Lady Seara
1119 Words
Lady Seara~
Isobel Callan
Glenayre, Aleron
Lady Seara sank against the pillows Isobel piled at the head of the bed. Her ebony hair fell in perfect ringlets around her shoulders, as if she’d fussed over them for hours. Isobel ran a hand down her own simple braid and regretted she hadn’t taken more time with her appearance today.
Seara chattered on about the hardships of her three-day journey from Rothcraig Hold. She complained about the cold, the heat, the food at the inns, and the one torturous night in a tent. But most of all, she complained about Duncan’s crying.
“He never sleeps through the night. Aengus says it’s colic, and he’ll grow out of it. But he hasn’t. At Rothcraig, I can press a pillow over my ears until Peg hushes him, but it’s been impossible to get any rest since we left.”
Isobel practiced her patience. Seara was overly tired and in unfamiliar surroundings. It would be inhospitable to dislike the woman within a few minutes of meeting her.
“Aengus has the patience for it, but not Lord Donal. He moved our rooms to the opposite end of the castle, but Duncan still keeps him awake at night.”
Seth had told her some of the story. Aengus and Seara were living at Rothcraig Hold, the Gruder clan chieftain’s estate. Isobel couldn’t imagine living under Rogart’s roof, even as good a brother as he was to Seth. It must be unbearable for them, living with someone like Donal.
The Gruder siblings weren’t actually born as siblings. The old Chief Gruder, the man they’d called Father, could sire no children of his own. An injury of some sort. Seth hadn’t elaborated. But Mathilda Gruder, his wife, was a strong-willed woman who led Clan Gruder from her husband’s shadow. She addressed the lack of heirs with the same practicality she applied to any matter.
Mathilda searched out children from lower branches of the Gruder tree, from families so prolific exchanging a few coins for one less mouth to feed was hardly a soul-wrenching choice. She saw to it her husband claimed and legitimized the Gruder cousins as his own. Within a month, the children all called her Mother, and no one in Clan Gruder had dared bother with the distinction since.
By the time Mathilda came to know her children’s hearts, it was too late to undo. Donal was the eldest and the heir.
“Have you considered moving to one of the smaller estates?” Isobel asked when Seara paused for a breath.
“Oh no, we simply cannot.” Seara dismissed the suggestion with a pout. Isobel wondered what she did to make her lips so red. “Donal insists we live at Rothcraig. He needs Aengus to manage the little details. Donal is a busy man. He’s chief, you know.”
It was rumored the Gruders had a dark streak that showed up in a few in every generation. From what she knew of Aengus, there was nothing sinister in him. Donal, on the other hand, had a reputation reaching all the way to Monaughty. A notorious womanizer, he was on his third wife in seven years. The first wife died of pneumonia. The second broke her neck in a fall from her horse. His current wife was carrying his first legitimate child, though he was rumored to have bastards scattered all over Rhynn.
“Donal says Aengus has much to learn before he’s ready to take on an estate of his own.”
Isobel doubted that. Donal had other reasons for keeping Aengus close. Aengus was bright and likable. Now Aengus had an heir. Donal might find that threatening enough to keep his younger brother under his thumb. She wondered how safe Duncan would be growing up at Rothcraig.
Seara was still going on about Aengus and his duty to his brother when Isobel interrupted.
“Lady Seara, I should see Duncan settled as well. Why don’t you lie back and try to nap?”
# # #
Duncan’s cries carried through the open door and down the hallway. Peg was rocking the fretting baby in the chair Renny added to the makeshift nursery. Rachel was drying her face at the washbasin.
“Is there anything you need?” said Isobel. “To make him comfortable, I mean.”
“Is Her Highness settled?” Rachel asked as she tossed the towel aside.
“Yes…I mean, no.” Isobel fumbled her answer. “Lady Seara is resting.”
“Sorry. I’m not known for tact. Especially where family is concerned.”
Rachel shared her adopted brother’s wit, as well. Isobel decided her opinion of Seara was better left without comment, and knelt beside the rocker.
“Why does he cry so?”
“I don’t know, m’lady. If I knew, I could fix it. I can soothe most any babe.” Peg stroked the baby’s back with a gentle hand.
“May I take him?” She wondered what her hands might tell her about his distress. “Let me walk him out to the garden. You can get some rest.”
“Ye don’t have to do that, m’lady. It’s my job to care for the wee one.”
“I hoped I might spend time with him,” she said, “Practice for when I have children of my own.”
“Go ahead, Peg. Let her take him,” said Rachel. “I’ll go along to stretch my legs.”
“I could use the rest if ye be wantin’ to help.” Peg shifted Duncan into Isobel’s arms.
“Pretend I’m not here.” Rachel motioned her out.
Isobel held Duncan to her shoulder and carried him outside, singing and swaying through her garden. As the afternoon sun warmed her shoulders, she shaded Duncan’s face. His cries quieted to whimpers and sniffles, and he settled his head on her chest.
“You have an impressive herb collection.” Rachel was meandering about the garden. “Is that borage?”
“It is. Calum sent for it when we were rounding out the medicinals.” Her estimation of Rachel rose. Few recognized the plant. “It likes dry heat, so I keep it potted and bring it inside to winter.”
“Yes, you’d have to,” said Rachel. “Are you interested in healing?”
Isobel raised her guard. “Our nanny and daor were well-learned in herbal lore. They encouraged our interest.”
“Hmm.” Rachel knelt to inspect a clump of feverfew.
“Do you live at Rothcraig, too?” Isobel tried changing the subject.
“I returned a few months ago. Dear Donal sent me to finishing school in Bresca in hopes it would make me more ladylike.” She flashed her engaging smile again. “He eventually realized it was an investment unlikely to yield a return.”
“You chose to stay at Rothcraig rather than marry.”
“I’m at Rothcraig because I’m uncooperative with Donal’s efforts to sell me to the highest bidder. Besides, someone has to keep an eye on the princess when Aengus is away.”
She told herself not to pursue the question nibbling at her. It would come out wrong.
“Lady Seara isn’t as…engaged in Duncan’s care as I thought a mother would be.”
“Seara is a vain, vacuous-minded twit,” Rachel said without hesitation. “I find her tedious, but she has Aengus enthralled. My noble brother needs a steady supply of lost kittens and broken-winged sparrows to rescue.”
“Seth has the greatest respect for Aengus.”
“As do I. There is no truer heart in all Rhynn than beats in Aengus Gruder. Doesn’t mean I have to like the lot he’s drawn.”
Isobel let that alone. Duncan roused from his brief slumber and started wailing again.
“There must be something we can do to ease him,” said Isobel. “I’m taking him to Daor Ranald.”
Chapter 57
- Writer
