Tamhas snorted a disgusted grunt and tipped his head toward the door. “I believe that’s yer answer.”
Lovely.Trulie took a deep breath and faced the entrance.
Aileas blew into the room like a huffing black storm cloud. Her dark skirts shushed as they swirled around her. In each of her fisted, masculine hands, she clutched fluttering squares of lace-covered linen. Her fiery cheeks paled to a lighter pink when her gaze settled on what was left of her son.
“My poor wee laddie.” She stifled a sob with a bit of linen and rushed to his side.
Fearghal didn’t respond. His slack-jawed stare remained fixed on the stone wall beside his bed.
With a shaking hand, Aileas smoothed a bent finger across his sunken cheek. “What the devil have they done to ye, laddie?” She wheezed in a shaking breath and tucked his hair to one side. “I never wouldha left without ye if I had known. I thought...” Aileas’s voice quivered to a higher pitch as tears streamed down her face. “I thought ye had gone on ahead as we planned. I thought ye had already left this accursed place.”
Trulie swallowed hard and sniffed against the tears burning her eyes. No matter what Aileas had done, she was still a mother whose child was about to die.
“How did this happen?” Aileas said without taking her gaze from her son. “Who did this to my wee laddie?”
Trulie looked over at Granny and Coira standing beside the hearth. They shrugged in unison and nodded for her to take the lead and explain.
Trulie stood taller, clasped her hands behind her back, and eased toward Aileas. How in the world was she going to explain to Aileas that her son had bitten off more than he could chew when he decided to bully a mentally imbalanced maid into giving him sex?
“Well?” Aileas swiped a hand across her cheeks. “Tell me. All of it.”
“Do you recall a servant named Beala?” Trulie waited a moment for Aileas to respond. The snuffling woman ignored her, just kept her hand pressed to her son’s cheek. Trulie cleared her throat and spoke louder. “I think she helped keep your rooms before she came to take care of ours.” Trulie moved closer. Maybe if she circled around where she could see Aileas’s face, the telling might be easier. Trulie wet her lips and cleared her throat. “She is a small woman and walks with a strange rolling gait. Kind of blondish—”
“I ken well enough who she is.” Aileas spit the words with such hatred Trulie jumped back a step. “What about her?” Aileas yanked the bedclothes back from Fearghal’s collapsed chest before Trulie could continue. “Surely, that worthless chit couldna do this to my son.”
Where was Gray when she needed him? Trulie cast a quick glance back at the door, wishing he would appear.
“Well?” Aileas hoisted her girth up from the edge of the bed and faced Trulie.
Trulie took a deep breath. There was no easy way to tell this, so she might as well jump in with both feet. “It appears Fearghal threatened to have Beala turned out if she didn’t sleep with him.” Trulie paused a second then blurted out the rest. “But evidently, after she gave in, in some strange sort of way, Beala fell in love with Fearghal and wanted him to marry her because she was pregnant ... or maybe she wanted them to get married before she got pregnant. I am not sure about that part, but Fearghal must have refused...”Dammit.Could she sound any more ridiculous?
The look of pure hatred on Aileas’s face ended Trulie’s babbling.
This was not going well at all. “Anyway,” Trulie continued. “We don’t know for sure how, but Beala must have lured Fearghal down to a hidden chamber.” She glanced over at the dying man in the bed. “She succeeded in chaining him to the wall. And she kept him there with no food or water ... for quite a while.”
All the color drained from Aileas’s face as tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped from her jowls. Spreading the squares of linen between her hands, she mopped the bits of cloth across her face. “Where is my son’s tormentor now?” she finally choked out as she blew her nose hard into the rag.
“We have her locked in a room where she can’t hurt herself ... or anyone else.” Trulie forced herself not to cringe at Aileas’s sharp look.
“I would see her.” Aileas huffed and muttered under her breath as she plowed across the room. “Tell the MacKenna I would see his prisoner immediately.” She didn’t wait for Trulie’s response before flouncing from the room.
* * *
“Who areye and why are ye here?” Gray barred the man from passing through the archway. He recognized him as the smithy’s helper—the man who had come to MacKenna Keep along with the rest of Lady Aileas’s possessions. He wanted to hear what the man had to say. There were too damn many secrets in this keep and very few people he trusted anymore.
“I am Gaedric.” The man respectfully tucked his chin and kept his gaze trained on the floor. “The Lady Aileas was and always will be the honored daughter of my clan. I would serve her again if she will allow it.” The man shuffled uncomfortably and bobbed his head lower. “That is, if the MacKenna sees fit for me to do so since she has returned.”
Gray studied the man. He seemed honest. Humble even. Gray admired loyalty, even to one as undeserving as Aileas. “The Lady Aileas will not be here long. And what of the smithy? Are ye not bound to him?” Gray was curious to hear how the man would explain leaving his current station.
The man shifted from side to side. His large hands nervously plucked at the tattered hem of his stained tunic. “I would serve the lady for as long as ye see fit. The smithy says I am free to do so. He says he no longer has use for a cripple with few skills.”
Gray made a mental note to pay a visit to the smithy. Perhaps the coarse man of steel could use a lesson in compassion. He understood the smithy’s perspective, but there was never a need to be cruel. “I have no problem with ye serving the Lady Aileas while she abides here. But I must warn ye that after her son dies, she returns to her confinement.”
Gaedric flinched as though Gray had struck him. He glanced up with watery, bloodshot eyes filled with emotions Gray didn’t understand. “Her son will not heal?”
“No.” Gray turned and motioned for Gaedric to follow. “Come. Ye can join yer mistress once we have seen to her request to question her son’s murderer.
Gray paused as he reached the first landing in the staircase. “Gaedric, come. Now, man.” Gray waited until Gaedric hesitantly moved forward and hefted his way up the first few steps.
