Page 9 of Leila’s Legacy

Bernard scurried from the room, his wet robe clinging to his flat bottom.

Alban stared after the man with contempt in his eyes.

“Why’d ye let him go?”

“We have all we needed.” Niall left the room. The priest was nowhere in sight, having already fled.

Alban exited the dungeon and fell into step beside Niall. “He’ll go back and tell them we’re seeking the witch. We should have killed the coward.”

Niall stopped and stared down at the younger man. “That ‘coward,’ as ye put it, was the only man brave enough to offer last rites to yer people when yer own priests were too frightened to stay. And ye’d kill him for having made the effort?”

Alban brushed aside a lock of red hair from his eyes, not bothering to reply.

Niall had enough. He climbed the stairs, eager to be done with the whole mess. It didn’t matter if Lord Werrick knew they were asking about his daughter. If she was out tending to her people, Niall would see her again. They would have a scout watch the village and once she was seen again, they would find a way to lure her from the village and trap her.

Once she’d recovered from the pestilence. And she would recover; of that, he was certain. He was also certain of another truth: that even as the priest held his beloved Bible, he had lied.

Niall would notify Lord Armstrong, who would summon Father Gerard from Edinburgh, the famed priest who had sent many a witch to her death. The earl had held off as Niall did his own investigation to be able to say with absolute confidence that Leila Barrington was indeed a witch.

Now, with Bernard’s lie souring in Niall’s gut, he would stop at nothing to see her brought to justice.