“Shall I make it easier for you then?” Sin asked. “If you’re afraid to tell me he is in with your rebels, that I already know.”
She gaped. “How?”
“The way he acted earlier. I told you I knew them by their faces, and he is one I know by name.”
She was flabbergasted by his abilities. “How can you be so certain?”
“You can’t hide from the devil.”
She put her hands on her hips as she glared at him. “I told you in London, you’re not the devil.”
“You’re the only one who thinks not.”
Och, the man was exasperating. “If you were the devil, you would be down there right now arresting Dermot. So, why aren’t you?”
“Because I’m waiting for him to reveal The Raider to me.”
That took the anger right out of her. She had to save Dermot. There was no way she could watch her brother hang. Whatever it took to protect him, she would do. “If I can get him to tell me who The Raider is, will you let him go free?”
Sin blinked, then looked away. “He will never tell you that.”
“I think he might. You have to understand him. Since my father died, he’s been lost. He and my father were so close, and Dermot was there the day he died. Something inside him died as well and he’s not the same lad he once was,”
“You love him greatly.”
She nodded, wanting him to know just how much Dermot meant to her. “I would do anything for my brother.”
He fell silent.
Callie watched Sin for several minutes as she sorted through this entire ordeal. Like Aster, she knew The Raider must be stopped before he started a war between her clan and the English. Though her clan was a decent size, it was nowhere near large enough to wage war on an entire country and with things being as they were in Scotland, she didn’t know if her cousin Malcolm would help them or not. As King of Scotland, Malcolm had his own concerns.
The rebels believed they could convince other clans to join them against England, but she didn’t hold that delusion. If she didn’t help Sin stop the rebels, all of them would be hanged as an example to the others who dared oppose the English king.
If one of her clansmen had to be sacrificed for peace, then she was willing to pay the cost to protect the rest of them.
“Do you have any ideas who The Raider could be?” she asked him.
“I’m rather certain I already know.”
She gasped at his deadpan tone. “Then why haven’t you acted?”
“I want proof.”
She smiled wistfully at that. “You are a good man. Most men would already be jumping to their conclusions and acting on them.”
His heated gaze bored into hers. “I am not a good man, Callie. Never delude yourself on that point. It’s just having suffered enough injustice in my life, I am in no hurry to deliver it up to anyone else.” She saw the tic in his jaw. “But when I have proof of the identity of this Raider, Callie, I will see him punished for it.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
He looked stunned by her words. “You’re not angry?”
She shook her head. “I hurt in my heart at the thought of one of my clansmen being punished, but I am not angry. My father raised me with the belief that we are bound by honor to our people. My people are my clan and yours is Henry. We can’t let our emotions sway us. I understand that duty must always come first. This Raider has made his own decisions for what he believes in. I would rather the rebels lay aside their arms and join us in peace, but if they refuse, then I will not fault you for doing that which you’re sworn.”
Sin frowned at her. He was aghast and somewhat angry by her speech. His emotions made no sense to him and yet he felt them strongly.“How can you not hate me?”
This time, there was no mistaking the utter horror in her green eyes. “My God, Sin, are you so used to hatred that you can’t accept the fact that someone, anyone, could care for you?”
He squelched the pain he felt at her words.
