Chapter 14
The crowd thinned, and Jean began to help clean up. After the chores were done, she still couldn’t get Liam alone, so she sat by the fire and waited. After a few minutes, Mara came to join her.
“Will ye be spending the night with me, or are ye waiting for someone a little burlier to share yer bed?” Mara asked in a low voice.
Jean gasped, and her cheeks heated. “What? Nay, of course not. What would even make ye say such a thing?”
“There is a reason most of us live in isolation like this. We have our secrets, and we are happy to keep others’. If ye wish to enjoy yerself, no one would say a word.” Mara winked. “And I have ways to protect yerself, if ye need them.”
“He is to be laird. He would never do anything so inappropriate.”
“Interesting. I didnae ask if it was Liam that ye were waiting for,” Mara chuckled softly. “Are ye betrothed? I know our clans are close.”
Jean thought about what Liam had said earlier, and her insides tightened just a little. “My father would never force me to wed. He and my mother married for love, and he wishes me to do the same.”
“From the way ye are looking at him…”
“‘Tis nothing. I do want to get him alone, but not because of… that. I am not… we are not…” She was making a mess of this conversation. “‘Tis only because I heard whispers of the fae.”
“Oh, ye heard that? Aye. We learned that a land agreement between Armstrong and Gibson is not being honored, and there are those who fear the agreement may have been in the old ways. An honor-bound agreement, blood sealing the oath and rooted in the ground. No one here is eager to be on the receiving end of Gibson’s wrath, but we are also not eager to leave the land. ‘Tis nonsense, of course.”
“Ye feel that way, even after the loss of yer sister?”
“Aye. My sister died because of an animal in the woods, and I willnae let her death feed fear into my community.”
“That is why ye hunt it. For proof. Are ye a good hunter?”
“If I were, I would have taken it down by now,” Mara said darkly.
“As it is, I havenae even gotten a good look at it. It came up from behind me the other night. I pierced it with my knife, and I believe that is the only reason it let me live.” Mara stared into the fire.
“Amelia died because of me. I was seeing a man, and she didnae approve. We had a fight the night she died. I think she left to tell the man to stop seeing me.”
“Someone here?”
“No. One of the guards. ’Twas nothing. I decided long ago not to marry. Not after seeing how my father treated my mother, and here, I can do that. I can be on my own, but sometimes ‘tis nice to have a man. Amelia thought I’d be better protected if I married.”
“‘Tis not yer fault,” Jean said as she turned around and hugged Amelia. “Ye have to know that. People fight all the time and leave. They come home perfectly safe and sound. That animal is to blame for Amelia’s death. Not ye.”
Mara stood and smiled. “Thank ye for keeping my secret. I didnae know if ye would, but if ye had not, it would be the only thing anyone talked about tonight.”
“If my silence gets ye killed, I will spend the rest of my life blaming myself,” Jean told her. “Let Liam do what he came here to do.”
Her new friend nodded. “I am going to retire. Yer bedroll is ready in my cottage when ye are ready. I am glad that ye are here.”
“I am glad too.”
She wasn’t alone long before Liam sat down next to her. “‘Tis late, Jean. Ye should go to sleep.”
“I cannae. Nae yet. Liam, we have a problem.”
“We do?”
Turning, she told him what she’d overheard. Liam’s eyes hardened as she spoke. “Why would no one tell me this?”
“Why do ye think? Ye are to be laird. No one wishes to accuse ye or yer father of not keeping an agreement. Ye were right to not underestimate Ballach Gibson. He is behind this, but I dinnae know how.”
“So now we find proof. If the people leave this land, Gibson will claim that ye are abandoning it. Lucky for us, they are stubborn.”
“Us?” Liam said lightly.
“Just because I amnae an Armstrong doesnae mean that I amnae on yer side, Liam. I will always be on yer side.”
Fully turning to him, she immediately regretted her mistake. He was staring at her with enough intensity to steal her breath away. Slowly, he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I was wrong, ye know. Ye are more than helpful here.”
If she looked away now, it would almost be like conceding defeat. “Thank ye.”
“Ye are wrong too, Jean.”
“About what?”
“As my wife, ye would never be a burden.”
A strange thrill shot down her spine, and she leaned into his touch, just a little bit. Everything in her desperately wanted for him to kiss her. No one was around, and even if they were, no one would say anything.
Like he said, it was obvious their parents were hoping for this.
“Get some sleep, Jean,” he said huskily. “I will see ye in the morning.”
Frustrated, she watched him walk away. Just what exactly did he want from her?
The next morning came with a flurry of activity. Mara and Jean both got up at dawn, and Jean helped Mara prepare enough eggs for the men. Liam immediately sent a group of men hunting, and she and Liam went to inspect the storehouse.
As soon as she walked inside, she nearly gagged. The smell of rotten food was everywhere. “Ye can stay outside if ye need to,” Liam said quietly.
“Nay, this should have been cleared out immediately. I bet no one has done it because they are afraid of upsetting the fae even more.”
Superstitions. It was hard to combat such deep-rooted beliefs.
Steeling herself against the smell, she began to inspect the jars. “The seals are clearly broken. It wouldnae be hard for someone to come in and open the jars, blame it on the fae.”
Liam grunted and inspected the grains of wheat. “Do ye smell that?”
“Aye. Mold.” The last thing she wanted to do was take a big whiff. “Too much moisture. The villagers said they checked the roof and doors. Everything was sealed properly. No way for rain to get in.”
“But someone could have snuck in and poured some water in. Enough moisture and no sun to dry it. Mold and rot.”
“And they opened the jars so even that is ruined,” Jean finished with a frown. “Hard to find any evidence to present. Maybe we will have better luck with the fires.”
They spent the rest of the morning cleaning out the storehouse. A crowd had gathered by the time they were done, and it was obvious that they were torn between not wanting Liam to mess with the work of the fae and not wanting to tell their future laird to stop.
Jean didn’t know what Liam was thinking, but she certainly knew what she was. If Ballach had someone sneaking onto the land, he had to have made camp in the woods. Even weeks later, the hunters might be able to spy something. That was proof.
They took a break at midday. Jean kept finding reasons to be close to Liam, searching his face for any sign of what he might have meant yesterday. When he did look at her, it was with easy smiles. She saw nothing of the intensity that he had shown her the previous night.
After lunch, she and a couple of other men went to inspect the houses that had been incinerated. All but one house had been cleared. Apparently their superstitions didn’t start until afterward.
Jean knew nothing of fires, but she looked for anything that might have been out of place. She moved some of the smaller pieces of lumber.
“Don’t,” Liam growled as she cleared one of the larger pieces of lumber away. “Ye will hurt herself.”
“I am perfectly capable of moving some… Liam, look.”
When she moved the board, she saw something she was familiar with. “It’s an arrow. Witnesses said they saw no fires in the sky.”
Picking up the arrow, she studied it. It was far thicker than any arrow she’d ever seen, and the point was gone.
“In a fire like this, the point should have been the only thing left of the arrow. Ye know, a few years ago, there was a traveling warrior from the low lands. He stayed on our lands for a few days, and he showed me one of his arrows. It looked an awful lot like this.”
“Are ye saying ye know who did this?”
“Nay. He was an old man, but his arrows werenae normal. They werenae for piercing. They were for combustion. The end was filled with hot oil. When they make impact, they burst into flames. My father was interested, so he did a demonstration. The whole arrow was destroyed.”
“This one was not,” Liam pointed out. “It may not be the same thing, although look at the end. ‘Tis broken. Ye think the arrow snapped before impact?”
“I cannae prove it. Maybe the arrow was already in here.” Jean sighed. All she had were theories, and they all pointed to sabotage. “Do ye believe in their superstitions?”
“I believe that it is far too much of a coincidence for this kind of sabotage to happen while the Gibson clan is claiming this land for themselves,” he said darkly. “Can ye chat with some of the other villagers who helped clean up the other houses? See if they have seen anything?”
“Aye, although I dinnae think it will matter. Until we catch the… giant hound roaming the woods, they are going to dig their heels into their beliefs.” She caught herself just in time before she called the creature a wolf. “But I will go talk to them.”
“Be discreet, Jean.” Reaching out, he took her hand. “I cannae imagine anyone here being a traitor, but I also cannae discount it. Be careful.”
“Always.”