name, and the laird is both respectful and proud of it."
"Was Black Ian's mother still alive?" Alix asked, curious.
"Aye, and while she mourned her son, she knew that if Malcolm Scott killed him he had just cause," Fenella said. "The old laird was always good to Black Ian's mother, and after he died our laird treated her and his half sister, Moire, with kindness."
Alix absorbed all the information that both Fenella and Jeannie imparted to her. For the time being she knew that with the weather already wintry it was unlikely the laird would send her off. He was a good and honest man, but she suspected that once she told him more of her history he would be unlikely to allow her to remain at Dunglais once it was possible for her to travel. Nor would he trust her.
And Alix had decided that she wanted to remain. Dunglais was isolated. It was unlikely that if Sir Udolf bothered to seek for her that he would find her here. But the laird would need a very good reason to permit her to stay, and Alix had that reason. With no wife, mother, sister, or suitable female relation in residence, little Fiona had no one to teach her what a young lady would need to know. But I can teach her, Alix thought. And the sooner I broach the subject with the laird, the better.
That evening, with Fiona tucked into her bed, Alix approached Malcolm Scott as he sat by the great hearth in the hall, a half-emptied goblet in his big hand. "May I speak with you, my lord?" she said in a quiet voice.
He looked up. Christ's bones, he thought, but she was a pretty lass. He nodded, and gestured towards the chair facing his. "You are feeling better," he said.
"I am, my lord, thanks to you, Fenella, and Jeannie," Alix answered.
"Good! Good!" His gaze drifted away from her.
"My lord, I thought that perhaps you would wish to know more of my history," Alix began, and his eyes cleared, fixing their steady look on her.
"I should very much like to learn more of you, Mistress Alix."
Alix gave him a small, amused smile. "My name, as I have told you, is Alix Givet. My parents, who are deceased, came from France with Margaret of Anjou when she wed King Henry. My father, Alexander Givet, was the queen's personal physician. My mother, Blanche, one of her ladies. Both were the children of minor nobility in Anjou. I was born in England and raised in Queen Margaret's household. My mother died over two years ago. My father and I fled with the royal household when the Yorkists overthrew King Henry.
"At a place called Towson, King Henry's forces were defeated a final time. The royal family, with their few remaining retainers, fled into the English border country. They sheltered with one Sir Udolf Watteson preparatory to coming into Scotland. During the weeks of our flight, Queen Margaret had reluctantly come to realize it was easier to beg sanctuary if your retinue was smaller than larger. She left behind most of her servants with friends and others who were willing to take them in." Alix paused briefly, then continued. She was surprised by the emotions she had begun to feel with the retelling.
To her surprise the laird offered her his cup. "Take some wine" was all he said.
Alix took two hearty sips and handed the vessel back to the man across from her. "Sir Udolf had a son for whom he sought a wife. The queen, with my father's permission, made the match between us. She is my godmother, and wanted a safe place for me and for my father who was ill. I should not have agreed to the match but for my father's health. He could no longer travel, and needed a home where he might live out his final months in peace.
"Sir Udolf is a good man, but his son was an odd, childlike creature. He had a mistress upon whom he doted. He wanted to marry her, but her birth was low. Sir Udolf would not have it. I knew all of this, but while I knew my husband would not love me, I asked only for his respect. But he would not give it. He punished me for marrying him, and for not being Maida. Still, I was a good wife, keeping the hall while caring for both my father-in-law and my father.
"Then poor Maida died in childbed, and her son with her. It was the same day in which my own father died." Alix crossed herself. "My husband was devastated. His mind had never been strong. During the next few days he went completely mad. He attempted to throttle me, but Sir Udolf and the servants saved me from what would have been a certain death. Then, as the servants attempted to restrain Hayle-that was my husband's name-he broke free of them and fled to the top of the house. For the briefest moment his sanity returned. He told his father he could not live without his Maida, and while Sir Udolf looked on helplessly, Hayle flung himself from an attic window to his death below." Alix crossed herself again.
"So you fled," the laird said. "Why? You did not kill the poor man. None of what happened was your doing, or your fault. Surely Sir Udolf did not blame you."
"Nay, Sir Udolf is a good man. But I knew I could not remain at Wulfborn. I told him so, and decided to find my godmother, the queen, here in Scotland. I hoped that she would take me back into her household. But Sir Udolf said that as his only son, his heir, was dead, he would have to remarry and father another son."
"God's blood!" Malcolm Scott swore immediately, seeing where Alix's tale was going. "He wanted to marry you!"
"I could not, my lord! I simply could not wed him. I pointed out to him the church would not give him a dispensation to marry his son's widow. He said the archbishop could be bought, and he would get his dispensation, and I would give him his heir. I thought at first that I might with time dissuade him, but he began to approach me in a manner with which I was not comfortable. I told him I wanted to return to Queen Margaret. He said he would ask her permission to wed me once he had his dispensation and that she would give him that permission. I suspected he was right. I knew then that I must escape Wulfborn and its lord. I waited until he planned a two-day hunting party with his men and it was then I fled. I never expected a snowstorm."
"The weather here in the borders is changeable," the laird said.
"I was fortunate you found me," Alix replied.
"If you cannot go to Queen Margaret, what will you do?" Malcolm Scott asked.
"I would remain at Dunglais, my lord. Please, I can be of service to you."
"Indeed," the laird replied, cocking one of his thick black eyebrows. "And just how would you serve me, Alix Givet?" He let his glance move slowly over her form.
Alix blushed at his open scrutiny. "Your daughter is growing up, and her nurse is too old. Fiona needs to learn the things that only a lady can teach her. You have no wife, or other female relation here at Dunglais, my lord. How do you expect to prepare your daughter for the marriage she must make one day?" she boldly demanded to know.