“Bridget MacCulloch,” he whispered back. “Hamud’s daughter.”
The guard who had accompanied them on their journey to Tordenet Castle in their quest to rescue Malcolm had been a pleasant fellow, kind and helpful. Right up to the moment he’d been hanged on the orders of that abomination from the old gods, Torquil MacDowylt.
“I’ve already told you, Brie, that I sent word to yer brother,” Malcolm said. “He kens by now what’s happened to yer da. But it’s best for everyone if hestays where he is. He’ll do us more good in Edinburgh than he can here.”
Again Syrie stretched up on her tiptoes to speak, bumping her nose against Patrick’s chin as he leaned down toward her.
“And this brother of hers, this Jamesy, what is he doing in Edinburgh?” she whispered.
Patrick’s attempt to answer was lost as Bridget’s hand slammed down on the table.
“Best for everyone?” Bridget demanded incredulously. “Best foryou,you mean. You think by educating my brother you’ll have another MacCulloch indebted to you, willing to give his life for you. It was yer life my father gave his own to save. And yer no even going after the bastards what murdered him.”
“That’s enough, Bridget!” one of the older men in the group cautioned.
“No, Uncle, it’s no even close to enough. I’ve only begun to have my say,” the girl fired back. “I’ll have their heads with my own sword if there’s none here man enough to do the deed.”
Patrick took Syrie’s arm and quietly edged her toward the door and out into the hallway.
“Why did you do that?” she asked as soon as the door closed behind them.
“Because I saw that look come over yer face. You were but moments away from inserting yer own voice into the fray. You canna leave well enough alone when you think someone the victim.”
His assessment of her personal weakness was tooclose for comfort. It was that inability to let people deal with their own problems that had resulted in the act of disobedience that brought her here to speak with Malcolm in the first place.
“About that,” she began, clutching her hands in front of her to keep them from fluttering around. “I’ve just the tiniest issue I need to bring to Malcolm’s attention as soon as he has a free moment.”
Patrick’s eyes narrowed. “What mischief have you brought upon us now, Elf?”
Elf, indeed. She cut her gaze up at him, making no effort to hide the irritation spiking through her body. The man was eternally suspicious, especially when it came to her. Naturally he’d think the worst of her, simply because he didn’t like her kind.
He met her scowl with no show of emotion, bathed in the obvious calm she always found so arrogant and irritating. His reaction was made all the more annoying by the fact that this time his suspicion was well deserved.
She had caused a problem, and she had precious little idea of how to make it better.
“Out with it, Elf. What troubles you?”
Syrie straightened her back, meeting Patrick’s gaze. Though his face reflected none of his thoughts, a glimmer of concern in his eyes gave him away. They were cut of the same cloth, he and Malcolm, both convinced it was their purpose in life to carry the burdens of others.
Neither of them would understand that the largerpart of this burden was hers and hers alone to carry. She’d put herself in this predicament, and she alone must pay the price for her poor choices.
Still, part of it concerned them. And that part was what she needed to share.
“There in the glen, before the battle, before you arrived, I gave my oath to your sister. I have now fulfilled the promise I made.” She paused, her gaze flickering away and back again before continuing. “With only the tiniest hint of an issue, I assure you.”
She could swear the corner of Patrick’s eye twitched.
“What could my sister possibly have asked of you? She has no need and certainly no wish for the troubles caused by the Magic yer kind possesses.”
Patrick didn’t know his sister as well as he thought. Faerie Magic was exactly what she’d asked for. Insisted upon, in fact.
“Christiana wanted my assistance in locating a man she has seen in her visions, a warrior who is to play a vital part in obtaining her freedom. She asked that I use my Magic to help this man in his quest to reach her.”
Patrick’s eyes widened. Whatever he had expected, this apparently was not it.
“Well then,” he said, wiping any trace of surprise from his expression. “Where is this wonder of a man you’ve discovered?”
“I have no idea.”
