“No, Katie!” Collin’s tug on my arm came too late.
A face leered above mine, eyes bulging, skin blue, neck cocked viciously to the side beneath the rope encircling it. I’d backed into a corpse, putting it in motion. It swung toward me, dangling arms reaching out to ensnare.
Chapter Eleven
Collin’s rough hand covered my mouth, stifling my scream almost before it began. “Don’t look,” he whispered as he wrapped his arm around me and backed us out of the room.
I scrunched my eyes shut, but that mattered little. The image was burned into my mind, from Edan’s shock of white hair, to his bulging eyes and lolling tongue, to the rope descending from a rafter and cinched round his neck. He hung limply, above a floor littered with papers that I didn’t need to read to identify.
We reached the hall, and Collin released me to pull the door closed. I turned from him, arms wrapped around my middle, trying to keep from retching, trying to stop trembling. My legs buckled and wanted to collapse, but instead I forced my feet to move, away from that room. I wanted out of this cottage, to be gone from the castle grounds and Campbell land, out of Scotland. I didn’t think there was a place far away enough where I might forget or feel safe again.
Instead of following me, Collin caught my hand and tugged me into the shadow of the short hall. He gathered me to him, held me tight while murmuring soothing words. “It’s all right. He cannot hurt you. I’m so sorry, lass. Cry if you must, only softly.”
I wanted to be away but clung to him now instead, sobbing into the front of his shirt, shaking and terrified.
“Forget what you’ve seen. You must forget, Katie.” Collin bent his head close to mine.
“Im— poss— ible.” I couldn’t block trauma as I somehow had as a child. I could no more forget the violent realities that had been my life here before than I could dismiss them now. I squeezed my eyes shut again, wishing I could.
If Brann had intended to frighten me, to threaten, he’d been entirely successful. I strained against Collin’s hold, but his arms were like iron bands. “Please,” I begged. “The only thing that will help is getting away from this place. We’re not going to win.”
“We can’t leave— not now.”
“What do you mean?” I ceased my struggling and lifted my face to better see his.
Collin brushed a tear from my cheek. “We should never have come inside. Brann made it too simple for us. I knew that—”
“I’m the one who is supposed to know of danger.” Once again, I had not. My gift was both unreliable and unpredictable. Or was I expecting too much of it? I had felt something, a premonition of— certainly not this. Not the body of someone I had known, however briefly.
God speed, Edan and Liusaidh had said to one another. Almost as if he’d known. But if he had, then why had he helped me? Or tried to? Another death— because of me.
I didn’t want there to be anymore. “Let’s just go.” I pushed down on Collin’s arms, but still he didn’t budge. “Please, Collin. Brann has made his message clear, and I don’t want you to be his next target.”
“Too late for that,” Collin said, his voice grim.
“It’s not,” I insisted. He couldn’t think it safe for us here, not now, after this. “We need to leave while we still can.” If only we’d never come here, or had left during those days Brann was gone. It wasn’t difficult to piece together what he’d been doing during that time. Or what he might do next.
“I should have said something about the misgivings I felt in coming here this morning.” I’d worried, but without a tangible vision, it was difficult to distinguish actual intuition from the constant buzz of danger surrounding us. With the discovery of Edan’s body that buzz had risen to a fevered pitch, and I’d no doubt what our next course of action should be.
“That doesn’t matter now. We’ve walked straight into a trap, and if we don’t step carefully we’ll not get out of it.”
A trap. I’d had that very thought and ignored it. Why else would Brann not have acted this morning when he’d had both of us at his mercy? I’d been foolish to think my words alone had stopped him.
“He allowed us to come here, so he could accuse us— or me at least— of murdering Edan. The evidence will be irrefutable. He’ll be able to sway any of the clan who might have sided with us.” Collin glanced toward the room we’d vacated. “No one else has been here, or so it has been made to appear. Everyone knows we’ve been searching for the dowry, and Edan is the man most likely to have had information about it.”
“Brann will make it seem you killed Edan in anger.” A moment ago I wouldn’t have believed I could ever be more frightened, but I was now— for Collin’s life.
“That I attacked Brann this morning will only bolster his claim.” Collin’s mouth turned down, and his eyes clouded. “I’ve no doubt that as soon as we leave this place, as soon as we step foot outside, someone will be upon us, ready to accuse and then to enact justice for Edan’s murder.”
The picture he painted was all too clear. Brann would lock Collin away— or worse— and I would be left alone and unprotected. I clutched Collin’s arms. “What are we to do?”
“We’re going to return to the table and books, before it’s noticed we aren’t there.” Collin stayed behind me, as if to put a buffer between me and the body on the other side of the door. A sudden, horrid thought occurred to me when we reached the main room. “The second room,” I whispered, too terrified to think of what— who— we might discover there. Not Finlay. Please not Finlay.
“I’ll look,” Collin whispered. “But not now.” He led me to the table, where I took my seat with a minimum of chair scraping. Collin moved his hands, indicating that I was to open a book in front of me. I grabbed one from the stack and opened it carefully while Collin leaned around the side, peering through the broken window.
“Still sleeping,” he said, his relief visible in the sigh of his chest. He took the seat he had had previously, across from me, opened a book of his own, and leaned his head close to mine. “I don’t trust them.” His gaze flickered to the window.
“Hugh and Donaid?”
Collin whispered. “We still don’t know who helped Malcom try to take you on the way here. And Hugh seemed a bit too interested in hearing about Finlay’s whereabouts.”
I nodded, having noticed this too. Was it only a couple of hours ago that I’d been upset with Collin for his carelessness? Now I reached across the table and grasped his hand, both regretting our previous arguments and disregarding our agreement to avoid touching one another. In light of the circumstances we’d faced today, I wanted to hold onto him and never let go.
It occurred to me then exactly what he should do.
“You must leave while you still can.” I squeezed his fingers in earnest. “I’ll distract Hugh, and you can sneak away.”
“And leave you here?” Collin shook his head adamantly. “Never.”
“It’s you Brann wants to be rid of. If you’re not a threat to him, he won’t harm me.”
Collin’s eyes darkened. “You’re naïve and foolish if you believe that. He nearly ordered you killed this morning.” Collin leaned even closer over the table. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“I didn’t say it would be long. Alistair could help me leave tonight.”
“No,” Collin said again. “I’ll think of something else.” Still grasping my hands, he lowered his head so that it appeared he was engaged in earnest prayer. I was, silently at least.
Help us know what to do.
Minutes passed. Another snore sounded from outside, followed by shuffling.
If Hugh still slept it probably wouldn’t be for long. We’d been here close to three hours.
Collin leaned his head close to mine again. “I have an idea.”
“Yes?”
“Better to bend than to break,” Collin said.
“What do you mean?” The glint in his eye frightened me.
“It’s going t
o be all right.” He lifted one of the volumes from the table and hefted it in his hand. “We’re going to take a leaf from Brann’s book.”
Chapter Twelve
I pulled the door to Edan’s former residence and offices firmly shut, achieving the desired result when Hugh startled awake, jumping to a sitting position rather quickly for a man his size.
Paying him no heed, I made an exaggerated show of brushing dust from my skirts. “Oh,” I exclaimed, looking up at the sky. “It is marvelous to be out of that place.” Leaning my head back, I breathed in deeply, not at all embellishing my need for fresh air.
“Have you found what you were looking for?” Hugh asked while staring past me at the door, no doubt wondering what had become of Collin.
“No.” I moved down the neglected pathway toward him. “But I cannot possibly look at another ledger. Collin will have to finish by himself. My head aches, and it is stuffy and filthy in there. Whoever this record keeper is—” my throat constricted, and I turned away quickly, bringing a hand to my mouth with the premise of coughing— “he is in dire need of someone to keep his house.” Edan was in need of only one thing now— a decent burial— which he was not going to get.
“Are there many more ledgers to read? Maybe I should help your husband.” Hugh heaved his oversized body from the ground.
“Please don’t,” I said. “Collin will insist that I return inside as well, if you’re not out here with me. I do not believe I could stand another moment in there.” That much was truth.
Hugh looked uncertainly toward the door. “All right— I guess.”
I smiled my relief. My task was to delay and distract, which was proving difficult, given the current state of my nerves. But Collin had the far worse lot, and it was for him this ruse must be successful.
“Tell me more of your cousin Finlay.” I moved farther from the house under the pretext of seeking shade from a nearby tree. “Has he always been a poet?”
“Aye.” With a last glance toward the building which— if Collin’s idea met with success— shortly would no longer be standing, Hugh joined me beneath the tree. “We descend from a bard. Used to be the lairds employed them for entertainment. But Brann seeks his diversion elsewhere.” Hugh’s gaze slid down the length of me in a way that sent an unpleasant chill down my spine and made me feel in need of a bath. “My lady would take care not to become such entertainment.”
What he hinted at, on top of what I’d just seen, made me ill almost to the point of faintness. I pressed a hand to my stomach and leaned against the tree trunk.
“Are you unwell?” Hugh asked anxiously. “I did not mean to frighten you.”
Hadn’t he? I couldn’t be certain if his words had been a warning or threat. “Aren’t you unwell?” I stared at him. “How is any Campbell at all comfortable with what is happening here, on this land, the sacred home of our ancestors?” My voice rose to hysteria quickly, more of a reaction than Hugh had likely expected or was called for. It was the thought of what Collin was doing this very minute, and what he might find in the second room, that I found overwhelming. But Hugh must not suspect, so I continued my rant.
“Knives pointed at me and my husband. Families burned out of their homes.” Good men suffering a terrible death for trying to help. “This isn’t the way of things in the Highlands. Not for our clan.” I brought a hand to my mouth, barely holding back a sob.
“I didn’t mean to upset you so.” Hugh took a step closer, then stopped when I flinched.
“You’re right to be afraid of everyone. Finlay and the others should have never brought you back. There’s nothing good for you here.”
I searched Hugh’s face, trying to discern his intent. He sounded genuine, yet I dared not trust him. “Collin brought me here to keep a promise he made to my grandfather.”
“It will take more than a seer to help us. The clans, none of them, are what they used to be. Even if you stop driving people from the land, you’ll find they’ll leave anyway, eventually.”
“Are you the seer now?” Who knew but that he was, given Finlay’s startling revelation a few days ago.
Hugh shook his head. “Don’t need to be. It’s straw in the wind. Living off the land is no good anymore. The English have taken too much. A man barely has enough, and it is stolen from him. Brann does wrong by the people, but no more than would happen in time.”
I shook my head. “You’re mistaken. Grandfather wanted us to save our families. How can you not want that too?”
“What a man wants and what he is given do not equate.”
That was true enough. I wanted a marriage like Anna’s, one that provided security and opportunity, a roof over my head and food on our table. The blessing of children. Or at the least, a lack of danger. The possibility that my husband and I might live beyond the first month we were wed.
I had none of those things.
The scent of smoke drifted toward us, tickling my nose and nettling the back of my throat. It was not uncommon here, with the various fires burning, for everything from heating water for laundry to the fire of the blacksmith’s forge. A miniature town existed within the walls of the keep, with both fire and water required to run much of it. Without moving my head, I cast a furtive glance toward the cottage. Was it that fire I smelled already? Would the stench of burning human flesh be noticeable?
“I only want to help,” I said in a subdued voice, intended to calm our dialogue. For a few seconds I had forgotten that my purpose was to distract Hugh, and to learn as much as I could about him. Ten minutes into our conversation, and I still had no idea where his true loyalties lay.
“You should help yourself, then. Leave this place before harm comes to you.” Hugh’s face softened, and he clasped his hands together in front of him, as if begging.
A gentle giant? Words of genuine concern? I wished I knew.
“I would like to leave,” I said, pushing off the tree trunk. I began retracing my steps toward the castle. The smell was stronger now, and at any minute I expected to see rising smoke. If Hugh saw it too, before the fire had consumed the contents of Edan’s house, or at least that room, Collin’s plan would not succeed.
Hugh sniffed the smoky air as he followed me. “Twenty shillings says the lads are up to no good again.” He drew himself up even taller than he already stood, grabbed at the belt circling his wide waist, and hastened his steps— away from the cottage. “Burned my bog to the ground last week, they did,” he muttered with a quick glance at me.
“Bog?” I queried as I ran along beside.
“My privy. Set it afire— and the stench! Not to mention I’ve no place to set now while... Never mind.”
I pressed my lips together, holding back a smile.
“They’re off their heads if they think I’ll not catch them this time. Been setting fires all over the past month. I’ll get them at their mischief, and I’ll have their hides for it.”
“It’s more than mischief,” Donaid shouted as he joined us, coming from the opposite direction.
How long has he not been at his post? I resisted the urge to look back toward Edan’s house and counted myself blessed at this good fortune.
“The distillery is on fire.” Donaid gestured for us to join him. “Did you not hear the explosion?”
“No.” I must have been inside and Hugh asleep when it had happened. No doubt Hugh’s snores had drowned out any other sound for him. Some guards.
We rounded the corner of the castle to a scene of utter chaos. Men and women with buckets shouted at one another as they ran to and fro. Children and animals seemed to be everywhere and underfoot, and a tower of black smoke billowed from the cluster of buildings in the farthest corner of the courtyard.
“The whole batch finished last night!” Hugh smacked his hoof-sized palm on his forehead. He and Donaid charged off to join the fray. With the threat of losing the distillery, and thereby the clan’s source for spirits, clearly the importance of keeping guard over Collin and me had just plummeted.<
br />
On shaking legs I backed around the corner and began retracing my steps, sending a silent prayer of gratitude heavenward.
Saved by the memory of a burnt privy and some mischievous lads.
Chapter Thirteen
Though it was early afternoon and many people milled about— most heading for the distillery— I felt uncomfortably aware of my vulnerability as I hurried back toward what had been Edan’s dwelling. At the least I was being watched. At most—
What if Brann’s strategy all along was to separate Collin and me? What if it was he who lured our guards away?
I arrived at the cottage just as the matching window to the one Collin had broken exploded, sending a spray of glass into the yard.
Smoke poured out behind it, and flames shot up through the roof in the back of the house.
“Collin!” I ran toward the front door and reached it a second before it flung open and he emerged, coughing, sleeve held to his red face.
I threw my arm around his waist to guide him from the house. Heat scorched through my sleeve where it touched his back. We hobbled to the tree Hugh and I had spoken beneath. I paused, quickly assessing that my husband was not on fire.
He attempted to draw in breath with raspy effort as coughs wracked his body. I steered him toward the back entrance we had used this morning. Bridget would know what to do to help him.
We entered the kitchen, surprising only a handful of servants.
“I need water, quickly!” I eased Collin onto a bench as a young girl jumped to do my bidding and fetched a dipperful from the barrel in the corner. Together we held it up to Collin’s mouth, sloshing at least half down the front of his shirt.
We obliged three times more until Collin protested with a shake of his head.
“Upstairs,” he managed.
I ordered a bucket of fresh well water to be brought up. Collin leaned on me as we ascended the stairs from the kitchen. His coughing had yet to cease, and his chest rattled with each attempt at breath.
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