“What did he say?”
“He said that his sister—she was a witch, ye see—placed a spell and someday soon a young lass in the likeness of Blaire would be brought into our lives. He begged me to watch over ye and to help ye in any way that I could. He said that ye would save us all from something horrible. What he meant by that, I’ll never know. I expect more answers could be found in Morna’s basement, but I canna read myself and never thought to look.”
“Morna’s basement? Where is that, Mary? I need to go and look immediately. I have to find a way home.”
“Ach, dearie. I doona expect ye’d find anything to help ye do that. There was a reason Morna wanted ye here. I doubt she would make it easy for ye to leave. If ye want to look, I’ll help ye anyway I can. But no tonight, lass. Right now, ye are to get yerself into that tub immediately and relax until Old Mary brings ye something to eat, do ye understand? Come morning, I’ll show ye to Morna’s room.”
She gave me no opportunity to argue, and as I watched the steam rise from the tub I found myself less anxious to explore Morna’s spell room. I could smell myself, even standing still, and knew I was in desperate need of a bath.
Once stripped, I sunk graciously into the tub, bending my knees so that the water came up to my chin and only my head and kneecaps breached the surface of the water. The water had clearly just been taken off the fire. It was almost too hot, but I was too tired and dirty to care.
It seemed odd to go from watched prisoner to complete solitude so quickly. It occurred to me briefly that I should jump out of the tub and flee the castle immediately, but I knew there was nowhere better for me to go. I wasn’t likely to find any answers outside of these walls, and at least Mary seemed to know where I might find them, even if she did a lousy job of explaining it.
I hadn’t realized how tense I was until the heat from the water slowly worked its way over my body, forcing my muscles to relinquish their tight grip. I breathed deeply, relishing the feeling of my nails against my skin as I scrubbed away the dirt on my ankles and arms.
With the tips of my fingers and toes wrinkled to prunes and my skin red from both the heat of the water and the thorough scrub-down I’d just given myself, I lay my head against the back of the tub and threw my hair over the side, allowing it to dry.
The steam from the water quickly receded, and as my skin tightened in response to the cooling water I turned my head toward the fireplace and stared into the flames. The brilliant amber beams danced over the wood, and as I followed their movement the cooling water seemed warm once more.
The tub was close enough to the fireplace that some of the heat from the flames warmed my left arm, which hung over the side of the tub. The light emitting from the fireplace mixed with the darkness, which had slowly flooded the room as the sun dropped lower into the horizon. The combination of light and dark was soothing, and my mind drifted closer to sleep with each flicker of the flames.
Just as I was at the edge of slumber the bedroom door opened and closed, causing me to nearly jump out of the water. Suddenly being jarred from my daze made me realize how cold I had actually become. My entire body was wrinkled from being in the water too long, and my nipples were pointed into hard beads. I assumed it was Mary with some food, but then I heard the deep voice. I moved quickly to cross my legs and cover my chest with my arms as I heard Eoin’s footsteps behind me.
“I’m no sure what to say to ye, lass. I behaved badly by locking ye away, but I was so angry it was all that came to mind.”
He stopped right next to the tub, but his head and eyes were turned away from my body as he bent and touched the surface of the water with his fingertips, quickly jerking them away.
“Ach, lass! Ye’ll get yerself sick sitting in water that cold. How long have ye been in there?”
“I . . . I don’t know. Since Mary brought me up here. I might have fallen asleep.” I pulled my knees up toward my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. It was warmer, and it seemed to cover a little more of my intimate parts.
I watched as Eoin reached toward the bed to grab a blanket off the top. He stretched it out and held it open for me, still looking away. “Here, lass, stand up and go sit by the fire.”
He could sense my hesitation, and I could see the corner of his left brow crease in frustration. “I’m no looking at ye, lass. I just want to talk to ye, but if ye doona get yerself out of that tub I’ll lift ye out of it meself.”