Adam folded his arms austerely. ‘One can hinder the gods as one can help them. One can never defy them. Sometimes one man’s destiny is out of step with another’s; one dies, and another must step in to fulfil his fate. All will follow the ordained path in the end.’
There was a short silence. Eleyne and Donald were gazing at each other, half dazzled by the candlelight.
‘And my destiny is here?’ Eleyne asked at last.
‘Your destiny is in Mar,’ Adam said slowly.
VI
It was two days later.
‘Where is she?’
Malcolm was pacing the great hall at Falkland. ‘For the love of the Blessed Virgin, she can’t have disappeared off the face of the earth.’
‘She has her dogs with her, my lord.’ John Keith stood before the earl, his face creased with worry. ‘She is not in any danger with those great creatures to protect her, and I’m sure she is safe. She’s decided to take refuge somewhere from the storms, that’s all. There are scores of places where she could have gone.’
Outside the thunder rolled again around the Lomonds and shook the window screens. In the forest to the north of the castle the leaves were being torn from the ancient oaks, streaming on the wind like gold coins to lie in soggy heaps, their glory eclipsed. Sir Alan Durward was standing by the fire, warming his hands. ‘She’s sulking. You said as much yourself. She’ll come back when she finds out the wedding will take place whether she approves it or not.’ Colban was sitting restlessly at the trestle table, forcing himself to concentrate on a game of backgammon with his brother; Macduff was beating him with ease.
Durward and Malcolm had just fixed the date of the wedding: it would be three weeks hence.
Malcolm frowned. There was something wrong; he could sense it. And it was more than just the fact that he and Eleyne had had a fight. Something had changed in the air and he watched as a lightning flash lit the high narrow windows of the great hall, followed by another crash of thunder.
She came back three days later, unrepentant, refusing to tell him where she had been. But there was a new lightness to her step and a glow on her skin which stirred his old desire. His wife was radiant.
VII
She was afraid. Not of Malcolm, he would discover nothing. But of Alexander – he knew, and he was angry. She erected a wall against him and surrounded herself with it, a mental screen behind which she did not think of him, dream of him or even remember him. He was a thing of the past. She had taken off the phoenix and wrapping it carefully in a dark silk scarf, she locked it in a small casket and tucked the casket into a chest in her solar. Then, deliberately, she put Alexander out of her mind.
Her whole present and future were centred on Donald and the need to be with him. But she could do nothing before the wedding. And when she did, she could not involve Rhonwen in her plans. Rhonwen belonged to Alexander.
VIII
The marriage of Colban and Anna Durward took place on a stormy day at the end of the month. The bride was a plump and cheerful fourteen-year-old; the bridegroom, excited, confident, boasting his prowess, was just twelve. Within months his wife had confirmed she was with child.
Donald was vastly amused. ‘Why are you so shocked?’ He was stroking Eleyne’s shoulders as she sat on the floor, leaning against his knees before the fire at Macduff ’s Castle, where at last they had met again. The rugs heaped before the hearth were already tumbled with their lovemaking. The light of the flames played across their naked bodies, resting and relaxed. He saw her heavy breasts, the rounded flesh of her thighs and felt the excitement begin to build again. Her body was taut and hard; she had the figure still of a woman half her age, but it was her maturity, her ripeness which excited him. The bouncy charm of a young woman like Anna Durward left him completely unmoved.
‘I suppose I’m shocked because Colban is still my child. It’s such a short time since he was a baby.’ She shrugged. ‘I can’t see him as a man.’
‘He isn’t a man,’ Donald snorted. ‘He’s a precocious boy, but he will be a man soon enough. Give him some freedom, let him find his feet.’ His hands began to roam across her body commandingly. ‘Now forget him and forget Durward. I have. You pay attention to me, my lady.’
Much later she turned to him again, sleepy and spent. ‘Why did you not come back before, if you still loved me?’
‘I rode back to Kildrummy to try to forget you. I listened to my father. I decided I could never fight Alexander. I suppose I was afraid.’ He spoke the name openly, seemingly without fear.
Eleyne turned from her position on the floor so that she could see his face. ‘But you’re not afraid now?’
‘No. I never stopped thinking about you, however hard I tried. I used to see you sometimes at court. I used to watch you. Oh, I made sure you never saw me, but I saw you often. I used to dream about how I would fight Alexander for you; duel with him in the clouds; seek the entrance to hell and follow him there if I had to. Twice I consulted Adam when he came to court, and he hinted that I had a place in your future, but he could not tell me what. Not until now. Then he sent for me and told me that you were going to come to his cave and that the stars foretold our union.’ He smiled. ‘He was right. I want you, Nel and I’m not prepared to live without you. I know that now.’ He wound his fingers into her hair. ‘I’ll face anything to keep you.’ She saw the new confidence and strength in his face as he bent and kissed her on the lips. ‘Does he still visit you?’
She did not have to be told who he meant. It was strange that neither of them had given a thought to Malcolm, her husband. She nodded and felt him grow tense. ‘I was lonely,’ she whispered, ‘I couldn’t fight him.’
‘And you didn’t want to.’ He was looking deep into her eyes.
‘No, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t. I was torn, but it was as if I were under his spell.’
‘And if I’m there, will you still welcome him to your bed?’
She saw the muscles around his jaw tighten imperceptibly as he waited for her answer. Slowly she shook her head. ‘You are what I want.’
Neither of them noticed the sudden chill in the room.
IX
Alexander had not returned since Donald had come back into her life. Once, twice, perhaps three times she had imagined she sensed him near her and she had willed him out of her mind, feeling him dwindle and fade, confident that her love for Donald could hold him at bay.
Her physical obsession with Donald of Mar kept her totally enthralled. Somehow they managed to meet often; the custodians of the outlying castles of Fife grew used to seeing their countess and her hitherto infrequent visits became a regular occurrence. She checked the accounts, toured the demesne and after a night or two moved on,
