Lachlann shot another accusing glance at Niall before he explained. “He was taking advantage of her. The lass may be treated no better than a slave, but she still deserves protection. She probably has to wipe their arses when they take a shite.”
Niall tipped his head in agreement, but offered nothing more, keeping his eyes on Lachlann.
Lachlann kicked at the ground. Dust rose about his tightly laced leggings. “I think she needs my—our—protection.” When he raised his gaze to Niall, there was no doubt the man measured his motives.
“If she is a slave…” Niall spoke slowly as if choosing his words carefully, “there is little we can do to protect her.”
“But if she is not a slave…” Lachlann glanced between both of them with a furrowed brow. Surely they could explain how he should have reacted.
Niall and Aldred exchanged a look that could have been concern, but Lachlann wasn’t sure he’d convinced them, so he continued defensively, “I am just saying that a sister is to be protected by her brother when her father is not there to do so.” Lachlann blew a breath. “Until she is wed. ‘Tis the law.”
Niall’s expression tightened. “But what laws do these people follow?”
A good question. “Pictish law according to Malcolm. But I feel certain that means whatever Aidan tells them to do.”
“And getting involved with marriages and consummations would be a mistake. Do ye not see that?” Niall’s level tone sounded so reasonable.
Lachlann sighed. “I do not believe I acted in error, only out of concern for someone who is being taken advantage of.”
“The silver is our goal. We need to find it for the church. And well we know it, but we dinna know their past or the reason they behave as they do, or the laws they follow. We do not need to get involved with any struggles here. We need only to find the treasure.”
And if they didn’t, Lachlann had taken his friends on a futile adventure. Best they find it.
Chapter 14
When the six of them returned from fishing, Ethne was there to accept their soaked clothing, their fine catch, and provide the requisite libations. Her brother and Lachlann had seen to their own cleaning up which lightened her load.
Malcolm sat stretched out in his usual spot against the far wall with Niall and Aldred sitting close by. Domelch, naturally, perched herself front and center. Why did the woman never tire of flirting? Why did Malcolm never try to stop her? Ethne had no answer for either question.
Uradech lolled in the shadows with a dark scowl, his beady eyes never wavering from her. She shivered and turned away from him to see to the bread she’d just been ordered to make. Finn had seemed so unhappy since their return that she tasked him with the job of sorting the remaining fish.
“And how are the fish coming?” Ethne spoke for Finn’s ears only.
He looked at her with a sullen expression and shrugged. He’d been busy wiggling one about in the basket as if it were still in the water.
“Do some of them still live?”
“Only the whale,” Finn replied.
She nodded and winked, but received no response.
Lachlann paced about the cave, pausing to glance outside or at one of the many drawings adorning the walls left by the cave’s long-ago inhabitants. He seemed agitated.
Mayhap he paced because he had much on his mind that kept him alert. After all, he was a man of great importance. That medallion had said as much. Dressed in a dark knee-length tunic, there wasn’t much of Lachlann’s well-honed build that was left to the imagination. Even the tight fitted leggings, cinched to his footwear with a tight crisscross pattern about his solid calves, spoke of the mighty power in his body.
“Ethne!” Domelch called.
Ethne started and dropped her gaze, her face heating from guilt at having been caught thinking about the handsome pilgrim. Was the woman incapable of saying her name without barking it like a dog? Taking a deep breath, Ethne settled herself before looking up from her work. “Aye?”
“Something to slake our thirst.”
She glanced at the work in front of her and the fish cooking on the fire. Could Domelch see to nothing on her own? Ethne sighed and brushed off her floured hands.
Domelch made an exasperated sound. “Can ye do nothing on yer own?”
Ethne bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. That would not go over well withm’lady. She stepped outside to get the mead, but paused to take a deep breath, raising her shoulders with the motion, but her restlessness refused to settle. After retrieving the mead, she nearly collided with Lachlann.
“Forgiveness, please.” He flashed her a smile and stepped aside with a flourish of his arm to allow her passage.
