Page 308 of The Defiant Curse

“You’re annoying the dead. Just say what you need to say, so we can move on.”

“You need to take a trip to Ireland. You need to go back to where it all began.”

Gabby was saying nothing.

Why?

Because she’d been researching the name ‘Cathal Connaught’, and she knew where he was buried. She knew where it all began, just like Sarah stated. They just didn’t know if he was Callum’s biological father.

“So, Ireland. Cool. Why?” she asked, knowing, but she wasn’t letting on that she did.

Sarah was to the point.

“As I was scrying last night, I saw the green landscape and a small cemetery. There was a wrought-iron gate and a headstone. The name on it was Cathal Connaught.”

Elizabeth glanced over at Finn, and he knew exactly what she was thinking.

“I’ll call her.”

Oh, and by her, he meant his sister. There were only so many people who knew the name on the back of that necklace, and he needed to find out if his sister had said anything to anyone.

If she did, he was going to kick her ass.

That would be why he didn’t tell anyone shit when it came to Elizabeth Blackhawk or this castle.

Unfortunately for him, Sarah was one of Maisie’s friends. She went to her all of the time for a card reading.

When he slipped away, Sarah sighed.

“No one told me the name,” she stated. “I can see it as clear as day on the tombstone. He died in the sixteen hundreds.”

Elizabeth wasn’t arguing.

She was verifying.

“Of what?”

Sarah was listening to the spirits, and all around them, the lights flickered, and they heard it.

Crying.

“Oh, she’s upset,” Sarah said. “She lost her love to war. He died fighting for Ireland against the crown. The ground is bloody from battle.”

Elizabeth was taking it in.

“What else?”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and steadied herself. All around her, there were voices, and she was looking for one particular one.

“She wanted to be with Cathal. He was her true love, but his father wouldn’t let him marry her. Oison’s lordship was below their family standards. As a Connaught, he needed to marry at his status. They were rich. The Darraghs were not.”

Everyone listened.

“But they laid together and made a life. Before she could tell him, she was dragged to Scotland to be a wife. She came here pregnant, and afraid for Cathal’s life.”

Well, she’d pretty much nailed that. Elizabeth had assumed as much. There was no way Duncan laid with a woman, so to speak. He was all about his man-at-arms.

When Finn came back into the room, he shook his head.