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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

Unable to help himself, aware he was being manipulated into something that was not mere gallantry but interference in a local dispute and against everything he’d been ordered to do while stationed at the Weem — that it was utter foolhardiness — he nonetheless relented. His superiors had warned him never to become involved in local politics or customs, no matter how disturbing, but he couldn’t let this rest. Not when he feared for the women requesting his help.

‘Very well,’ he said, before he could change his mind. ‘I’ll do what I can, but I can’t promise too much.’

In a move that startled him, Sorcha took his hands in hers. He felt the pressure of her fingers, the cool dryness of her skin, the calluses hardened over years of baiting lines, repairing nets, and gutting fish. He liked the way they felt. These were hands that knew what it was to work. Were they also hands that knew how to love?

Heat filled his body, and he found himself squeezing her fingers in return, meeting those crystal eyes and smiling.

‘All we ask is that you come with us and do your best,’ said Sorcha. Nettie made a noise of affirmation.

‘When?’ asked Aidan, praying his best was good enough.

‘Now,’ said Sorcha.

Sixteen

SIXTEEN

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She deigned to be avenged upon him.

— A Just Reproof to the False Reports and Unjust Calumnies in the Foregoing Letter, 1705

‘Repeat what you just said, Mrs Laing,’ said Reverend Patrick Cowper. ‘I didn’t quite hear you.’

Beatrix Laing sat with her back to the window on the top floor of the Tolbooth. Seated in one of the five chairs placed in a semi-circle around her, Patrick wished they could hurry proceedings up. After all, it was just a formality.

It was getting late, the room was growing cooler. He’d no chance to eat his dinner before the constables brought the woman to his house. Gazing out the window, he could glimpse deep blue sky and scudding clouds. They’d been forced to close the window earlier, due to the commotion on the street below, the shouting of those foolish folk protesting the Laing woman’s arrest, as well as those praising it. The noise had been a terrible distraction. But now the chamber stank. The woman’s fear was ripe, as was her obstinacy.

The weak sun beamed behind her slumped figure, but where he sat there was no heat, only the cold stone floors and walls; the eternal damp reached out to grip him in an icy vice. Repressing the shivers that began to rack his body took all his will, but God forbid he’d show weakness by wrapping his arms about his sides and rubbing them, even though he longed to do so. This was about Mrs Laing’s shortcomings. Mind you, he’d make her pay for his discomfort. As God was his witness.