"Are ye ready?" Eoin asked Breana as soon as she was close. He glanced at her back and added, "Nice bow."
"A gift," Breana explained, smiling slightly. "From me sister. Tae make sure I can protect ye."
Eoin winked. "I feel safer already."
As they made to mount the horses, Cailean put out a hand and touched Breana's arm. She turned to face him, surprised by the gesture.
"Breana, I… I want tae thank ye," he said, sounding almost uncertain in a way that was a contrast to his usual face as a wiseleader and king. "Kennin' that ye and Eoin are on this task will help me get through these next few weeks. What ye're doin' is dangerous, but if there's a chance me sister is safe… It's been so long, and I dinnae even ken her really, but if there's achanceI can have her back with me…"
The desperation and longing in his voice echoed in Breana's heart. She knew what it was to long for a sister who had long been lost to you. She'd missed Maeve desperately when Malcolm took her away, and for a few years, that ache had been endless. But even now that she and Maeve were together again, the ache remained. Maeve had said earlier that they were a good pair, and that was true—but there werethreeO'Sullivan sisters, not just two.
As the youngest and most like their mother, Nessa had always been their father's pet, always the most trained to behave precisely as James O'Sullivan had wished. Breana, as the oldest, remembered when Nessa had been born. She'd been a normal baby, a normal little child, following her older sisters around the place. But their father had taken that child and molded her into the perfect heiress when it became clear there would be no male issue. Breana had always longed to have both of her sisters together again. She'd never been able to believe that Nessa was irredeemable.
If they could find Neala after more than twenty years—if they could reunite the broken McNairs against all odds—did that mean that there might be hope for reuniting Breana's family, too? She knew that the two circumstances could not be more different, and yet she could not help but see the parallels there. Maybe, one day, their families could really be whole again, just as their country could one day heal.
"I understand," Breana told Cailean. "I really do. And ye have me word, I'll do everythin' I can tae bring her back."
She paused, then, on impulse, gave him a sisterly hug. He seemed surprised, but hugged her back, briefly but with meaning.
When they parted, Maeve hurried over and hugged Breana, too, whispering once more into her ear to be careful. Breana promised again, then turned back to Eoin.
"Ready?" he asked her.
She nodded, determination beating in her breast. Together, they mounted their horses, and with a final wave back to Maeve and Cailean, they rode off into the night.
4
"Ye're a fool, ye hear me, Abigail? A fool and a failure of a maid. Ye make me despair of the fact that ye're under me direction, lest his majesty thinks that I've somehow trained ye tae be this way!"
Neala—or more like Abigail for everyone in Blackthorn Castle—stood before the head maid, Jessie, and did not speak as she endured the scolding. Jessie was a woman in her fifties who had been serving the False King for longer than he had even been on the throne, broad-shouldered, gray-haired, and meticulous. She was one of the most rigid people Neala had ever known, running the care-taking responsibilities of Blackthorn Castle with an iron fist.
"It was just a carafe, Jessie. Leave her be," the nearby cook, Elspeth, said with a tutting noise. "All yer shoutin' is gonnae ruin the soup."
Jessie turned her angry eyes upon Elspeth, who met her fury with a calm gaze. Elspeth was a plump woman in her forties who served as the second cook to the False King, and whose skill in the kitchen and standing with the other servants made her one of the few people who did not cower before Jessie's rages.
"Ye keep yer mouth shut, cook," Jessie snarled. "It'syerfault that this waste of breath is here in the first place. Ye're the one who recommended her for the job, and now look at her—destroyin' the king's property in his very throne room!"
Elspeth snorted but turned back to her cooking, making it clear she did not care enough to get involved any further. "Just keep yer voice down while ye're in me kitchen. That's all I ask." She would not defend Neala anymore; everyone knew that Elspeth only cared about her cooking and nothing else.
Jessie rounded back on Neala again. "What do ye have tae say for yerself, then, lass?"
Neala knew that she should be silent, keep her head bowed, and accept whatever Jessie had to say. But before she could control herself, the words slipped out. "It was only a carafe. And the king spoke tae me directly. He didnae seem so upset."
It was the wrong thing to say. Jessie's fury magnified, her already-ruddy cheeks turning an even darker red and puffing up, her eyes narrowing. "Ye think that pretty face of yers will protect ye forever?" she demanded. "Ye ken that it's the only reason that his majesty pardoned ye for yer slight. Perhaps ye're hopin' that he'll take ye tae his bed and see ye risen in favor among us?"
Trying not to shudder at that thought, Neala didn't reply.
"Bah!" Jessie threw her hands up as if the whole thing were hopeless. "Dinnae rely on it so much, if ye ken what's good for ye. Yer bonny figure and lovely face might help ye now, but it'll get ye intae even more trouble one of these days. Ye mark me words."
"I'm tryin' tae cook," Elspeth said, a little more sharply. "Berate the lass if ye must, but take it out of me kitchen. Would ye nae be better served puttin' her tae work as punishment than wearin' out yer voice?"
Jessie shot Elspeth another glare, and she spoke as if Elspeth hadn't made a sound, though it was apparent she actually agreedwith Elspeth's suggestion. "There is blood all over the great hall now. The king willnae tolerate such a mess. Ye hear me, lass?"
"I hear ye," Neala replied, more subdued now. She carefully did not glance over at Elspeth as she spoke, keeping all of her focus on Jessie. "Ye wish me tae join the lassies cleanin' the place?"
"Ye'll clean it yerself!" Jessie commanded. "At once! And try nae tae break anythin' else, ye useless thing."
With that, the head maid turned on her heel and stalked out of the kitchen, presumably off to browbeat some other unfortunate maid. Only when her footsteps faded did Neala allow her eyes to flick to Elspeth.
