The horses were grazing in the field, and Cailean let out a sigh of relief. They approached and checked the animals over and saw that they seemed to be fine. Cailean took a few moments, then he turned to Maeve and said, "Before we go anywhere, we're gonnae finish our conversation."
Maeve swallowed and nodded. "Ask me what ye need tae. I'll answer honestly, I swear it."
"Maeve," he said. It sounded awkward in his mouth, like he was testing it out, but hearing Cailean say her real name out loud made something deep inside her shiver. "Tell me the truth. Why did ye join me camp? What are yer intentions? Why and how did ye flee from Castle Darach? And why would they frame ye, if ye truly didnae do the crime?"
Taking a deep breath, Maeve knew she had no choice but to tell him the whole story. She let out a shaky breath and decided to start from the beginning.
"I never married Malcolm Darach by choice. Me father, ye ken who he is by me name I'm sure, he basically sold me tae keep a good relationship with the Darachs. I wasnae worth any more than a bargaining chip tae Laird O'Sullivan."
"His own daughter?" Cailean didn't look like he believed her. "I ken that lassies marry for political ties all the time, but I'd heard that O'Sullivan treats his daughter well since his wife died. Like a wee pet."
Maeve flinched at the words. "Aye. Me youngest sister has always been the pet. And he more or less left me older sister, Breana, alone, as far as I could manage tae protect her anyway. But me… he never had time for me, not when me mother was alive and certainly not after. I was another mouth tae feed, another lassie disappointin' him because I wasnae a son. I had me fair share of beatin's and he saw me as nothin' but a nuisance. When me mother died, it only got worse. So when Malcolm Darach chose me, Father sent me away without a thought."
Cailean grimaced. "I see. And ye went."
"I had nae choice. The only good thing about it all is that…" Maeve paused and blushed. "Well, there was never any chance of me producin' an heir. Malcolm left me alone."
Cailean's embarrassment at her implication was obvious, but thankfully he never asked her any more detail on that. She wasn't sure she was ready to revisit that in full, or her complicated feelings that surrounded it after Ann's revelation.
"So ye didnae kill him?" Cailean pressed. "Ye're tellin' me ye had nothin' tae do with it?"
"I didnae kill him," Maeve insisted. "We never even slept in the same bedroom. I only went by his room tae return a necklace he'd bid me wear at a feast… and when I entered I saw him." She pursed her lips, the image flooding back into her mind; Malcolm, his eyes wide open and staring, his skin pale except where it was stained with deep red. "It was… horrible."
"So if ye didnae murder him, who did?" Cailean's voice was no longer so harsh, and instead he sounded more like someone trying to solve a puzzle. He still didn't seem sure if he believed her entirely, but Maeve could see that he was softening a little, and she clung tight to the hope that this gave her.
"Kyle Darach killed Malcolm. I ken it."
Cailean raised an eyebrow. "Ye ken for sure?"
"I trust me sources. Ann of the White Sparrows, she saved me, and?—"
"Ye ken Ann?" Cailean sounded truly surprised now. "Ann saved ye? How can that be?"
And so Maeve told him the rest; how Eoin and Ann had both been watching over her in their own ways while she'd been a prisoner in that sham of a marriage; how she'd been nearly put to death until Ann broke her free with Eoin's help; and how she'd been invited to join the Sparrows but had ended up at Bill's inn instead.
"Ye'd have been good amongst the Sparrows," Cailean said when she was done. He didn't meet her eyes. "They, too, need tae ken how tae be swift and quick-thinkin'. And ken how tae lie."
It was a small dig at her, but it hurt as though it was a blow. She could see that she'd shattered his trust entirely, and despite knowing that she'd only done what she had to do to survive, the guilt that threatened to overwhelm her just kept rising. "I ken how tae lie," she admitted. "But that doesnae mean I like it. I hated every moment that someone called me Mary. I hated every second I couldnae tell everyone the truth. Ye've become like me family, the first real family I ever had besides me sister, and I…" her voice faltered under his cold gaze. "Please, Cailean. Have ye never had tae hide somethin' even though ye kent the truth would give ye freedom? Have ye never had tae lie about who ye are?"
A dark shadow flitted across Cailean's face at the question, and Maeve was reminded of that beautiful pin and the capercaillie proudly displayed in its sigil. She'd had her suspicions for a long time about Cailean, but could they be true? She clenched one of her hands into a fist to try to get a hold of herself. It didn't matter if it was true or not, not now. She would not voice her thoughts and suspicions and ruin any chance she had of gaining his forgiveness.
Cailean stepped forward and raised a hand to touch her cheek. Maeve stood still as he gently wiped a smear of blood away from under her eye. Despite everything, his touch was very soft and warm, and she longed to lean into it.
But then he shook his head, his voice still cold. "Ye should have told us the truth from the beginnin'. We could have helped ye."
"I didnae ken who Senan was. For all I kent, he would have delivered me right tae the Darachs. And then when I got here, would ye have harbored a woman ye thought a murderer in cold blood? Even if she'd killed yer enemy?"
Cailean stepped back and sighed. "Ye say Kyle Darach was the one who killed Malcolm and presumably set ye up tae take the blame. Very well, let's say I believe ye. How would the man's advisor get intae his bedchambers so late at night? Malcolm was renowned for his paranoia."
"Aye," Maeve replied. "But Kyle didnae enter the room as his advisor, he went as Malcolm's lover."
She watched as this revelation played out on Cailean's face. At first, he seemed shocked, then it seemed as though a piece of the puzzle had finally clicked into place for him. After a long moment, Cailean shook his head.
"They're all monsters," he growled. "What sort of man would murder his own lover?"
"A man whose only true love is power and kennin' he gets tae wield it," Maeve replied steadily. "The kind of man whose own son would plot against him. Eoin is a good man. He's the one who warned me about his father."
Cailean's disgust didn't waver. "Every time I think one of the False King's men has sunk as low as a person can go, they do somethin' else tae prove me wrong."
