“Good, because it’s madness.”
“The time for discussing it is gone,” Noah continued, his voice suddenly accusing. He jabbed a finger towards him. “Theonly one who could have spoken up against him was not there, were ye?”
Wait.Wait.Had Brendan once been in Keep Grahame? Was he once close to the laird? An advisor, perhaps? Freya’s heart thudded so loud she was sure that the men outside must have heard it.
I knew he must have been a captain and a warrior, a leader of men. But what else?
What am I missing?
“Don’t ye dare blame me for all this,” Brendan growled, stepping forward until he and Noah were almost nose-to-nose. “Ye think he would have listened to me? Ye think he ever listened to me? I was no more than a piece on his chessboard, moved to wherever he wished. What do ye do if a pawn starts talking back? Ye remove it, aye? That’s what he’d have done. If I hadn’t taken myself off the board, I’m fairly sure that somebody else would have done it for me.”
Noah held his gaze for a moment, then sighed, looking away. He took a step back, raising his palms in the universal gesture of surrender.
“I don’t want to fight, Brendan. I didn’t come here to throw accusations or to start an argument. I’m here because we have things to discuss, ye and I. Can we talk inside?”
“No.”
Noah sighed again. “Fine. Out here it is, then. I’ve not bothered ye before, have I? I knew where ye were, and yet I kept yer secret. It can’t go on, Brendan. Ye have to come home.”
Secret? What secret?
“This is my home,” Brendan responded, but it sounded mechanical, almost false. “I’m not going back there, laddie.”
“Ye must,” Noah insisted. “Laird Grahame is… Well, he’s… Ach, I can’t explain in just a few words. The danger is increasing, and it’s time for ye to take up yer duties.”
“Don’t speak to me of duty, Noah.”
There was real anger in Brendan’s voice now. Freya crept closer to the door again, resting her forehead on the cool, rough wood.
She knew, somehow, what the next reveal would be.
“Ye have to go back to Keep Grahame,” Noah said, calm and firm. “Ye have to go back. We need ye. The clan needs ye. It’s time for the only Grahame heir to come out of hiding at long last.”
Chapter 14
Vota Mendax
Noah seemed to be aging more rapidly every time Brendan saw him. There were dark rings under his eyes, and he was paler than before. The boyish freckles he’d had when they first met were long gone. The court at Keep Grahame was draining the life from him, it seemed. How much more vitality and strength could it take?
All of it,Brendan thought, remembering his father’s last words to him.Take everything they can give, lad, and then some more. Wring them out like water from an old rag. Life is about giving and taking, they say, but what they don’t say is that some folks give and some folks take. Don’t be a giver, or else ye will give till ye have naught left. It’s dog-eat-dog in this world.
Brendan had never seen a dog eat another one. Argentum, for example, loved other dogs, frisking and playing whenever he had a chance.
How old was I when I realized that my father had told me nothing but lies?
It didn’t matter. He knew it now, and so did Noah. So did half of the clan, by the sounds of it.
Not everybody can run away,he thought, with a pang of guilt.
He glanced up to find Noah looking at him, his expression calculating.
“Ye know I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t serious,” he said, repeating what he’d said earlier. “Aren’t ye going to ask me what’s wrong?”
“I assume more murders, more executions—if the two can be considered as different things, that is—and more madcap laws. Am I right?”
Noah sighed. “He planned to marry again. Laird McInnes’ daughter, a fiery red-headed thing. I never met her, but she was young and beautiful, and he was looking forward to the wedding. And, of course, it would keep the McInnes Clan in line, not that they had ever caused much trouble. The girl escaped a few days before the wedding, and he hit the roof. I daresay ye heard about it, and the search for her.”
Aye,Brendan thought, clenching his jaw.She’s hiding in my barn right now.
