Chapter 23
Brighit could see the man again in her mind.
“D'ye seriously want to do this?”
Cathair had wanted revenge for something and he’d wanted it from her. If she had not defended herself at all, he would have found out she was a lass sooner and then… his excited expression at finding her binding and realizing she was a female flashed through her mind. She shivered.
Darragh’s concerned expression broke through her thoughts right before her mind went to Seigine, mounted and watching from the crest of the hill.
It suddenly struck her as odd, beyond odd, that he’d sat there waiting.
Watching. Had he stayed to see if his brother needed assistance?
No. He would have assumed Cathair needed no help, so why watch?
Why not join the others in fighting her uncle and brothers? Had he—
It was the disbelief on Darragh’s face that finally halted her tears and stiffened her spine. There was no question about what she was saying and he had to understand that. Having confessed, it was required that she be believed.
As if reading her thoughts, he said, “I do not believe ye.”
She refused to respond, keeping her expression blank, and remained quiet.
“I saw the body, Brighit.” Darragh shook his head as if shaking off a bad dream. “Ye could never be so vile, so cruel, so destructive.”
The tears had stopped and Brighit felt an overwhelming relief in his condemnation of what she’d done. She glanced away, unable to meet his eyes.
“He was beating me, and when he felt the bindings at my breasts, his expression… changed. He became excited about discovering I was a woman because it meant he could punish me even further.”
“Punish ye?”
“I shouldn’t have been on their land. It was the middle of the night.”
Something flickered in Darragh’s eyes, and she feared that she’d somehow revealed her uncle’s role.
“I had wanted to take a midnight ride. One last ride as a final goodbye to my freedom.”
Darragh’s brows dipped low. “And have ye found yerself truly subdued by me?”
She blew out a breath. “Ye know I have not. I was so wrong in what I thought of ye. Forgiveness, please?”
“For thinking the worst of me or for breaking our agreement?”
She winced. “Both.”
He was measuring her sincerity, she knew it deep down in her gut. It was on his face. He wondered if she could ever be trusted again.
“Ye are forgiven,” he said. No hesitation. No disappointment in his tone.
Brighit had not expected that. Somewhere in her thoughts she’d imagined him railing at her about her willfulness for not listening to him.
And he would have been right to do so. Although breaking their agreement had not been her idea, she had gone along willingly enough.
Niall had merely been looking for a way to indulge his beloved niece, but all his plans had gone awry.
“I was wrong to sneak off and to be on their land. I had thought no harm would come of it.” She hadn’t thought at all. Holding up her hand when he started to speak, she continued, “Do not ask more of me. I will speak only of my crime.”
Darragh flattened his lips, not in the least bit happy with her. “Crime? It sounds like defense to me.” He hesitated, his gaze dropping away. “I’m not certain how the rig túaithe will judge it.”
She closed her eyes and took a calming breath. When she opened them again, Darragh was staring at her. “Tell me how it happened. Exactly.”
“I do not want to relive it.”
“I wouldn’t ask it of ye unless I needed to hear it myself.”
Brighit had gone over this so many times in her head, but where was she to start without implicating Niall?
“I was racing across the field, pushing Valiant up a hill at top speed.” The sight of Cathair following her flashed through her mind.
“I saw a man following me and…” The sound of the fighting that had broken out behind her filled her ears.
The others had attempted to send her to safety—they’d never imagined she would be chased.
“…he was relentless in his pursuit. I couldn’t get away. ”
She took a quivering breath. “When I thought I had lost him because he was no longer behind me, he knocked me from my horse. He’d gotten the jump on me, arriving at the bottom of the hill before I could.”
“Which hill?”
“What?”
“Tell me which hill ye went up?”
“The one to the east.”
“That is the opposite of my túath. Did ye not wish to return home?”
She had been going where Niall told her to go, away from the MacNaughton so they couldn’t be traced back. “I was… panicked.”
Darragh watched her, his face expressionless.
“D'ye wish me to continue?”
“Not if ye continue to prevaricate.”
Brighit turned away, petrified that he’d see the truth of his words, her guilt, on her face. “I cannot—”
“Ye must tell me everything, Brighit. If they find out that ye killed him—”
“Seigine knows that I killed him. He saw me. He watched from the top of the hill as I murdered his brother.”
Darragh’s mind reeled with the revelation. She’d murdered a man with his brother a witness?
“Seigine watched the man beat ye?”
She nodded.
“And did nothing to help ye?” His irritated tone had Brighit pulling back, fear in her eyes.
“When he finally came closer… after I killed Cathair… I got on Valiant and I rode away from him. I was afraid of what he would do to me, but he didn’t chase me.”
“Were ye still dressed as a lad when Seigine saw ye?”
Brighit hesitated the slightest bit, and said, “I was still dressed as a lad.”
Darragh nodded thoughtfully before asking, “Cathair used his hands to beat ye?”
Brighit nodded. Swallowing, she opened her mouth to continue but nothing came out, her eyes were wide with fear. Chagrined, Darragh poured her some mead from the carafe left for them on the chest. “Mayhap this will help ye.”
After one sip, she got up and ran behind the single screen to the chamber pot, retching loudly. The sweetness of the drink must have sickened her. In two strides, he was beside her, pulling the loose hairs away from her face and rubbing her back. “A ghráidh. Ye have been through much.”
“I will be fine.”
He heard the tears in her throat, but her face remained dry. He eased her back to sit down and brought her some water. “Mayhap this will be better, but drink it slowly.”
Settling down beside her, Darragh took her hand.
“If this was something that could wait, I would say we could discuss it later but…” He turned wide eyes on her.
“…ye have kept it to yerself for so long. ’Tis best ye tell yer story.
” He kissed her forehead before looking into her eyes.
“I believe ye will feel better after ye tell me what happened.”
Brighit nodded. “Cathair engaged me with his sword, laughing when I thought to fight back, but he quickly got the upper hand. I had no chance against him.”
“I was a lad he needed to put in his place. I didn’t think about how fast he could be, then he knocked me down and got on top of me. I couldn’t breathe.”
Darragh’s breath stilled, his mind imagining the scene as she described it.
Her delicate body subdued by the huge warrior.
No wonder she’d been afraid of Darragh. Mayhap it wasn’t even pain from her bruises that first night that had caused her to lash out, mayhap his size had simply reminded her of the beating and fearing for her life.
“He backhanded me. He wanted to know who had sent me.”
“He asked who sent ye?” The man believed she had intentionally intruded on his land.
She nodded. “He wanted the name of my leader and said he wouldn’t get away again.”
Brighit sat gazing into the distance as if not seeing anything.
Darragh assessed her condition before he spoke, giving her his back. “Why would a single lad on Cathair’s land be of such great concern to him, Brighit?”
“I do not know.”
“A group of lads on his land could be cause for worry, and he would demand the name of their leader.”
She said nothing.
He closed his eyes to rid them of their moisture before facing her. “When ye feel ye can trust me with everything, we can talk. I will await ye below.”
“Darragh, I—”
“Do not.” He gave her his most scathing expression. “I made my decision about ye a long while ago. It is up to ye now to make yers about me.”
Once in the hall, he leaned back against the wall, feeling as if he’d been in a terrible battle. His insides ached and his eyes burned. How could he reach his wife if she refused to show herself to him?
The door was suddenly yanked open, and Brighit appeared in the frame, looking down the hall toward the stairs before turning to find him there beside her door. “I have made my decision. May I tell ye what I’ve done? And mayhap ye can help me know what I need to do?”