“My lord, Tiernan, I know you were upset with me before, because of what you thought you saw in my study, but I swear to you, Ruairi and I are only cousins. There's no call for you to be jealous of him in any way.”
Rather than denying he had been jealous, Tiernan demanded angrily, “Do you always go around hugging and kissing men behind closed doors, Shive?”
“Nay, my lord, you're the only one. Ruairi told me some good news, and I was merely congratulating him. That's all.”
“If it's all as innocent as you say, Shive, then come with me now behind closed doors."
Shive blinked in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
“They won’t miss us at the feast. We can slip away up to your room for a little while.”
Shive began to blush furiously. She felt all eyes upon her at the top of the table as Orla and Lasaran went around spreading their poison to all who would listen to their rumors about Shive and Ruairi.
“I can’t right now. They’ll all wonder what has happened to us, and ’tis broad daylight. ‘Tis not fitting.”
“I seem to recall a couple of times when you didn’t object to the daylight,” Tiernan reminded her in a stirring whisper.
Shive blushed again. “Tiernan, please, I’m the host and guest of honour. What would people say?”
“That you’re interested in keeping your husband happy. I am still your husband, am I not, Shive?” Tiernan demanded.
“Of course you are. I told you. I’m coming home just as soon as this feast is over,” Shive said firmly.
“If you promise, then I suppose that will have to do for now,” Tiernan grumbled.
“Really, Tiernan, I would come back with you now if I could, but there’s something I need to discuss with you first.”
“What on earth is there to discuss?” Tiernan asked impatiently.
“You said the last time we spoke that you had changed your mind. That you wanted me to be your wife in every way. I need to know what’s changed since we first wed. You told me that you had never really wanted a wife. As for children, you intended to leave every thing to Lasaran and Cian. What if I were to have a child?”
Tiernan visibly shuddered at the thought of what his mother had endured, so many pregnancies, miscarriages, still births. “I hope we won’t have any children for a long time to come, if ever. I admit I’ve been careless of you in the past, but I shall see to it I'm more restrained in the future,” he said unthinkingly.
Shive stared at him open-mouthed. “So you are telling me you still don’t want children?”
Tiernan could see her stricken look, and sought to reassure her. “Please understand, Shive, you’re young. I'm only trying to show my care and concern for you. Childbearing is a dangerous business for women. You're far more valuable to me as a wife and helpmeet than a brood mare.”
Shive’s face went ashen.
Tiernan could immediately see he had said the wrong thing. He had tried to put his fears for her safety into words, but only upset her more.
Ruairi and her cousin Mahon saw that she looked as though she were about to faint.
“Come, dear, give me your hand. Mahon will escort you out for a breath of fresh air. All this wine and food has gone to your head,” Ruairi said smoothly.
Shive barely managed to get out of the crowded, stifling hall before she was violently sick. But at the end, her stomach felt far better, and she was able to answer Mahon’s concerned enquiries.
“Did Tiernan say something to upset you?” Mahon demanded angrily.
“No, not really. I guess I was living a foolish dream, thinking all would be well. That he would be happy about the baby. But maybe I should now go back now, as he asked. Perhaps I will be able to change his mind with patience, and by presenting him with a situation which is unavoidable.”
“Whatever you say, Shive,” said the confused young man. He insisted she remained seated for another few minutes before finally allowing her to return to the feast.
When she re-entered the hall, Shive deliberately circulated amongst her guests in order to avoid speaking to Tiernan, so hurt did she feel.
But as the hour grew late, Shive saw Tiernan making a move to leave.
“Are you sure you won’t stay, my lord?” she asked a trifle coldly, their conversation earlier still stinging despite how much she longed to lose herself in his ardent embraces.
“No, no, I can’t, as I've told you,” Tiernan replied, unwilling to yield an inch.
Shive grew impatient at his always seeming to have the upper hand in their relationship, and decided for once to speak her mind. “You know, Tiernan, if you're always going to be so inflexible and unbending in our marriage, how can we ever hope to be happy together?”
“What are you talking about?” Tiernan asked, astonished at her bitter tone.
“You say I can do this, and can’t do that. You refuse to stay under my roof because of what my dead father did to you. You also told me before that you shall do your best to make sure you and I never have any children. Does it ever occur to you that your attitude hurts me? Or that I might actually want and need you to stay here with me? To support me in my grief as well as in my triumph? Or that I might wish to have children of my own?”
Tiernan stood in stunned silence.
Shive continued, “You may be used to commanding in your own house, but I’m still a MacDermot. You're just going to have to the face the fact that some things are beyond your control. There are two people in this marriage, Tiernan. If I do come home to you in a couple of days, it’s to make our marriage a success, not a failure, is that clear?
“And if you wish to continue treating me like an enemy, then we’re just going to have to negotiate some sort of truce. But just remember that I'm no longer weak and frail, and will not give in to your every whim any longer!”
Tiernan continued to stare at her, but Shive turned on her heel and marched away from him to return to the feast, hoping he would go without making a scene. She was so angry she could have quite easily slapped Tiernan right across his unbearably handsome face.
She took deep breaths to calm herself, then pressed her hands together to still her trembling anger. She could not let her emotions get the better of her. She decided that she would tell him about the baby when they were alone once she got home. If he didn’t like the idea, then they would have no choice but to divorce. She was not going to continue in a loveless marriage, no matter how much she wanted to be with Tiernan night and day.
As for Tiernan, he couldn’t fathom Shive’s abrupt change of mood. After an emotionally trying day, he was not about to challenge her again. He would wait until she returned home, and then try to explain to her about his mother.
He had never revealed his deepest feelings to anyone before, but perhaps Shive was right. She deserved the truth. And maybe he had been shutting her out of all the decision-making in their relationship. As she had pointed out, if they were to have any hope of being happy, that would have to change.
Regretful at his foolish behavior now, Tiernan hesitated for a time, but when he saw his brother Lasaran and Orla O'Rourke staring at him smugly, he stalked out to the courtyard, mounted his steed and returned to Castlegarren. All the way home he counted the moments until he could have Shive by his side again night and day.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
For the next two days, Shive was the head of the feast and festivities held in her honor. There was singing, dancing, and poetry recitations, as well eating and drinking both day and night, as they all paid tribute to her as head of the MacDermot clan.
On the evening of the second day, Shive managed to slip away from the feast unheeded for a moment. From her weary looks, Mahon could see that Shive was anxious to return to her home after having been away for so many weeks.
“As the new head of our clan we'll escort you in style, with all of your luggage and other possessions,” Mahon offered. “And to think it was only a few short months ago that you entered Tiernan’s house as a
virtual pauper. Now you're head of the MacDermots, and a very wealthy woman in your own right.”
Shive sighed and ran her fingers through her short burgundy hair, which had gradually lengthened into a thick curly crop which fell midway down her back. “I can never forget that all I've gained has been at the expense of Fiachra, my father, and your brother Parthalan. So no, I don’t really wish to gloat about my achievements. I just want to live with Tiernan in peace. And for both of our families to prosper through mutual cooperation, rather than mutual suspicion, if that’s possible.”
“I’ll do my best to look after things here, Shive, you know I will. And as I said, I think even the youngest and hottest heads in this family can see in what direction their interests lie. They’re loyal to you, always. That’s bound to count for something, even though the past five year of hostilities caused a great deal of animosity between us and the O’Haras.
“But Tiernan’s family all like and admire you. I’m sure no one blames you for the past. Frankly, I don’t see how they could after you eliminated the Vikings, and have helped rebuild Breachnach.”
“All the same, Mahon, I don’t want to arrive at the castle as if I’m lording it over them or anything. I’ll just take a few things in my saddlebags, and be on my way in the morning before anyone has a chance to make a fuss.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
Shive smiled assuredly. “I’ll be fine. What could I possibly have to fear?”
Shive of course was completely unaware of Orla’s and Lasaran’s plan to capture her as she headed back Castlegarren. Taking only a few small personal items and her sword and dagger, she set off early the following morning in order to surprise Tiernan, pleasantly she hoped.
But though the hour was early, she did not escape detection, for Fergus had been watching her like a hawk ever since the first day of the inaugural feast. True to his word, Fergus gave the prearranged signal shortly after Shive rode out of the gates of Rathnamagh.
Shive had an uneventful journey until she reached the small forest which separated her land from Tiernan’s.
Suddenly she could feel her horse falling from under her, and both landed with a crash in a pit about five feet deep which had been dug in the centre of the path and covered over with branches and grass. Shive struggled to get free of her horse’s stirrups, but even as she did so, she could see several men towering over her at the mouth of the pit.
“Take her,” the tallest of the masked men commanded.
“Muireadach O’Rourke!” Shive gasped.
Muireadach abruptly took his mask off, wondering how she could have know it was him. But even in the dim light of the cloudy dawn amid the dark forest, Shive easily recognised his dark, brooding presence. He was tall and muscular, though ponderous in his movements, and his hands were quite small for a man’s. He also had a small hump on his right shoulder from overdeveloped muscles as a result of too much fighting at an early age.
Muireadach’s face might have been considered exceptionally handsome were it not for the scar which ran along his left cheek from brow to jaw, and the fact that he twisted his lips into a sneering leer every time he spoke. Both his hair and eyes were of the deepest black, conveying a sense of foreboding to all who came near him. Everyone said his cruelty was what had driven his first wife, Grainne Maguire, Tiernan’s former fiancee, to kill herself.
Shive was hauled unceremoniously out of the pit. Once on solid ground again, she fought like a wildcat with her sword and dagger as one by one the men tried to subdue her.
Finally Muireadach, furious at his men’s inability to control one lone female, barked, “Put down your weapons, Shive! I promise you, you won't be harmed. We just want to have a talk with you, that’s all.”
“Talk! Sending an armed band of twenty men to talk?” Shive scoffed. “What could you and I possibly have to say to one another, Muireadach?”
“Let us just say that with you out of the way for a short while, Shive MacDermot, I'm confident that my quest for the high kingship can continue unimpeded.”
Shive scowled, eyeing him warily as he tried to approach nearer and catch her off guard. “What on earth would your ambitions have to do with me?”
“With you out of the way, Ruairi O’Connor would have less support. Then when I was successful, we could negotiate a new alliance together. I hear you’ve made the MacDermot clan very powerful through trade and other alliances. They would come in handy later, once I was high king,” Muireadach said, trying to flatter her.
“You ought to know by now I would never support you against my cousin Ruairi, Muireadach. You’re greedy, selfish, violent to a fault, and only interested in being high king so you can abuse your power, not use it to help people.
“Taking me prisoner will only add to your problems, Muireadach. When my husband finds out what you’ve done, it will give him the perfect excuse to fight you. Your families have been enemies for years, the projected engagement between your sister Orla and Lasaran O’Hara notwithstanding. When Tiernan finds out you’ve kidnapped me.--”
Muireadach smiled sarcastically. “Ah, but you see, Shive, you haven’t been kidnapped.”
“What on earth are you talking about?” Shive demanded with a frown as she tried to put some distance between herself and the odious Muireadach.
“Orla and Lasaran saw you embracing Ruairi the other day. We will spread it about that you have eloped with him. Without your support and Tiernan’s, Ruairi will never be high king,” Muireadach predicted.
Shive, now feeling the trap closing about her, made one last desperate attempt to run away, but tripped over a tree root and was sent sprawling. Muireadach was on top of her in a moment, quickly taking her dagger from her by crushing her wrist against a rock. Muireadach then grabbed her by her thick burgundy hair and punched Shive on the chin, rendering her unconscious.
“Throw her onto the back of my horse and cover over any traces of a struggle here,” Muireadach ordered his few remaining men as he stood up and brushed himself off.
“We ought to just kill her outright,” one of the masked men insisted angrily as he began to drag his fallen companions out of the road.
“That would be foolish, Lasaran, would it not? If your brother really does care about her, as you seem to think, if anything goes wrong with my plans, we can at least wring concessions out of him by threatening her safety.”
“That would be admitting that we had abducted her,” Lasaran protested.
Muireadach shrugged. “By that stage of the game, it would hardly make any difference.”
“All right, I’ll go long with your plan, but at the least sign of trouble from her, Tiernan or not, I suggest you kill her. She’s a hellcat, as you've seen.”
Muireadach scowled blackly, resenting the young cub who would dare try to give him orders. “Just remember, any trouble out of you, Lasaran, and I’ll kill you without a second thought. Now, when are you and Orla to wed?”
“I er, um, she still hasn’t accepted me, though I’ve asked often enough,” Lasaran blustered.
“I'll speak with her,” Muireadach said grimly.
True to his word, Muireadach demanded a conference with his sister as soon as their evening meal was over. He dragged her into his small chamber near the main hall, and declared, “I want you to marry Lasaran, right now, before he gets out of hand.”
“Marry that fool? I can’t bear the sight of him!” Orla scoffed, throwing her long lush mane of blonde hair over one shoulder haughtily. As fair as her brother was black, the only things they had in common were their greed and utter contempt for the rest of the world.
“We need Lasaran to help forge an alliance between our families. Believe me, I’d like nothing better than to kill Tiernan with my own bare hands. But we need his help if I'm to be high king. If you married Lasaran, it would make the O’Haras support of me as high king much more likely, especially since they won't want to support Ruairi if they think Shive has run away with him.
”
“But that’s just my point. Tiernan commands far more respect in this region than Lasaran ever could!” Orla argued hotly. “If Tiernan’s marriage to Shive is seen to be over because of her elopement, he'll be able to marry me.”
Muireadach paced up and down as he paused to consider his sisters’s new twist in his already seemingly perfect plan.
“All right, I can give you one month. If at the end of that time Tiernan doesn't divorce his wife and give you a promise of marriage publicly, then you shall have to wed Lasaran, is that clear?”
“Why all the hurry?” Orla asked curiously. “With Shive out of the way, you can do as you like.”
“It’s now or never for me to become high king, before Ruairi gets any stronger. Besides, as you well know, sooner or later, Tiernan will find out that Shive didn’t run away with Ruairi. Then he will start wondering, and stirring up trouble looking for her. If he won’t support us, then we need to take him completely by surprise.”
The Hart and the Harp Page 27
