“What?” Gabby asked, excitedly. “What did you find?” she asked.
He looked up.
“I know who is in the lake. I know who betrayed them both, and why.”
They all leaned forward, hanging on each word that had come from him.
This was vital information, and now, they’d be able to put this at rest.
“Well?” Ian asked, impatient to know.
Instead of telling them, he read the last part of the journal entry to them.
‘The betrayal cut deep. Even though I allowed her to leave to follow her heart, and offered to let her come back when her new husband was not what she wanted, Catherine still wanted more.’
They all gasped, and couldn’t believe it.
“Oison’s daughter betrayed them?” Gabby asked. “Ceit’s sister?”
He nodded.
“It looks like. There’s more.”
Everyone stayed silent while Graham read them what Duncan had written over four hundred years ago.
‘I lost my mate because I wouldn’t give her money, since she was not mine to worry about anymore. Catherine went to the church and told them of my lying in bed with a man. She betrayed me, knowing they would come for me and Ciarán. To make matters worse, she showed them the secret way into the castle, and that is how they reached us.
When we slept, they entered through the hills, down the tunnel, and into my stronghold.
She murdered my beloved Ciarán, a man who protected her, and raised her like his own child. Her plan was to have me die, and claim my castle and money. She was willing to pay off the church leader to say that there was never an annulment, and she was still legally married to me in the eyes of God.”
Ian gasped.
“Oh, no. That’s horrible. Elizabeth was right. Money is the number one reason people kill each other because that wasn’t love or honor.”
No, it wasn’t.
All around them, the castle got chilly, and things rattled. All of the delicate teacups on the shelf shook.
“Uh-oh,” Gabby said. “Something is not happy. Keep reading. Maybe it will release her stronghold on the lake and castle.”
He did as she asked.
Well, he tried to. The water damage made it difficult to see it all.
‘It took me a while to figure this out, but now that I have, Catherine has met her end.’
He stopped.
What was to come was horrific.
“What?” Ian asked.
Oh, well, they were going to share in that with him. If he had to know, they had to know.
“It either says he had her drawn and quartered behind the castle, or he drew his sword and ran her through. I can’t tell which, but then, she was dumped in the water as she was in pieces, screaming.”
Well, either way was a horrible way to die.
