The Love Slave Read Online Free PDF

send her away until ye are certain she is nae wi’ Ian Ferguson’s bairn. I will nae live the week out, I fear. Do what ye must, but keep Regan by yer side long enough to be certain she is not wi’ Ian’s bairn. No one must know of our revenge. It is enough that we know.” Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep again.
    Gruoch MacDuff looked upon her mother. She was worn with her years of childbearing. I will nae let that happen to me, Gruoch thought to herself. Let Ian Ferguson populate the district wi’ his bastards. I will nae care, for I will be his wife, and my MacDuff son will inherit everything they stole from us, plus everything the Fergusons own as well. I shall be meek and mild, but I shall bear only the bairns I choose to bear. I shall keep Jamie MacDuff for my lover. If this child I am to have dies, then I shall hae another by my Jamie. If a Ferguson stands in its way, I shall see it sickens and dies. Nothing and no one shall prevent the MacDuffs from regaining their own, and more!
    Gruoch’s twin sister would have been very surprised to see the look upon her usually lovely face. Sorcha MacDuff had trained her beloved daughter well. She might die in the next day or two, but Gruoch would not fail her mother. She would exact their secret vengeance upon the Fergusons because she believed in it, fiercely.
    Regan had fled the tower house and gone down to the loch. The water was always soothing, but today even it could not bring her the peace she needed. That she had grown up without bitterness was a miracle and testimony to the strength of the human spirit. She knew nothing of love, or real kindness, and had therefore not missed them.
    Regan had known from the time understanding came upon her that Gruoch was the heiress, the favored one, and she was to be a nun. But there had not been a priest at Ben MacDui since she was five. She knew little of her faith, or indeed if she even had a faith. She had heard various explanations of the life she was to lead. It did not seem particularly appealing.
    She would live in a place with other women. They would pray a great deal, and do good works. Men were forbidden. When it was deemed she was fit, she would swear before this God she wasn’t even certain she believed in to lead a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience, before the head of the convent and all the other nuns. Regan sighed deeply. Lying was foreign to her, yet to protect her sister, Gruoch, she would have to live the greatest lie of all. Nuns were supposed to be virgins, and she would not be a virgin after she took Gruoch’s place in her twin sister’s marriage bed. Still, if she did not, Ian Ferguson would learn his bride was not untouched. The MacFhearghuis would, as her mother had said, kill Gruoch without another thought. Regan knew well the story of their birth and how old Bridie had saved their lives by promising the Fergusons that lasses could not harm them.
    Regan sighed, and bent down to pick up a small flat stone, skimming it expertly across the ruffled surface of the water. She walked slowly along the shoreline, contemplating her future. She had never been more than a mile or two from Ben MacDui in her entire life, yet the place to which she was to be sent was across the width of her homeland, Alba, on the farthest coast of Strathclyde. She would never see Ben MacDui or her twin again. Tears flooded her eyes. Despite the difference in their stations, Gruoch had always been loving to her. As for the others, none but Sorcha could tell the twins apart, and so everyone had been pleasant to her, never certain who was Gruoch, the heiress, and who was Regan, the unimportant child. Now she would have nothing but her fragile memories. Yet was there really a great deal more to life? Would she ever know if there was?
    A drop of rain fell upon her cheek. Looking up, Regan sawthe spring storm clouds gathering beyond the hills about the loch. She hurried back to the house to find Gruoch sitting by the fire.