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Chapter Nine
Fin
“He poisoned the Duke. I cannot have him here,” Walter huffed as Fin saw to getting Marcus settled into his medical theater.
Fin pulled the physician aside, backing him into a corner. The older man looked back at Fin with defiance. The physician’s fiery demeanor and the fact that he could not be intimidated was one of the things Fin liked most about the man.
“That lad may be the key tae findin’ who’s responsible for poisonin’ the Duke and Col,” Fin said, his voice low and urgent. “If I leave him in thae dark cells, he’s goin’ tae die.”
“They’re going to kill him anyway for what he did,” Walter argued.
“Aye. But I’d like tae see ‘bout gettin’ some information out of him first,” Fin said. “Dae ye understand what I’m sayin’.”
“Yes, of course, I do. I am not an imbecile,” Walter shot back. “But if you could not get him to speak after a night in the dark cells, what makes you think he will speak now that he is being made comfortable?”
Fin shrugged. “Hope,” he replied. “All I can dae is hope that when he’s better, he’ll tell me who put him up tae it.”
Walter sighed and nodded his head. “I understand. That makes a certain amount of sense,” he replied. “Still, it seems unlikely that he’ll tell you now if he wouldn’t before. And making him better again just so he can then be killed by the Duke’s men almost seems cruel.”
“That’s what I like ‘bout ye, Walter,” Fin grinned at him. “Ye’re always lookin’ at the bright side of life.”
The man gave him a sour look and a shake of the head. He pushed his way past Fin and walked over to where Marcus had been laid out on a bed. Walter clucked as he examined the cupbearer, shaking his head in disgust at the savagery of the beating he took. That was something else about the irascible old physician that Fin admired. No matter who you were or what you did, once you ended up on his table, he would care for you to the best of his ability. Fin liked that.
“You may as well go and stop hovering,” Walter called to Fin. “He needs his rest. Not some Scottish brute lingering in my medical theater watching him like a hawk eyes a plump field mouse.”
Fin chuckled. “Aye. I’ll be on me way then.”
“Good,” Walter said. “And close the door on your way out.”
* * * * *
Fin continued to turn everything over in his mind again and again as he strode through the halls of the keep. He was frustrated and was growing angrier with his inability to get the answers he needed from Marcus. This whole thing could be over if he could just get the kid to tell him who has him so terrified. Who could possibly be so ruthless and evil that Marcus would gladly march to the gallows rather than give Fin the man’s name?
With a sigh, he rounded a corner and found himself in a courtyard garden. Fin stopped and looked around, bewildered for a moment as he found himself in a place within the keep that he’d never been in before. He looked around, trying to figure out how he’d gotten there. He had been so caught up in his thoughts, he had not been paying attention to his route.
Before him was a path laid with stone that led out into a wide, square space filled with tall trees and flowering bushes. The sun shone down, highlighting the riot of colors that filled the bushes. Butterflies drifted from bush to bush as birds flitted in the tree branches above them, filling the air with their song. It was like a small garden paradise set within the stone walls of the keep, and it made Fin smile.
He followed the path deeper into the garden, admiring everything about it. He heard the soft burble of water, and when he came around a small bend, he stopped in his tracks. There was a small pond with a rock formation at one end and a narrow creek that led out of the courtyard at the other. Water poured out of the top of the rock formation, creating a small waterfall.
But it was not the beauty of the small artificial pond that captured his attention. Sitting on a stone bench beside the pond was the Lady Welton. She sat upright primly, her head down as she read from a book, and Fin admired the way the sun made her skin glow warmly as it made her hair shine. As if sensing him standing there, she looked up, and when she saw Fin, she closed her book as a sour expression crossed her face. Her lips curled downward in a frown, but her cheeks quickly grew red.
“Oh, it is you,” she said. “Do not worry, I was just leaving. The courtyard is yours.”
She shot to her feet, and Fin knew she was about to storm off again. But the way his heart was spinning in his chest told him that he didn’t want her to go. Not just yet. Hollis’ words and the memory of how angry she’d been at him the previous day floated through his mind, and he frowned himself.
He knew how difficult it was for a noble to admit wrongdoing or to apologize. And with a little time and thought, he could see Hollis’ point. He had thrown it back in her face. He had taken the opportunity to all but call her a monster. While he did not think he was wrong, nor did he agree with the way she treated her staff, Fin realized it was not his place to make those sorts of judgments, let alone use them as a cudgel to beat somebody.
“Wait,” Fin said. “I need tae say something.”
“Believe me when I tell you there is nothing you could say that I would remotely be interested in.”
She moved to walk past him, but Fin moved along with her, putting himself in her path again. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him.
“Get out of my way,” she snarled.
“Nae until ye hear what I have tae say.”
“How dare you. Do you know who I am?” she spat. “I could have your head off your shoulders in an instant if I so commanded.”
