"Wh-whatever you say! I swear, I'll—"
"You lying scum. Even now, you are thinking about what you will do the instant I leave this room. If you live through this ordeal, you will hunt me down like a dog. You and your army of cowards will take the knife and—"
"No! You're wrong!" Butler protested, but the hot flush on his cheeks betrayed him.
"Do you think you could capture me? You and your partner, Captain Redmayne?" Ciaran sneered. "Is it possible to imprison the mist?"
"The mist? Silver Hand! You're the smuggler—"
"No."
"Then who..."
"I am the man who built the castle you and Redmayne are plotting to destroy."
Butler swallowed hard. "You can't mean... can't possibly be..."
"Ciaran of the Mist."
Butler's eyes all but bulged out of his head. "You're mad! That's impossible!"
"Is it?"
"It's nothing but a legend... make-believe. A pack of fairy tales."
"My castle is real, is it not? And this dagger at your throat—surely you don't think it is make-believe? Perhaps we should test the blade against your throat to see—"
"No! No! I just... Why would you come here? To me? There... there are worse men—far worse landlords in Ireland. Why, Squire Biddleston, he—"
"Squire Biddleston hasn't agreed to demolish my castle, has he?"
"I-I didn't wish to! Captain Redmayne is a most forceful man. He coerced me shamefully, or I would never have agreed to such a plan."
"You would've had your army of footmen out there with hammers and chisels if you'd thought of the idea first, Butler."
Something sly crept into Butler's eyes, the expression of a man who would barter a three-year-old to the hangman to save his own neck. "The castle is about to crash down on its own. I-I only wanted to keep some innocent crofter's child from getting hurt. I am trying to protect my people."
Ciaran's fist knotted in the front of Butler's stained nightshirt. "Like you 'protected' Ailis MacGrath, and who knows how many others? You're the soul of compassion, Butler. But hear me now, and remember this. If so much as one stone of the walls ofCaislean ag Dahmsa Ceois toppled, if any 'accident' befalls the place, if Redmayne and his vultures chip away a single flake of stone, there will be no place on earth you can hide from me."
"I give you my word." So fast, so simple, the vow was made. Ciaran was sickened by it.
"Why should I trust a craven cur like you?"
"I'll do whatever you want! Forbid Redmayne to demolish the castle.”
Ciaran gave a bitter snort of laughter. "You forbid Redmayne—I'd like to see you try. No, Butler. I know exactly how it would be. You'd be a tower of strength, most resolute, until you're face-to-face with the captain, and he's the one you fear most." He frowned, considering. "I think I had better kill you after all, and make certain."
"No! No, please!" Butler's eyes rolled, wild. Sweat ran down his face. "Mercy... I'll do anything you say! Write it in blood.”
Ciaran glared down at him for a moment. "Butler, you might just have saved your worthless life."
Relief shot across the man's swollen features.
"Write to Redmayne, refusing him permission to destroy the castle."
"O-of course! So simple—"
Ciaran could see the gleam in Butler's eyes, as if the man were already plotting what he would do once he escaped.
