Outlander Book Club: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone Chapter 46 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with William getting home in the early hours of the morning. He wants food, so he goes in search for Maria, who is in the garden with Amaranthus.

This gives William and Amaranthus time to talk. There is some flirtatious banter between them at first. It’s clear that Amaranthus likes William, but is it for William or for something else? She is a woman who clearly thinks three moves ahead.

After talking about the beetles on William’s waistcoat, she shares that she overheard Hal talking about William renouncing his title. It’s not something that William really wants to talk about, scared that Amaranthus knows why he wants to renounce the title. That’s not where the conversation goes, though.

Instead, Amaranthus has another idea. He could always abdicated for an heir. William doesn’t have an heir, but Amaranthus has thought of that, too. They could marry so that Benjamin’s son becomes the heir to William’s estate. It seems so callus considering nobody really knows if Ben is dead yet, but it could also be the survival of a woman in the time. She is a potential widow with a young baby, after all.