Chapter 6 #2
Fiona's face softened a little, almost with regret. But it was obvious the harsh life at Daire had taught her to care for her own skin first. Hellfire, Niall thought grimly. Had he not taught her that himself the day he turned his back on Daire and everyone in it?
"I will do you one service, brother, out of pity for the woman. If Conn sends warriors, I will not tell them that you passed." Fiona cast a worried glance behind her. "Now, leave at once before—"
"Treasure? Have we visitors?"
Niall flinched at the voice coming from within the castle, a voice still filled with the music of the North.
"Nay, Mam, only thieves." Fiona's voice held a quiver of dread. "Stay inside! I am driving them off." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Go now or I will kill you. Damn me if I will let you come back and break her heart, Niall!"
Niall wavered, wanting nothing more than to mount the horse, ride off.
It would be easier to face a swift, clean fight, with Conn’s men, even the shame and pain of execution, rather than this torture.
No one could ask this of him! He started to turn toward the horse.
But at that moment, he saw Caitlin standing there, so bruised by all that had befallen her, fearful and betrayed and yet her eyes filled with compassion.
For whom? Ragged, defiant Fiona? Or for Niall himself?
He turned back, allowing his sister full access to his throat. Then called out, "Mother!"
Fiona's eyes widened in fury, her face ice-white. A sob tore from her throat. He never knew if she would have killed him, for in a heartbeat, a delicate woman rushed from the castle, white hair curling about a face that still whispered of long-vanished beauty.
"Niall!" she cried out. "Oh, my boy! I knew that you would come home!"
Niall could not speak as he peered down into that face he had tried so hard to forget. What had he expected from this woman who had given him life? Anger? Sorrow? Tears streaked her face, and she looked at him as if he alone had carried the sun into her sky.
Guilt and a strange sense of irritation stirred inside him.
Did the woman not blame him for her suffering and Fiona's?
For the filth and the hunger? The rags and the neglect?
Did she not hate him for turning his back on them?
But he had not known... he had never suspected what they were suffering. Conn had assured him all would be well.
Tears glinted in Fiona's eyes, her face screwed up fiercely in what he knew was an effort not to cry.
"Ach, Fee!" His mother laughed. "Enough of your games! Put your sword down and welcome your brother!"
Fiona's hand trembled on the hilt, but her mother uncurled her fingers and took the blade away. She cast it aside as if it were a child's plaything made of wood.
"You know she will be giving you no peace, Niall, now that you are home. Always, she trailed after you like a wee pup."
Niall saw Fiona flinch.
"I was nothing but a babe then, Mam. I will not be troubling Niall any longer."
Except, of course, for dreaming up ways to stick a knife between my ribs, Niall thought.
His mother's gaze lit on Caitlin, and a smile wreathed her face. "And who is this? Fee, have you ever seen a face more lovely?"
"Her name is Caitlin, Mother," Niall began, "and she—"
"Niall!" Fiona snapped, a desperate plea in her eyes.
"Your son is keeping me from harm," Caitlin said. Niall frowned, but she flashed him a quelling glance. Did both women wish him to lie? Not tell his mother what danger he had brought to her threshold?
"Poor treasure!" his mother crooned. "Come, warm yourself by the fire. Fee, tell Keefe to prepare something for our Caitlin to eat."
"Keefe?" Niall echoed, astonished, remembering the spry retainer who had trained him to snare partridges. "He is still here after all this time?"
"Take Caitlin inside, Mam," Fiona said with barely concealed scorn. "I am sure Niall would delight in seeing Keefe again."
Fiona grabbed him by the arm, dragging him after her into the castle.
Dark, dank, the floor was littered, the ceiling laced with cobwebs.
Niall reeled at the ruin of the home he had abandoned.
Even in his nightmares, it had remained glorious and pristine, draped in the riches he had once believed won by his father's heroism.
Now he knew they had been spoils of his father's treachery.
He stumbled over something and righted himself as Fiona marched him into the buttery, grabbing half an oatcake from a barren shelf.
"What is amiss here?" Niall demanded. "When I left, there was plenty to care for you both!"
"Not even the servants would remain with us after Father was dead. Your precious Conn made certain of that."
Niall bristled. "Conn destroyed nothing! Any other chieftain would have sacked Castle Daire! He did not take one thing belonging to our mother."
"You think Mam cared for the castle? Her pretty things, furnishings, clothing? Conn murdered her husband! Aye, and stole her son! But wait, Niall. You went willingly, did you not? You believed our father capable of the vilest betrayal. But not your precious Conn!"
"Curse it, Fiona—"
"He sent a dozen raiding parties back to Daire to show us his regard. They stole anything of value, broke anything they could not carry. They beat anyone foolhardy enough to remain at Daire for serving the household of a traitor."
A hard knot tightened in Niall's throat.
"I do not believe it." He ground his teeth.
Conn the Ever Truthful? Niall would never have questioned his honesty.
Yet something had changed forever the moment Niall held Conn's order in his hand, commanding the death of an innocent girl the chieftain pretended to welcome with open arms.
Niall brought himself up sharply. Conn must have agonized for years, struggled to find some other way to overcome the prediction of doom surrounding Caitlin of the Lilies.
In the end, the chieftain must have done what he thought was necessary to protect the others in his kingdom.
What had it cost Conn to order Caitlin's death?
And he had entrusted the task to Niall. Was that alone not evidence he was worthy of Niall's trust?
Conn had put the very information that could destroy his rule as chieftain into the hands of his greatest enemy's son.
"Keefe was the last to go." Fiona's voice dragged Niall back to the present. "I forced him to leave Castle Daire. His loyalty had cost him a hand, and Conn's men had vowed to take the other if they found him here again!"