Ernest didn’t find her funny and didn’t say another word until she was back in the house.
“Am I a prisoner?”
He looked at her oddly, telling her that was the wrong way to look at it.
“Well, how can I see this?”
“See this as Broch wanting you to be safe.”
“Where is he? If he wanted to protect me, shouldn’t he be here?”
“Many of our people died today, woman. Have some respect.”
Christin moved back from the yelling man. He had let his emotions get to him and Christin could feel his pain. She wasn’t upset but knew that she was doing that to him. Christin was going to give him his space, something that they both seemed to need.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that, Christin. Please accept my apologies.”
Christin told him that it was fine. She wanted to know what was going on with Broch and who had died. She didn’t believe in coincidence, so she had to know.
“We were attacked.”
“Who, your company?”
Ernest snickered, but it wasn’t full of humor, just bitterness.
“Yeah, I guess you would call it that, but it’s more than that to us. They are family.”
“I am sorry to hear that. What happened?”
Christin knew that if she couldn’t work toward her own problems, it would be better for her to work on someone else’s. It was always easier when she wasn’t dealing with problems close to home.
“We were attacked by something that I have never seen before. They burned up everything and killed many of our elders…our old people.”
Christin knew what he meant. She knew the significance of elders, because she had some of her own in her family clan. The clan was family to her, and she knew that the devastation in losing so many elders was real. They must have had a horrible enemy. It reminded Christin of something that Phillip would do. He was always so personal with his attacks, and he would do something like that, if he was really pissed off. Christin hated to think it, but she had to wonder. What had they done to provoke it? Broch didn’t seem like the hothead type, but maybe she was wrong. There was a lot that she had been wrong about lately. A lot.
“I am so sorry to hear that, Ernest. Why aren’t you with him?”
“He insists I stay here.”
“And if I promise to stay here, so that you can go?”
“Wouldn’t know if I could trust you or not.”
“What if I told you that you can?”
He shrugged, like he wasn’t too sure about that, and Christin couldn’t blame him, not after she had tried to take off. She was going to take off as soon as he left, but Christin would make sure that Broch didn’t get upset about it. She would tell him how it was all her fault and hopefully, he would forgive them both.
“I would really like to help.”
“You should go, Ernest; it sounds like your family needs you. Trust me, I am not going anywhere. Broch will be fine.”
She knew that it wasn’t true, but Ernest already wanted to go, so convincing him hadn’t been that hard. He left and she was able to think about what was next in her plan. Staying there certainly wasn’t a part of her plan. Christin had to do something. She also retraced his words, trying to figure out what he’d meant. Who had killed all those elders with fire?
One thought came to mind, but Christin pushed it away quickly. She wasn’t able to handle that thought. Anything but that…
Chapter 20
Broch
