Payne shook his head. “As I said, I’m curious,” he said. Then his eyes took on a distant cast. “I wish ye’d known my mother when I was young. She wasna a pirate back then. Just a woman. We were never apart, she and I. Even when she gave birth tae my younger brothers, my memories of her are of always holding her hand. She was kind and loving. Not the woman men fear today.”
“What happened?” St. Sebastian spoke up. Usually, he stayed out of the conversations that his father had with the trainers, mostly because most of his life he had suffered a speech impediment that he’d only recently mastered. A stutter that seemed to fade with age, so he was more confident these days. “When did she become this… this pirate?”
“When her father died,” Payne said softly. “She was his only child, and one did not disobey Shane Kilkenny. He taught herwhat his father had taught him because the pirate legacy in her family runs deep. Shane wanted her tae marry well and my mother had an enormous dowry, one that attracted my father. But Shane wanted something as well—the Isle of Coll. He demanded it as part of the marriage contract, and my grandfather, who was the Earl of Lismore at the time, gave it tae him. The island is where the pirate fleet anchors when they are not at Lismore.”
“So your mother is Irish?” St. Sebastian asked.
“She is,” Payne said softly. “But my father bleeds the Highlands. It is the blood in his veins and the song in his heart. Old Shane, and then my mother, moved their operations tae Scotland and England and Wales because it was more lucrative than simply raiding the Irish coast. Instead, they raid their enemies.”
St. Sebastian shrugged. “That is what I would do,” he said. “The Irish are too poor.”
Payne eyed him a moment before breaking down into soft laughter. “I would expect nothing less from ye,” he said. “Ye’ll always see things from a business view.”
“And that is fortunate for the continuation of Blackchurch,” St. Denis said, his focus on Payne. “But this place might suffer if Bloody Maude has murder on her mind, for whatever reason, so go now. Meet her on the road and discover her intentions. And do not let your fellow trainers come to harm at your mother’s hand.”
Payne shook his head. “I will not,” he said. “And I’ll do my best tae keep her away from Blackchurch.”
“I am depending on you.”
Payne knew that. He’d never been so acutely aware of anything in his life. His mother was coming, his friends were on edge, and he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about any of it. But one thing was for certain.
He was going to get to the bottom of this.
His only fear was what, exactly, he would find at that bottom.
God help him.
CHAPTER THREE
The blasted womanhad actually knocked her out.
Hit her in the head!
Astria knew that because when she opened her eyes, she was watching the sky and trees pass by overhead and the last thing she remembered was Maude saying something about a marriage to her eldest son. There was a fight.
Then… nothing.
“Are ye calm so that we might continue our discussion?”
It was Maude, standing somewhere behind her. Astria tried to lift her head, but the pain was too much.
“You broke my skull,” she groaned, hand flying to her head. “You did not have to do that.”
“Aye, I did,” Maude said frankly. “Lass, ye need tae understand something. Ye canna escape. Ye have nowhere tae go. All of the fighting in the world will not force me tae release ye, so it would be better for all of us if ye cooperate. Do ye understand?”
Astria did, but she was stubborn. Too stubborn to admit defeat. Still, the sensible part of her had something to say about this, given the fact that she’d received a fairly serious blow to thehead. She couldn’t take another one, so it would be to her benefit to behave herself at this time.
But, God, she hated the mere thought of it.
Surrender wasn’t in her nature.
“I understand,” she muttered, eyes closed against her throbbing head. “But I cannot marry your son.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am already married.”
Maude came around the side of the wagon bed where she could look Astria in the eye. “I’ll give ye praise for a good effort,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “I happen tae know ye’re not.”
