“Fine. Very well. But ye ought to stay clear of him.”
Una shrugged. “I’ll do my duty.”
Kai grunted and reached over to close the door. The last thing Una saw before the door closed entirely was Struan’s face, turned towards her, blue eyes open and watching her.
Chapter 7
Blood and Thread
The feast hall was crowded, far busier than the convent’s halls had ever been, even when they were at their busiest. Una had been seated at Kai and Astrid’s table, but she was set about halfway down the table and couldn’t catch a glimpse of the two of them, let alone speak to them. She was crushed in between two burly men, both digging into their bread, meat, and gravy with gusto, draining whole jugs of ale before Una could slosh even a little into her tankard. She could barely move her elbows.
Gritting her teeth, Una leaned first against one man, then the other, digging in her elbows until they grunted with surprise and leaned away a little, glancing down at her as if surprised to see her there.
“This is the warrior’s table, lass,” one man said at last. “The women sit over there. Except for Lady Kenneth, of course.”
“Ye think I don’t belong here?” Una snapped. “Well, let’s draw swords and see, eh?”
The man blinked, jaw hanging slack almost comically. He closed it with a snap, grunted, and turned away, not bothering to even answer her.
Somehow, that infuriated Una more than if he’d sneered at her and thrown more jibes her way.
Answer me!she wanted to scream.Don’t overlook me as though I mean nothing!
There was no point in shouting and screaming, of course. Instead, she ground her teeth and glanced down at her plate again. The half-cooled meat made her feel sick, but she hadn’t eaten much that day, so she knew she had to eat something. Dropping her hand to her belt, she fumbled for her knife, the hand-sized one she sometimes used to eat with.
It was gone.
Cold fear surged through her innards. She couldn’t have dropped it, it was tied on well and stuck tightly in its sheath. It could only have been stolen.
And I know who stole it.
Squeezing herself out of the tight space between the two men and ignoring their mutters of complaints, Una hopped to her feet and hurried off down the crowded hall, heart thumping. She didn’t dare break into a run until she got into the hallway, and then she began to sprint.
There were plenty of soldiers clustered in the hallways nearby, and they watched Una with narrow eyes. They let her go by without question, however. By now, everybody in the Keep seemed to know that she was Kai’s sister, and they let her go where she wanted. They didn’t even stop her when she snatched the keys to Struan’s prison from where they hung on the wall, although they all stared at her curiously.
Una hurried along the dark hallway, heart thumping.
What am I doing? What do I expect to find behind this door?
She’d half expected to see the door broken open, perhaps with a murdered Kenneth guard lying inside. Instead, the door was closed and locked. The key squeaked in the lock, setting her teeth on edge.
The first thing that Una noticed was that a few boards had been pried off the window, letting in a bluish silver ray of moonlight. A single tallow candle, guttering in a rusted candlestick holder, gave out a weak light.
Struan sat hunched over on his miserable pile of straw. Somebody had given him a blanket, at least, and there was a cracked jug of water set beside the candle. He glanced up as she entered, the candlelight flickering over his face. Grinning, he lifted his hand high enough for the blade to glint in the light of the moon.
“Forgot this, did ye?” he said, amusement heavy in his voice. “It’s a poor warrior who leaves their weapons behind.”
“Ye stole it,” she spat, teeth clenched. “Ye stole my knife.”
He sniffed, inspecting the blade. “It’s a good knife. Sharp. Well-cared for. Clean. Ye should come get it back.”
He held it out, balanced across his palm.
Una snorted. “Ye think I’m just going to walk in there and take it out of yer hand? I think not. And before ye think of trying to use it, I’d warn ye that there are several dozen Kenneths within shouting distance, all of whom would love a chance to murder ye.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “If I were going to use it, would I not have done it by now? A flick of my wrist…” He lifted his arm again, aiming the point of the knife towards her. “And ye would be gone from this world and into the next, just likethat.”
Una knew that the sensible thing to do would be to fling herself out of the way, out of the doorway, and rush to get help. The man was unpredictable.
