Lady Macbeth

Gruadh and Macbeth return to Moray in late August. Macbeth transfers his household from Elgin to Craig Phadraig in the northeast. As they ride noisily from one fortress to another, Macbeth notes that a warlord trying to intimidate his enemies “should not travel about with puppies and children.” Gruadh counters that by doing this he shows his strength and rallies his constituency “with the humble appeal of your escort.”   

A few weeks after their move, Gruadh and Macbeth receive a letter from King Malcolm, announcing he’s installed Black Duff as Fife’s mormaer. Malcolm acknowledges Graudh’s lineage and gives her lands and property but strips her of her inheritance and rights. She is unhappy, but glad to own a small part of Fife—some of which she gives to Dolina who she is sure will want to leave Abernethy once Duff arrives.

In the hall one evening Dermot tells the story of “The Three Sons of Tuirenn.” One aspect of the story involves a man diving into the ocean and encountering dozens of bana-ghaisgeach, or warrior women. The next day Gruadh considers these warrior women, and how she is part of their Celtic legacy of women who took up arms and fought on their own or beside their husbands for hundreds of years. 

Gruadh notes that although the church does not approve of warrior women, it is too far away to control the actions of the Gaels. She adds, “warlike behavior in a woman is not sinful heresy, and is sometimes even necessary.” She also thinks to herself that she has an obligation to her legacy to protect herself and her sons through any means necessary.

Gruadh has another dream of the future; in this one, Macbeth fights a single opponent as a bloody battle rages around him. Gruadh feels an intense foreboding when she wakes from this dream and does not share it with her husband.

Macbeth rides into his territory to curry favor with his people. Gruadh spends much of her time with Lulach. She prays daily, and occasionally finds time to practice with her sword.

That winter Gruadh and Macbeth return to Elgin. Gruadh and Macbeth often have sex, but she has not become pregnant again. Maeve suggests that Gruadh’s continued insistence on practicing with her sword and her desire for revenge are physically changing her body and making her unable to carry a child. Gruadh ignores Maeve, but later—when reflecting back on this time in her life from middle age—wonders if she should have heeded her nursemaid’s advice.

Gruadh sends a request to Duff asking for Bodhe’s hawks. Two weeks later, Ruari arrives with hawks and hunting dogs, and asks to stay at Elgin with her. Later that winter Elgin gets a new priest, who Gruadh likes more than she ever liked Father Anselm. He tells her that “your wish for vengeance is sinful” but “understandable,” and hopes that she can find peace with time.

That winter Lulach takes his first steps, and sometime later Gruadh is pregnant again. She prays to the goddess Brigid for protection, but miscarries not soon after, before she even has the opportunity to tell Macbeth. She returns to her swordcraft and feels “a bitterness growing in me like a hard kernel nut.”