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.”
