Elusive Read Online Free Page B

six—but
then so had Sòlas.
    The reality was that Caena loathed Macrath
with a passion as deep and lasting as her love for Sòlas. Macrath
had a heart as black as the hair that, held back by a leather
strip, fell down his back to his waist. Macrath would never miss an
opportunity to cause harm, shame, or sadness to any person in his
path. She had even witnessed his cruel treatment of his own
mother.
    Her Sòlas’s love was as strong and sweet as
the man himself. He was kind, generous and loving. Another sigh
escaped her lips.
    “Yes. Yes, that has always been the path
ahead since your mother died,” Ròs said quietly.
    Of course, if anything happened to Finnean,
the estate would be entailed to his brother, Mordag first. Then in
turn, the estate would go to Mordag’s sons—his heirs—in their birth
order. Unless Sòlas outlived them all, he would never inherit. The
only way that all her father had built would remain with his own
bloodline would be for her to marry Macrath. It was a fact that
burned inside her and, she knew, inside her father.
    “Oh, Ròs, I know how fortunate I am. I owe my
father a great deal. The women of Scotland have no rights, and so
many of us receive no education whatsoever. Men want to impose their opinions on us instead of permitting us to learn and
establish our own!” She scowled and her hands made fists at her
sides. “Our men selfishly keep women from learning to read or
write. Unless they have been fortunate enough to spend time in
France or elsewhere where women are encouraged to learn, the only
education they receive is from the oral stories passed on by others
from generation to generation.”
    “Aye,” Ròs looked down at the floor. “Had it
not been for you, lass, I would not be able to read or write what
little I can. You have been very kind to me.”
    In secret, Caena had spent some of the small
amount of time they had alone together teaching a very rudimentary
knowledge of reading and writing to Ròs. Anytime the other women
were present, she and Ròs concentrated on their sewing, embroidery,
telling tales, or singing the women’s poems of their
history—keeping any unwomanly abilities between
themselves.
    Yes, Caena was well aware that, had she not
dared to help Ròs learn to read and write, she would be just
another of the number of women of Scotland dependant on the oral
tales. Caena went to this woman who had raised her from birth. She
loved her and would willingly give her anything a daughter would
give a mother. “No, Ròs. Although he does not know it, ’tis father
to whom we should be thankful.” They could never dare make Ròs’s
lessons known to others. “Despite these opinions, he insisted that
I be tutored right along with Macrath and Sòlas.”
    They both remembered that it had caused a
great scandal in the beginning. Even the easy-going tutor had
resented her, until he realized what a bright student Caena was.
And then, in fear of reprisal, he had avoided letting anyone
outside the castle know he was teaching a girl. He’d admitted this
to her when he’d had too much whiskey at the Yule celebration at
the castle last winter solstice.
    She had heard her father explain his attitude
in this matter to his brother, and others when the matter arose.
Despite his brother’s ranting, in Finnean’s mind—frugal Scot he
was—it only made sense. The teacher was there, so why not make full
use of the man? Caena was, after all, no trouble to him. She took
up little room and, once instruction began, she had picked things
up so quickly that the tutor spent all his time working with the
laddies. Finnean paid the man to teach. He was not paid by the
number of students. Therefore, using Finnean’s logic, having the
man teaching the laddies, but not the lassie, was just wasteful.
Finnean was not a wasteful man!
    Thus Finnean had justified her education to
others. In his heart, and privately to Caena, his true reasons lay
elsewhere. The child was bright, and he wanted