Enemy territory. Is that what it had come to? Was Conall’s family really the enemy he had suspected they were? She feared the answer. If their arrest was anything to go by, she feared the worst.
Conall glanced at her. His expression was hard, his gray eyes still blazing with fury, but there was something else in them as well—it looked like shame.
“Dinna worry, Molly,” he said in a low voice. “All will be well. No harm will come to ye, I swear it.”
She nodded silently. She longed to feel the solid reassurance of his strong arms around her, or even to reach out and brush his hand, but she dare not. The guards might not have touched them, but there were ever vigilant.
The two of them were ushered into a part of the castle Molly had not seen before. It was an area that seemed little used, with cobwebs draped across door frames and thick dust settled on the floors. But even here there were guards, standing solemnly outside a tall wooden door at the end of a long corridor.
The guards opened the door and ushered them inside, following them in and arranging themselves along the walls. The room was sparsely decorated, with only a few pieces of furniture scattered around and no luxurious touches anywhere to be seen. Even more striking, however, was the figure that stood silhouetted against the candle light, his back to them but seeming to fill the room with his presence.
Earl Sinclair kept his back to them for what felt like an eternity before finally turning around. His gaze moved slowly between Molly and Conall, as if trying to assess their inner thoughts.
“I thought there was very little in this life with the power to surprise me,” he said. “Seems I was wrong. Seems my errant son is more devious than I could ever have guessed.” His voice was hard and cold as his gaze fixed on Conall.
“What is the meaning of this, Father?” Conall growled. “Why have ye had us marched here like criminals?” His voice was every bit as hard and cold as his father’s.
“Because that’s how we treat spies.”
“Spies? We are no spies!”
“Is that so? Then perhaps ye can explain the troubling report I’ve just received from one of my warehouse foreman. Seems that earlier today, ye visited said warehouse, pretending I had sent ye, and demanded to see the goods I have stored there. What would ye call that if it isnae spying? Ye told me ye were here to track bandits using the coast road. Was that another lie as well?”
Conall bristled, but there was a flash of uncertainty in his eyes. He glanced at his father, then at the guards arrayed behind them. “Molly had naught to do with this,” he said. “I duped her just as I duped ye. I used her to put ye off the scent. She’s innocent.”
Molly opened her mouth for a furious retort, but before she could speak, Earl Sinclair barked a harsh, sardonic laugh. “Ah, so it was all a game then, was it? All just a little ploy to try and fool yer old man? Do ye think I’m stupid, boy? Do ye think I’m blind to yer machinations?”
Conall’s jaw was tight, his fists clenched at his sides. “I did what I had to do, Father. I had no other choice. Ye gave me no choice.”
“No choice? Everything ye have done has been yer choice!” Earl Sinclair’s voice was rising, the veins on his neck bulging with anger. “Ye betrayed me, Conall. Ye turned against yer own kin, yer own blood. And for what? For the sake of some Order? Some misguided sense of duty?”
“Ibetrayedye? That’s rich! And the Order of the Osprey isnae misguided, Father. They stand for justice and truth. Something ye seem to have forgotten.”
Earl Sinclair snorted. “Justice and truth? Dinna make me laugh. The Order is a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites who think they can dictate to the rest of us what is right and wrong. Well, I willnae have it! I willnae have my own son turning against his family, his people, for the sake of some lofty ideals! Ye are a disgrace, Conall. A disgrace to this family, to this land, and to everything we stand for!”
Conall’s face twisted in anger. “I’ma disgrace? Ye are the one who has brought shame to our family name, Father. Ye and yer corrupt dealings, yer greed and yer thirst for power. Ye have no right to speak of honor and duty when ye have none!”
Earl Sinclair’s face contorted in rage as he advanced on Conall. “Ye dare to speak to me like that, boy? Ye dare to accuse me of such things?”
Conall stood his ground, his fists clenched at his sides. “I speak the truth, Father. And ye know it. I know about yer alliance with Leif Snarlsson. I know ye are supplying him with weapons. I know ye are planning on joining yer fleet with his and launching an attack on some poor unsuspecting settlement. Ye have betrayed every oath ye have ever taken. Do ye really think I’m going to stand here and let ye lecture me about morality?”
The room was tense, the air thick with anger and resentment. Molly felt like she was suffocating, trapped between two powerful men intent on tearing each other apart. She looked from Conall’s furrowed brow to Earl Sinclair’s red rage-filled face, knowing that there were in deep, deep trouble.
But then Earl Sinclair seemed to regain his composure, his face becoming once again a mask of cold detachment. “Ye have a lot of nerve, boy,” he said quietly. “A lot of nerve accusing me of something like that.”
“Dinna try to deny it. I’ve seen the weapons with my own eyes.”
“Ye have no idea of what’s really going on here. No idea of what ye’ve poked yer nose into. Dinna presume to judge me, boy. I was defending this land before ye were even born.”
“Defending this land? By arming bandits and attacking our own people? Ye call that defending? Ye call that honorable?”
Earl Sinclair chuckled darkly. “Honor, boy? Honor is a luxury we canna afford in these times. We do what we must to survive. And I willnae apologize for that.”
Conall shook his head in disgust. “Ye are a coward, Father. A coward who hides behind his power and his wealth. Ye are not a leader, ye are a tyrant.”
Earl Sinclair’s temper flared once more, his fists clenching at his sides. “Ye speak treason, boy. Treason against yer own family.”
Conall stood his ground, his eyes blazing with defiance. “I speak the truth, Father. And I willnae back down from it.”
