Jonah’s eyes softened for a moment as he glanced at Myrna. “I wish ye hadnae gotten involved in this,” he said softly. “I am starting to fall over meself in me affection for ye.”
Myrna’s eyes widened, and she blushed, but she still looked uncertain. Eithne, however, wasn’t so easily distracted.
“Involved in what?” the older Kinnear demanded, feeling a flare of protectiveness over her little sister. “What’s going on, Jonah?”
“You were there that day at the inn. Yer sister said that ye were involved in the fighting,” Jonah said. All the affection had fled from his voice, leaving the coldness behind once again. “Is that true? Did ye kill men?”
Eithne trembled. She did not like to think of that memory. It was not so long ago, and yet it was hidden deep in her psyche already where she couldn’t find it unless she went looking. Shehadkilled a man that day, her arrow taking his life as surely as any sword. She didn’t feel guilt, just coldness.
That’s scarier. It makes me wonder what kind of person I am.
“What I did that day, I did to protect Ivor,” she said quietly. “Aye, at least one man died at my hand…but I’d do it again.”
“Protect? What do ye mean to protect?” Jonah demanded. “Ivor Sinclair attacked that group of men who had come to give ye the option to retreat quietly.”
What?
“What are ye speaking about, Jonah?” Myrna asked, looking upset and confused.
“They attacked us when we were trying to ride here,” Eithne said calmly. She wasn’t sure how her voice was so steady. It was like she couldn’t feel fear or anger anymore after everything she’d gone through. All she knew was that Jonah was acting very, very strangely and that she would not allow someone unstable to hurt the only family she had left in her sister. “For all they knew, we were unarmed. They tried to kill him and capture me.”
Jonah looked uncertain for only a brief moment. “That doesnae make sense,” he said, shaking his head firmly. “I ken what happened. The guard captain asked ye to come quietly, and Sinclair refused to let ye go. Is that when he stabbed him? Is that when he left him to bleed like a stuck pig?”
Who? What is he talking about?
“Jonah,” Eithne said slowly. She spoke carefully because she could see that the young man was on edge. Whatever delusion he was suffering, it was causing him real pain. “They ambushed us. Ivor didnae care about killing them – he just wanted to get away. He was so badly injured that I nearly lost him. He didnae have time to be sticking daggers into people’s bellies and gloating. I barely got him out of there alive.”
“Which of ye killed the captain?” Jonah asked. His hands were shaking, Eithne noticed. Myrna was watching them, both horrified and confused. “Which one of ye did it?!”
Eithne shook her head. “I dinnae ken what ye’re talking about,” she said, slowly and clearly.
Jonah’s hands clenched into fists. “Dinnae play the innocent with me!” he snarled. “Dinnae! I ken Ivor did it, or ye did, orsomeonedid! The captain! His name was James Reilly, and he died because of ye.”
“Reilly?” Myrna asked quietly.
Jonah looked up. In the flicker of the firelight, Eithne could finally see that his eyes were filled with tears. “Me faither,” he said. “Me poor faither. Yer mercenary killed him. He left his dagger embedded in me faither’s body. It was still there when he got back. And ye…ye loved this monster!”
“None of what you just said is true, Jonah,” Eithne said, feeling a shiver of fright for the first time. “I dinnae ken who told ye this, but Ivor—”
Then it hit her. Jonah’s father had been there. Jonah’s own father had led the band of men that attacked her and nearly killed Ivor. But that meant…
Eithne’s eyes widened. “Ye’re from Clan MacDuff. Yer ‘commander’ – it’s Rory.”
“What?!” Myrna demanded. “Nay! There’s nae way that’s true. Rory MacDuff is an evil, terrible man, and Jonah…he’d never…he wouldnae…”
But both the sisters saw the conflict on Jonah’s face. Both sisters knew the truth.
“Jonah,” Myrna said quietly, her voice broken. Tears welled in her eyes, and Eithne held her. “How could ye do this?”
“I’m sorry, Myrna,” Jonah said roughly. “But yer sister and her lover killed me faither with his jeweled dagger.”
“Jeweled?” Eithne asked, frowning. “Ivor’s been an orphan since he was a bairn. He’s never owned a jeweled dagger. What are ye talking about?”
“Dinnae lie,” Jonah snapped. “Dinnae make this worse than it has to be. Ye ken he did, the one inlaid with rubies that blended in with me faither’s blood. He left it in his stomach! Nae doubt he got it as a gift from yer brother or something, I dinnae ken, but—”
“Rubies?” Eithne asked quietly. “The dagger had rubies?”
She could see it now – back when she’d almost given up on her life just after the death of her entire clan. When she’d been sitting there, alone and afraid in Killian’s room, wishing that she could die. When the door opened, and Rory MacDuff had entered, his dagger glinting at his side.
