Chapter 33

Màiri sobbed and carried on terribly as the guard escorted her to her room to get her belongings. Ailene thought she was doing the girl a favor by not subjecting her to the Strapping Room.

"You didn't say anything when I was deciding Màiri's fate. You've run a household and you've been beaten by your husband. Should I have beaten her or let her go?" Ailene asked Isobel.

"It's not my place to say, Ailene. I'm not in charge."

"But I am asking your opinion. You must have one? Your husband beat you. You know what it's like."

"McTavish would have beaten her or worse and let her go, both. Part of the reason that I put up with the beatings is that I had no place else to go. I had nowhere to run to. No one to protect me. To me, the beatings were preferable to an uncertain future. It would seem to me that Màiri is facing an uncertain future. You may think that you're doing her a kindness, but no one will hire her again; not a known thief. What happens to her now?"

"You don't know what it's like. I've been to the Strapping Room, for leaving the Keep without guardsman against the Laird's express orders. I received one hundred swats with a paddle. The punishment was bad enough, but what happened after; I can't even tell you."

"Yet you do not fear your husband; you even love your husband? You do not wish to flee back to your family? If I'd anywhere else to go, I would have gone. You do not. Why?"

"I deserved it. I deserved the punishment. I was nearly raped by two bandits when I left. People were searching for me everywhere; people who could have been hurt because they could not go out in large parties and do a thorough search. If I'd been taken by Blackthorne, there's no telling what might have happened. Stuart does not beat me willy-nilly. He's never laid a hand on me other than for that one time, and honestly, he had Thorburn administer the punishment because he did not feel he would be sufficiently harsh with me."

"You did not show me the Strapping Room while giving me a tour of the keep yesterday, at least not anything that I would recognize as such. Why not?" Isobel asked.

"My memories of it are too painful and I believed that with your history, you would not stay if you were to see it. That you might believe us to be the same kind of monsters that your husband is," explained Ailene.

"But on the whole, you do not believe they are monsters, do you?" Isobel questioned.

"No, I guess not."

"Show me the room now," Isobel said.

Ailene led her into the basement of the Keep and to the locked door. She withdrew her keys and opened the door, swinging it open for Isobel to see.

"It's too dark. Is there a light here?"

Ailene lit two of the lamps in the room and Isobel looked around. She saw the table, the straps to hold a person down, the pillory, the cabinet.

"I've seen worse looking dungeons," Isobel said. "McTavish had some things that would make your skin crawl. Some he used on me. And how were you punished?"

"I was secured to the table."

"And what did they use to punish you with? You mentioned a paddle. Can you show it to me?"

Ailene went to the cabinet and pulled out the leather paddle, handing it to Isobel.

"You received a hundred swats with this?" Isobel asked.

"Yes."

"Did it leave any bruises? Did the marks stay on you for more than a day?"

"No. It burned as it was done and for a few hours after, but the pain faded quickly and I had no marks the next morning."

"You can still see the marks from things that McTavish did to me a week ago. What made it so bad?" Isobel inquired.

"I was naked. Thorburn gave me the punishment; Frang and Stuart watched."

"So you were embarrassed to be so exposed to all of them?"

"Yes, but it was what came after that was worse," Ailene said.

"Worse than 100 swats with this paddle on your naked bottom while two others watched? And you can't tell me this?"

"No. I can't tell anyone."

"If you can't tell me, then it's hard to give you an opinion. Would Màiri be ashamed to be spanked on her bare bottom with witnesses? I'm sure she would. Given her other options, I'm not sure she wouldn't choose that over being sent from the Keep. Her options as a known thief are extremely limited. She may be forced into a life of prostitution if she can't find other service as a maid. That might have been what I was forced into if I left my husband. Granted, I felt like one anyway since he would use sex with me as a way to pay his gambling debts, but I felt that a life of prostitution would have been worse. Would that be worse than what happened to you?" Isobel asked.

"I think so," Isobel sighed. "Perhaps it is more how her being strapped would affect me than it would her."

"Still tied to the thing you can't tell me?"

"Yes."

"Then ask yourself, would you willingly subject Màiri to life as a whore rather than have her undergo what you did?"

Ailene thought about it some more. She had enjoyed the sex afterwards. There had been no denying that. Granted, she was no longer a virgin when it happened, but other than Stuart wanting to share her, which she thought was utterly shameful and wicked when it occurred, meant less and less to her now. Her biggest objection to Màiri being paddled was knowing her husband might have sex with Màiri as he had her. That still bothered her tremendously. It was the reason she didn't understand Stuart wanting to share her. How he could still love her after his brothers had used her? But would that pain for her be worse than what Màiri might have to undergo. The answer, to her, was no.

"I think I made a mistake by sending her away," she said.

"It can be undone," Isobel said. "Tell Muiríol that you've changed your mind."

They left the Strapping Room and Ailene locked it behind her. She hoped that she would be in time. They went up to the kitchen and found Muiríol working on the stew.

"I've changed my mind about Màiri. I think she should be strapped. Is she still here?"

"No, Lady Cameron. It didn't take her long to collect her things and she was put out about a half hour ago."

"I was hoping I would be on time. Is Bjarkë still in the courtyard training?"

"They've finished that. I believe he's in the armory working on weapons."

Ailene hurried to the armory, bursting through the door.

"Bjarkë, would it be possible to send several armed men after Màiri? I've made a mistake in sending her away."

"Lady Cameron!" He exclaimed, putting his sword back, having drawn it when she crashed into the room. "It's possible. I can't send out several search parties, but if we know which way she went when she left, I can send men down that road."

"The man who put her out would have seen which way she went; probably towards her family. She has a sick brother."

"I can check to see if anyone knows where she lived before coming here. We'll send out six men on horseback. They should be able to overtake her."

"Please, I would appreciate it if you did. I'm worried for her now and would like to see my error corrected."