Lady Eilean

Chapter 46

Winter passed in a blur of blizzards and a whirl of snowstorms. It was the harshest winter I could recall and was grateful for all the hard work we had done to prepare. Though the winds howled outside, and the days were long and dark, inside the castle was bright and cozy.

Together, amid many nights locked up in my rooms, Alex and I became what we had always been destined to be. We looked to the future: planned improvements to the castle and other projects across Ellesmure. He sketched up an itinerary for a trip to the Mainland so I might see his home. Marriage, the promise of it, clung like mist to every action, word, and glance Alex and I shared. We discussed spring or summer, harvest or New Year. It was easy. I felt bound to Alex, connected to him in a way that filled my heart.

In January, a distant uncle of Alex's passed, leaving him a small inheritance. As a gift to me and for our future together, he applied the funds to the estate's debt. Wiping clean the lingering weight of my father's financial mismanagement.

On a bitter February afternoon, I sat in the office going over various issues of castle activity when my potential departure to The Fist was introduced.

"You know you're going to have to appoint one of us as the leader," Innis said, frowning at the months-long agenda of Alex and my absence.

I frowned at her, "You're telling me between you, Bess, and Angus you couldn't divide the work?"

"It's not about dividing the work as much as it is about preventing a bloodbath over control."

I laughed but stopped as I noticed the serious faces around me. Innis, Bess, and Angus considered me with scowls. Behind their eyes, I could see the machinations of their temporary coups.

"Oh, come on," I gripped. "You have to be kidding me."

They all smirked.

"In this game of favorites, Miss Eilean, will you be accepting bribes?" Angus said, twirling the tip of his beard, a playful glint in his eyes.

Rolling my eyes, l said, "Forget it, I'll put Calum in charge."

"He'd be a disaster," Bess said, shaking her head. "It'd be a bacchanal every night. The power would go to his head."

Innis hummed her agreement. "He'd empty your coffers, refurbishing all the rooms to make them more fashionable. He hates the way you decorate, you know."

"What is wrong with — " I shook my head, laughing. "He hates the way my mother decorated, you mean. I guess you're all lucky he's still required at the delegation." At this point, Wallis seemed the most likely candidate to cover my absence.

"Speaking of," Innis said, her eyes brightening, "I was going to save this for your birthday, but that's months away and I don't want to wait. I uncovered something interesting in a new shipment of documents from the south."

I waved her on.

"There is an old law, an ancient law, but it has no record of being challenged or stricken from any version of the Island Charter. Including the current one. It's simply buried by everything else and easy to overlook." Innis shuffled through a crate of books on the floor. She pulled out an ancient volume bound in crumbling blue leather and flipped to a page marked with an ink-stained ribbon. She slid the book over the desk to me and pointed at a passage. The ink was faded and blurred from years of retouching.

"Estates are considered transferred to an assumptive head, passing all titles, honors, and ownership, after a period of five years. Assumptive heads can be appointed or, in the case of an abandoned seat, claimed." Innis recited in a clipped voice.