After that she bore his bastards without complaint, but she could not love them. When he learned of her deeds, he had sought out the witch, hung her from a tree, burned her cottage, then returned to Ben MacDui and beaten Sorcha MacDuff so badly she’d been unable to arise from her bed for a week. Three times Sorcha MacDuff had gone in secret to the old witch woman in the glen, paid an exorbitant fee, drunk a disgusting potion, and aborted her violator’s offspring. In the years that followed, Alasdair Ferguson visited his leman on a regular basis, as her growing family attested to, but he would not marry her, nor would she have had him if he had asked. The matter settled, the MacFhearghuis dismissed the cleric and raped the widow MacDuff, keeping her locked with him in her bedchamber for three days while he had his way with her. Regan would then go to a convent on the west coast of Scotland to devote her life to God.
The priest told her that Gruoch would be Ian Ferguson’s wife as soon as her womanly flow began. They could have said anything and Sorcha would have known no different for she could neither read nor write. The betrothal contracts, drawn up by the Fergusons, had been signed then in the presence of a priest.
In the spring after her MacDuff daughters had been born, Alasdair Ferguson had returned to Ben MacDui. Sorcha could not help but admire her secondborn twin. The girl had his daring, and was brave to the point of foolishness. Regan had grown to be much like her father, Torcull, of sainted memory. For Gruoch’s twin, Regan, she allowed a small bit of affection. Her mother love, at least that which she possessed, was for Gruoch MacDuff, her firstborn. Six little bastards, and a seventh in her fertile womb. Sorcha MacDuff, seated at the high board, gazed down upon her numerous offspring tumbling about the room. Click on a plot link to find similar books! Plot & Themes Time/era of story - 1600 to 1899įorbidden/mismatched love? - Yes How mismatched? - loving slave Captor, in love with - Yes If one lover chases another.The little hall at Ben MacDui was blue with smoke, for the chimney drew poorly.
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