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They walked on in silence for a few minutes, and Ivy could feel the weight of Fin’s question hanging in the air between them. It pressed down on her as she battled her feelings. Ivy felt trapped between her loyalty to her family and her belief in doing the right thing.
If Castor truly is behind the assassination attempts…
Ivy pushed those thoughts away, still not quite ready to believe it. Her argument with Castor and all of the suspicion it had aroused still weighed on her mind. Despite that, though, she was not ready to make the leap to believing her brother was capable of cold-blooded murder. What could he possibly hope to gain out of killing the Duke of York and the Baron of Westmarch?
“What makes you so certain of Castor’s involvement?” she asked.
“B’cause I’m nae a fool,” he replied.
She laughed softly despite her the grim subject. “I never said you were a fool.”
“Nay, but ye never said I wasnae either.”
“Oh, I was not aware I was required to compliment your intelligence and cleverness, to make you feel better,” she said with a chuckle.
“Well, now ye ken,” he beamed. “So be sure tae dae that.”
They shared a laugh together and took a turn, still walking in the orchard but moving back toward the castle as the last bit of sun disappeared below the horizon. Wispy clouds, red and orange, streaked the sky above but was fast giving way to the darkness and gloom of the onrushing night.
“Tae answer yer question though, his assassin told me as much,” Fin said with a shrug. “More or less, anyway.”
“More or less hardly sounds definitive,” she snapped, her voice icy.
“Aye. For now,” he replied. “But I’m still workin’ on gettin’ the evidence I need.”
Conflict once again rose in Ivy’s mind, along with the instinctual need to protect her brother. Her family. The lessons her father ingrained in her when she was young still held sway, and she could not entirely cast them aside. At the core of her, she was a Welton, and Weltons always protected their family and their House.
“So you are relying on words the assassin did not speak to convict my brother of these heinous crimes?” Ivy hissed. “That hardly seems fair.”
Fin gave her a patient smile. “I ken how this difficult is for ye,” he said softly. “And I’m nae convictin’ nobody of anythin’ yet. I’m just tryin’ tae gather information.”
“To convict and execute my brother.”
“Tae convict and execute whoever was involved.” His voice grew firmer as his expression darkened, and Ivy could tell he was growing frustrated with her. “Like I told ye before, if Castor was nae involved, so be it. But tis me job tae find out one way or the other.”
Ivy’s mood began to darken as quickly as the sky above as she considered Fin’s answer. She thought that “more or less” was not evidence, and Fin was still looking for proof of her brother’s guilt rather than the possibility of another killer. She could not deny, though, it raised her own questions once more, as well as her personal struggle. Loyalty was everything. Her family was everything… or, at least, all she had. What would happen to her if Castor really was guilty? Elix was her home, and if…
Not wanting to spoil the evening though, she pushed away the darkness and tension building up inside of her. She cleared her throat and looked over at Fin, giving him a smile she hoped would warm up and look genuine. She wanted to enjoy the time she had with him, not argue about things that were well beyond her control.
“You said speaking to my brother was not the only reason you came to Elix,” she said.
He looked over at her and arched an eyebrow. “What’s that, then?”
“Earlier,” she replied. “You said that talking to Castor wasn’t the only reason you came.”
“Aye. I recall.”
“So, what are your other reasons for coming?”
There was a mischievous glint in his eye matched only by the slight curl of his lips upward.
“Why are ye so curious?” he grinned.
“I am a naturally curious woman.”
“Perhaps ye shouldnae be.”
She gave him a small smile. “Well then, I just would not be living as my true and authentic self.”
