Chapter 14 #2
Sin forced the putrid smelling liquid down Simon and waited until his friend had emptied the contents of his stomach into her container.
All the while Sin raged inside that someone had stooped so low to kill him. And that poor Simon had been innocently caught in the crossfire.
Callie tended Simon as best she could. He still looked pale and weak, and she prayed they had gotten the poison out of his system in time for it to do no lasting damage. “Who could have done this?”
A tic beat in Sin’s jaw. “Obviously one of your rebels.”
“But why Simon?” she asked, not understanding why anyone would want to harm a man so kind.
“He ate the cake intended for me, Callie.”
Her heart shrank at the thought. Nay, it couldn’t be. After today she had thought her clan was warming up to her husband. Great saints, he had saved Fraser’s life. Why would anyone hurt Sin after what he’d done earlier?
“Who?”
Sin didn’t answer. “Stay here and watch over him. I will send word to his brother.”
She nodded, but in her eyes he could see the doubt she held. The pain. God have mercy on her, but by her face he could tell she couldn’t grasp the horror of what someone had done.
Unfortunately, he could.
Angry and needing vengeance, Sin left the room and headed below.
Once he reached the hall, he saw that the party had dispersed. Only a few people remained in the hall. His brothers, Aster and Angus.
“How’s the lad?” Aster asked.
“We don’t know yet.”
The looks on his brother’s face was one of hell-wrath. “They meant to get you, didn’t they?”
“I would assume so.”
Ewan popped his knuckles. “Then I say ‘tis time we conked a few heads. What say you, brothers? Ready to beat the devil?”
“Not yet,” Sin said. “I have something I need to do first.” He looked to Aster. “Have you seen Morna around? I have a quick question for her.”
“She was headed to the kitchen last I saw.”
“My thanks.” Sin went after her.
By the time he reached the kitchens, she was making ready to leave.
She looked up, startled as he came through the door.
In that instant, Sin knew. The nervous way she looked about, her instant unease.
“Where is he?” Sin asked.
“Who?”
“Dermot.”
Her face grew even paler. Her hands trembled all the more. “Why would you be asking that?”
“Morna,” he said, laying his hand gently on her arm to reassure her, “this is serious. It was bad enough when he had me shot with the arrow, but now an innocent man may die because he wants to play hero to his people.”
She shrugged his touch off. “My son would never do anything like this.” Her body told him otherwise.
“I swear to you, I just want to talk to him. I’m not going to harm him.” For the moment, at least.
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I don’t know where he is. He took off running the minute you carried your friend upstairs. But he didn’t do it. I know he didn’t.”
Sin took a deep breath as the confirmation of his suspicions resonated through him. There was no longer any doubt. “He gave you the cakes, didn’t he?”
“He didn’t do it,” she sobbed. “He’s a good lad. He loves his sister. He would never seek to do her harm.”
Sin drew the woman into his arms and held her quietly as she sobbed against him. “Shh,” he whispered against her head. “I just want to talk to the lad.”
Regaining some of her composure, she pulled back. “I really don’t know where he went.”
Damn.
Sin released her and offered her a smile. “Wipe your eyes, Morna. All will be well, you’ll see.”
She nodded.
Sin left and headed back toward the hall. He found Aster in the narrow hallway, wringing his hands.
“It’s Dermot you’re after, isn’t it?” the old man asked nervously.
A chill went down his spine as he watched the Highlander shift about. “You knew he was in charge of the rebels?”
Aster scoffed. “I suspected he was one of the rebels, but if you think he’s got the ability to lead, there you’d be mistaken.”
Sin didn’t think so. He’d seen the way the others responded and looked at the boy. “He’s the eldest son of the last laird. It would only make sense.”
“Aye, but when Neil died, ‘twas Callie they wanted to vote as leader.”
Sin arched a brow as he recalled Callie’s words on the matter. “Truly?”
Aster nodded. “She’s the king’s blood kin and has a good head on her shoulders. Everyone in the clan agreed even though she was a woman, that she would be a good leader for the clan.”
“Then why isn’t she?”
“She wouldn’t do it. She was afraid it would insult Dermot and me. She thanked everyone at the meeting and then graciously stepped down.”
“And they voted you in.”
“Aye.”
Now everything made sense to him. Dermot’s innate hatred of him and the envious stares the lad would cast at his sister and uncle when he thought no one was watching. “It must have set ill with Dermot to see his sister and then his uncle voted in while he was the legitimate son of the laird.”
“Aye, but he was only ten-and-three at the time. He couldn’t have really hoped for it.”
Sin knew better. A boy at that age held an arrogance that was surpassed only by youthful foolishness. “How did Dermot react to the news?”
“He was mad, of course. Said if he’d been born of noble blood, they wouldn’t have hesitated to vote him in. He stormed out but once he calmed down, he agreed that it was fitting I should lead.”
Sin clenched his teeth. There were none so blind as a devoted parent or uncle with a child in pain. They couldn’t accept the fact that the boy they all loved could be capable of perpetrating such mayhem. But at Dermot’s current age, Sin had been the very essence of brutal destruction.
“How long after that did the raiding start?”
“Maybe six weeks.”
“And they’ve continued since?”
Aster nodded.
“Have they ebbed and flowed any?”
“Just while Callie was in London and since she’s been back. But that doesn’t mean it was Dermot. No one in the clan would want to see the lass hurt.”
Sin listened and weighed the old man’s words carefully.
But what Aster failed to realize was that Dermot would have attacked him just based on the fact that Callie had married the enemy.
Dermot would want him out of the way as soon as possible.
Especially given the way the MacNeely people had treated Sin today.
If they accepted Sin, then they would accept the English and in Dermot’s mind such a thing would have to be stopped at all costs.
Even if it hurt Callie.
Nay, unlike Aster and Morna, Sin held no doubt of the boy’s guilt. Their words only solidified it.
“Have you any idea where Dermot might have gone to hide?”
Aster thought it over. “Aye.”
“Where?”
He tilted his chin stubbornly and eyed Sin in a way that let him know the old man would never willingly betray his nephew. “Let me go and see if I can speak to him. If you go, he’s liable to run even further.”
That was true enough. “Then find him and bring him home.”
Aster hesitated. “What are you going to do to the lad if I do?”
Sin took a deep breath as he considered it. In the end, he told the old man the truth. “I don’t know yet. I want to speak to him before I decide.”
Fury smoldered in Aster’s blue eyes. “I can’t let you harm him nor send him to live with those English of yours. You’ll only have him over my dead body.”
Sin took the edge out of his voice and tried to reason with him. “Aster, this isn’t a game we’re playing. Henry is ready to make war on your clan. And Dermot doesn’t seem willing to stop until that happens. Do you truly want to see your entire clan suffer for the actions of one hot-headed boy?”
“I know he’s not the leader,” Aster insisted with blind devotion. “I will go talk to him and find out who put him up to this. Whoever it is, we will see him punished.”
“And if I’m right?”
The old man’s eyes turned dull. “You’re wrong, lad. You have to be.”
Callie sat with a bowl of cool water and a cloth, bathing Simon’s forehead. She found it strange that she cared so much for this Englishman and yet she did. He and Sin’s brothers had come to be family to her in a very short amount of time.
But what amazed her most was how much her husband meant to her. How much the thought of living without him hurt her inside. The very thought of it was almost enough to cripple her.
The door opened.
Looking up, she saw Sin hesitating in the threshold with one hand on the doorknob and the other on the wooden frame. Och but he was the finest looking man she’d ever beheld. Even when he had grief and worry lining his brow.
“How is he?” he asked quietly, stepping inside the room and shutting the door behind him.
“He’s sleeping while his body fights the poison. I think he’ll be all right though. What of you?”
Sin drew near, his gaze on his friend. “I wish I had eaten the cake instead.”
Worse, she knew how much he meant that. She could see his sincerity on his face and it cut her deeply. “Did you send word to Draven?”
He nodded. “Dermot has run off and Aster has gone to try and find him.”
Callie’s chest tightened at the news. “I should have confirmed your suspicions that Dermot was one of the rebels.”
“My lady, never apologize to me because you sought to protect someone you love. I’d expect no less of you.”
“But my silence could have killed you or Simon.”
Sin reached out and touched her hair. He ran his fingers through the silken strands ever so gently. He ached with yearning. Her light green eyes were filled with the same fear and uncertainty that ate at him.
Hold me, Callie. It was a silent plea that tore through his soul.
He’d known painful desires all his life. For food, for shelter, for love.
But what he felt for her made a mockery of every one of them. Morbidly, he wondered if she would ever protect him the way she had protected her brother.
Would she care if he were dead? She’d told him as much, but he couldn’t quite accept the reality of it.