"I'll stay." Ada moved to the window, wrapped her arms around herself.
He left before he could do something foolish. Like pull her back into his arms.
The Council meeting was tense.
Magnus stood at the head of the table, his shoulder throbbing beneath the bandage, and told them what he'd found. The oil jug. The boot print. His certainty that the fire had been set deliberately.
"Who would dae such a thing?" Fergus demanded. "We've nay enemies on Barra."
"We've plenty of enemies beyond Barra," Magnus said grimly. "Someone who wants tae see the Pact fail. Someone who'dbenefit from makin' me look weak, unable to protect me own people."
"Or someone already inside the keep," Torvald added. "Someone who kens the layout, kens where the guards patrol."
Magnus thought of Donnan. Playing hero during the fire, shouting orders, drawing attention to himself.
Too convenient. Too perfect.
"Double the guard," Magnus ordered. "I want men watchin' the stores, the wells, the armory. Anythin' that could be sabotaged. And I want to ken everyone's movements from now on—who goes where, when, why."
"That'll take men away from other duties."
"I dinnae care. We've been attacked twice now—the poisoned well, now this fire. There willnae be a third time." Magnus's voice hardened. "We have tae find whoever's daein' this. Before they kill someone."
The meeting dragged on—discussions of patrol rotations, supply inventories, damage assessments. By the time it ended, Magnus's head was pounding and his shoulder felt like someone had driven a hot poker through it.
He needed air. Needed to think.
Magnus left the keep, walked toward the gardens. They were winter-bare but peaceful, the only sound the wind through skeletal branches and the distant crash of waves.
He was by the fountain when Ada’s maid passed.
“Me laird.”
“Where’s me wife?”
“She left her chambers nae long ago me laird.”
Magnus turned, scanning the gardens. Where would she go? The healer's chamber? The kitchens?
Movement near the garden wall caught his eye. Ada, kneeling in the dirt, gathering something—herbs, maybe, or roots. Her cloak spread around her, her blonde hair bright in the sun.
Relief and fury warred in Magnus's chest.
He crossed to her in long strides. "What are ye daein'?"
Ada jumped, nearly dropped the plants she'd gathered. "Magnus! Ye scared me."
"I told ye to stay inside."
"Iam. The gardens are inside the walls."
"Ye ken what I meant." Magnus pulled her to her feet. "After everythin' that's happened, after I specifically asked ye tae be careful, I find ye kneelin' in the dirt where anyone could?—"
"Could what? Attack me in broad daylight in yer own gardens?" Ada pulled her arm free. "I was gatherin' herbs for Mairi. We're low on feverfew and she needs them."
"I dinnae care what she needs. I care about ye bein' safe."
"Iamsafe."
