Nicholas leaned back and regarded his knight pensively. Though Evan had been in his service for several years, Nicholas still knew little about the knight. When Nicholas had first met Evan, he’d been in the earl of Dornock’s service. He’d been impressed with the knight’s stalwart demeanor. Evan was a good fighter and a natural leader. And so Nicholas had lured him from Dornock with a fat purse and a promise of more, and he’d never been sorry. Evan ran Kincreag with an iron fist when Nicholas was away and kept his men ready for anything. Several lords had tried to lure him from Nicholas over the years, but none had offered a generous enough price.
He knew the value of the man before him, and so it wasn’t often or lightly that he questioned Evan’s actions.
Nicholas set his whisky aside and steepled his fingers. “Now. Explain to me again, in detail, your questioning of the boy you hanged from the gates.”
They had been through it all before, and thoughNicholas couldn’t truly find fault with the knight’s actions, something about the whole situation sat wrong with him.Gillian.If it had been anyone else, he would have trusted Evan’s judgment, but because it was Nicholas’s wife—and one he’d grown damned fond of—he hated the secondhand account. He wanted to have been the one interrogating the boy. He felt certain he could have gotten the truth out of him.
After Evan had gone through it all again, Nicholas said, “What troubles me the most is how quick you were to hang him. Why not let him stew for a while, withholding food and water, then come back and hit him harder? He would have broken then, I wager.”
Evan opened his palms in the closest thing to exasperation the knight had ever shown. “Because I didn’t think there was anything more to learn from him. I believed him when he said he acted alone.”
“But why would the boy want her dead?”
Evan licked his lips, then said, “Because they believe she’s a witch. She’s a Glen Laire MacDonell, after all, my lord.”
Nicholas nodded, exhaling deeply through his nose and taking a deep swallow of his whisky. He had expected this, just not so soon. He frowned meditatively at the amber liquid before returning his gaze to Evan.
“So you believe the two attacks are unrelated?”
“Aye, my lord, I do.”
Nicholas nodded. He didn’t agree, but he understood why his knight thought differently. “No more summary executions.”
“Aye. Is that all, my lord?”
Nicholas nodded absently, but then thought of something else. “Wait.”
Evan paused halfway to the door and turned back. “Aye?”
“Have a care what you say to Lady Kincreag. She’s . . . very sensitive and softhearted.”
Evan hesitated, eyes darting to the side in confusion. “My lord?”
“The thing about the servants being miserable and killing themselves. It upset her. I would have rather her not known about it.”
“I instructed the servants not to tell her, but she asked after the maid. Since I didn’t give them orders to lie—”
Nicholas waved his explanation away. “No, no, you did fine. But she thinks the whole castle is on the verge of suicide now.”
Evan ducked his head. “Forgive me, my lord. I meant to ease her concerns, not trouble her further. I didn’t think it wise for her to ask a lot of questions. The answers others give might trouble her more.”
“I know. Just have a care, aye?”
Evan opened his mouth, then closed it and nodded. Nicholas knew what he was going to say and answered as if the knight had spoken.
“That was a long time ago.”
Evan’s throat worked, his gaze fixed on the ground.
“You’re dismissed.”
When Evan was gone, Nicholas poured more whisky. He wondered if the knight believed there was any connection between the maid’s suicide and whathad happened several years ago. Obviously many people residing in Kincreag did, or Evan wouldn’t have been worried about Gillian’s asking questions. Nicholas found that amusing, in a grim way.
He sighed and drained his cup. The recent suicide was inconvenient. He hoped Gillian would not probe into it any further.
15
Gillian had completely forgotten about the message she’d asked Gilchrist to send to Rose until her sister and Stephen Ross showed up at Kincreag a sennight later. After the perfunctory greetings were out of the way, Nicholas left Gillian to visit with her family. She took them to the west wing, confiding to them in a low voice all the odd things that had occurred since she’d left Lochlaire. Though Gillian admitted that she wasn’t entirely certain the specters hadn’t been opium induced, Rose was convinced she had communed with the dead.
