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Back The Darkest Shore Save as PDF
Chapters (76)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Also by Karen Brooks
  4. Title Page
  5. Dedication
  6. EXPLANATORY NOTE
  7. PART ONE
  8. One
  9. Two
  10. Three
  11. Four
  12. Five
  13. Six
  14. Seven
  15. Eight
  16. Nine
  17. Ten
  18. Eleven
  19. Twelve
  20. Thirteen
  21. Fourteen
  22. Fifteen
  23. Sixteen
  24. Seventeen
  25. Eighteen
  26. Nineteen
  27. Twenty
  28. Twenty-One
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Twenty-Three
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. PART TWO
  37. Twenty-Nine
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. Thirty-Three
  42. Thirty-Four
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. PART THREE
  45. Thirty-Six
  46. Thirty-Seven
  47. Thirty-Eight
  48. Thirty-Nine
  49. Forty
  50. Forty-One
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Forty-Eight
  58. Forty-Nine
  59. Fifty
  60. Fifty-One
  61. Fifty-Two
  62. PART FOUR
  63. Fifty-Three
  64. Fifty-Four
  65. Fifty-Five
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Fifty-Seven
  68. Fifty-Eight
  69. Fifty-Nine
  70. Sixty
  71. Sixty-One
  72. Epilogue: Autumn 1706
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. GLOSSARY
  75. LIST OF CHARACTERS
  76. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

‘She said something that didn’t make sense before, it was so… final. But now it does.’ Sorcha repeated Janet’s words of farewell.

‘Och, the foolish auld woman…’ Nettie began to stand.

Putting down her bowl, Sorcha leapt to her feet. ‘Come on, Nettie. We have to go back to the Tolbooth and stop her.’ Throwing her coat on, Sorcha reached the door first. ‘That is, if we’re not too late.’

Forty-Three

FORTY-THREE

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She made her escape that night…

— A Letter from a Gentleman in Fife to his Friend in Edinburgh, 1705

While Janet waited for the bloothered soldiers in the street to finish their conversation and head to the comfort of their lodgings, she donned the clean shirt over her filthy one, then wrapped the blankets Sorcha had provided about her body. One went over her head and around her shoulders, the other she tied about her waist, intending to also drape it over the frame as she levered herself out the window. As for the food, she thought about eating it, but knew she might need it once she found shelter. Not that she would seek that for a while. She wanted as much distance between herself and the reverend as possible before she even thought of stopping.

Leaning against the window ledge, she tried to regulate her breathing. By God, her heart was thumping like a soldier’s drum and damn it if that gale wasn’t more glacial than Beatrix’s stare. Could she do this? Never had she felt her age as she did now. But thinking of Nettie and how she could silence a man with a mere look, gave her strength. So did Sorcha. How was it she and Nettie could defy the reverend and bring her supplies? Hearing Sorcha’s voice and then leaning out to find her right there had almost stopped her heart. Just as well they’d been out of the Tolbooth a while and able to recover or she doubted Nettie would have been able to bear Sorcha’s weight.