“He was not being protective of ye.”
“I did not want his protection!” She put a hand to her mouth again and turned away. The silence lasted but a moment before she spoke again. “We all thought we would just be traipsing across open land, imagining the enemy all around us.”
Brighit turned to him, her tight control slipping as a single tear slid down her cheek. “He was indulging me as he always did. As soon as we crossed onto their land, they attacked us. Niall ordered me to head east, alone, rather than be caught with them.”
“He was trying to protect ye and instead made ye an easy target.” Darragh’s mind had a hard time moving beyond the careless treatment Brighit had received from her uncle and brothers. “Does Niall know what happened to ye?”
She shook her head. “There was no time to tell him. When I returned…” Glancing down, she wrung her hands. “I washed the blood off me and snuck back into the hall. There was no sign of any of them.”
“Does Seigine know thatyeare the lad who killed his brother?”
A strangled sound escaped her, and Brighit got up to pace the small area, keeping her gaze averted. He watched her with narrowed eyes, emotions flitting across her face as she considered how best to proceed.
Darragh crossed his arms about his chest. “Brighit?”
“I know. I know. A moment please.”
He cleared his throat. “Ye cannot keep anything back from me.”
Halting suddenly, Brighit turned to face him. “Seigine has my weapon and he will give it to yer father tonight if I do not do as he ordered.” Her eyes widened with fear. “He didn’t just threaten me. He threatened ye and my father. I never wanted to take ye down with me.”
The other words sunk into his brain. Slowly. “How long has he had yer weapon?”
“From the first. I left it when I ran away from Cathair’s body.”
“And how long has he known it wasyerweapon?”
“He’s known all along.” Her throat constricted. “I have done so many things wrong, Darragh. I do not know how to make any of it right.”
His mind went back to the night of their wedding. When he’d returned from inspecting the body, Seigine had been left in the hall with Brighit. Everyone else in his party had gone outside with them. Then he remembered how Seigine had arranged for some time alone with her at the camp. Darragh had been called away to examine some blood that had turned out to be from an animal.
“Has Seigine been threatening ye all along?”
She nodded.
“And what is it he has asked ye to do?”
“I must get ye and yer father to side with him against the Dubhshláine. He wants to become their new king.”
Darragh’s amazement at the man’s audacity held him speechless. He turned from her, running his hand through his hair and shaking his head in disbelief.
“I am sorry, Darragh.”
He turned to her. “Ye have done nothing wrong.”
“What? I’ve murdered a man.”
“Because ye had no other choice.” Darragh did not doubt her instincts were correct about Cathair and what he was willing to do to her. “When Francis spoke of Seigine, he spoke of a man who would do anything to get what he wanted.”
“But he had no way of knowing I would kill Cathair.”
Darragh shrugged. “And mayhap he watched merely to be entertained, but when ye stabbed him—” He’d seen the body, and there was no denying the man had died a brutal death. “Brighit, ye stabbed the man? Where?”
“In his side. It was the only target I had.”
“Then what?”
Her face scrunched up and the tears returned. “I couldn’t get him off of me. He was as heavy as a horse. I pushed and pushed but he wouldn’t budge. I couldn’t breathe.”
