He swallowed thickly and ran a hand through his hair. If he was wrong about this, what else was he wrong about? Dear God, could he have been mistaken all these years?
“I...I’m sorry, Father,” he said. The words were so hard to speak that they felt like they sliced his throat on the way out. He’d never thought he’d be saying them to this man. “I misjudged ye.”
Earl Sinclair sighed. “Aye, ye did. But only because I’ve been a terrible father. Perhaps if I’d been more honest with ye, neither of us would be standing here right now.”
Conall shook his head as a tangle of thoughts and emotions threatened to overwhelm him. It was such a knot that he didn’t know if he would ever get it unraveled. And he couldn’t think about it now. Molly. She was what mattered. She wasallthat mattered.
“I have to go after her, Father.”
Earl Sinclair nodded. “Of course ye do. I’ve seen how ye look at her, boy. Apologies, I’ve seen how ye look at her,Conall. It’s the same way I’ve always looked at Adaira. I know ye love her. But ye aren’t going after her.” He held out his hand to forestall Conall’s angry outburst. “Weare going after her. Do ye think I’d let Leif Snarlsson and Alice Brewer get away after all the trouble I went to in luring them?” He spun and began bellowing orders. “Bring her about! Man the sweeps! And get after that bloody ship!”
The crew sprang to obey. As Conall positioned himself at the prow, staring after the retreating vessel, the oars came sliding out to the side and the oarsmen took up their positions. To the steady beat of a drum, they began rowing. The ship juddered into motion, gathering speed.
Conall clung onto a rope, the wind swirling his hair out behind him.
Hang on, Molly, he thought.I’m coming.
Chapter 26
“I’ll kill him,” AliceBrewer snarled. “I’ll carve his heart out, the lying, traitorous bastard. I’ll pluck out his eyes one at a time and feed them to him!”
Alice had been coming up with ever more inventive ways to torture Earl Sinclair for the past ten minutes, ever since it had become clear that Sinclair had betrayed them. Molly watched as Alice paced back and forth, her face white with anger.
Leif Snarlsson by contrast, was as calm as a still pond. His sharp gaze was fixed on the sea-battle retreating into the distance behind them. “Well played, Sinclair,” he breathed, a small smile playing across his lips. “Well played indeed.”
Oh yes, he was ice compared to Alice’s fire, and Molly had no doubt as to who was the most dangerous.
“Well played?” Alice snapped, whirling on him. “Well played? This is no game!”
Leif Snarlsson turned those cold eyes on her. “On the contrary. Everything is a game. An eternal game and we are all pawns in it. Our enemy has made their move and we were outplayed—this time. Now it’s our turn to decide on our move.”
“Our move?” Alice shouted. “What move is left to us except to run and hope they dinna catch us? Damn it, Leif! We were so close and we lost!”
“Lost? Not quite. The game is never-ending, Alice. Surely you have learned that by now? Yes, we will retreat and return to base. From there, we will plan.”
He shouted orders to the crew and they scurried about the deck, doing his bidding. The ship began to pick up speed. Molly looked back. Behind, the cannons had fallen silent and the smoke was beginning to clear, revealing Sinclair’s fleet surrounding Snarlsson’s, blocking their escape. But one of Sinclair’s ships had broken formation and was coming after them.
