Duncan grimaced at that question, already knowing the answer. He had been repulsed by her the day she had fallen in the manure, and he had been even more repulsed by Kelly’s stench and filth earlier that evening.

“There ye are, then.” Angus nodded at his son’s telling expression. “Mayhap ye can then understand why yer wife reacts to you as she does.”

Duncan sighed his resignation at that but still complained, “But she is changing everything, Da. Nothing seems the same since she arrived. The keep is clean, the women are clean and wear new plaids, the food is spiced, and my chamber is full of chests.”

“Aye.” Angus nodded solemnly. “Yer life has changed now that ye’ve taken a wife. But so has hers. ’Tis the way of things. Ye need to accept that and make the best of it.”

“Perhaps,” Duncan muttered unhappily.

“There is no perhaps about it, boy. As far as I can see, Iliana has done all that is in her power to make our home more pleasant. Tell me, what have you done for her?”

“She’s done it all fer hersel’, not me,” Duncan grumbled, not ready to concede yet.

“Has she? Well now, I did not notice that she instructed Elgin to cook fine fare only fer her but continue to offer slop to the rest of us. Neither did I notice that she had her room cleaned but left the common rooms to ruin. Nay. In fact, my room was cleaned and filled with fresh rushes just last week under yer lady wife’s orders, and I ken that they cleaned Seonaid’s room, too, and yet they have not got to clean the one she and her mother have been using. It seems to me she leaves the consideration of her own comfort last.”

Duncan was silent, a startled look on his face. This was something he had to consider.

Iliana surveyed the room with displeasure. For two days she had lain in bed, staring at the filthy rushes and stained tapestries of her husband’s room. And for two days the sight had stung her nerves like salt in a sore.

It was her own fault, she supposed. She had not really needed two days to recuperate from her wound but had allowed herself to be persuaded to rest by her mother. In truth, she supposed she had been hiding up here, just as she had been hiding up here while her mother was ill. It had been easy to do. Once again, Duncan had taken to sleeping in Seonaid’s vacant room, leaving her to her own devices. But then, everyone had seemed to leave her to her own devices. Even her mother had not offered her company to pass the time and distract her. According to Ebba, the woman was spending her time regaling either Duncan, Angus, or both men with tales of Iliana’s childhood. The very idea made her cringe.