BIG.
TIME.
“Yeah. We all saw Duncan and Ciarán down by the water when the bones floated to the surface. There’s something ominous in there.”
Okay, call him curious.
“Whose bones are they?”
Finn shrugged.
“We don’t know. All we know is that we haven’t found Ciarán’s bones yet. Tony thinks they might have been moved to be behind the wall to protect him or there is the possibility that he’s in the water, and has been for a long time.”
He was curious.
“Wait. Why did he put his lover’s bones in a wall, or toss them in the water?”
He shared how Ciarán was killed.
“The villagers, well, someone who was very anti-gay, likely the church, paid off the staff to let them in. In the middle of the night, they snuck in to kill Duncan for sins against God—being gay.”
Oh, shit.
Was that why the two dead men were so willing to help him when it came to Graham? Could they tell from the great beyond that he was gay?
Was their gaydar going off?
Then again, Graham wailing like a banshee at the edge of a cliff probably brought on plenty of attention to the two men’s lives.
Finn kept going.
“Ciarán was sleeping with him, and woke up to put his body over his, and took the death blow. They killed his lover, and he watched him die in front of him.”
Um…
That hit home.
Why?
Oh, maybe because the similarities…they were eerie.
During a particularly gruesome battle, Graham had gotten cut off from him, and the enemy had targeted him. Michael had to charge to his position, and he put his body over the man he loved to protect him.
That was when he took a bullet for the Black Watch soldier.
His soulmate.
At the time.
That had been why he’d been given the Purple Heart, and a few Silver Stars for valor for saving a Scottish soldier in a group ambush.
Hearing that the man put his body over Duncan’s, much like he’d done, willing to die for the man he loved…
That made him feel…edgy.
How could it not?
That was freakily similar.
