Morna's Legacy: Box Set #1

by Bethany Claire

  “Me hand?” Niall’s angry voice dripped with sarcasm as he glared disdainfully back at Baodan. “I can swear to ye that I no laid a hand on him. I rather liked our dear cousin.”

  “I believe that ye dinna lay a hand on him, but ’twas yer poison killed him, and it wasna the first time ye have used such a potion.”

  “Oh? And who else do ye think I have killed? Have ye no spent yer entire life side by side with me? Doona ye think ye would have noticed if I was capable of murder?”

  Baodan shook his head. “No, I remained too blind, too wrapped up in me own selfish pity to see right in front of me. I doona know who else ye have killed, but I do know who ye have tried to. Eoghanan was right to get Mother out of yer reach.”

  “Ach, Baodan. What reason would I have for hurting her? ’Tis no secret that I despise her, but what would I have to gain from her death?

  “I doona know, but everything ye do is for yer own gain, so I know there must be a reason.”

  Baodan stilled at the smile that spread across his brother’s face. Niall finished his jest, enjoying the freedom of not having to hide his hatred.

  “Ah, so Eoghanan has said nothing then? O’course he hasna. I can tell by the look on yer face that ye know nothing, and I believe that ye never shall. The bastard is too honorable, too caring to hurt ye in such a way.”

  Baodan closed his eyes and breathed deeply, picturing the lass that awaited him at home. He could not kill his brother here, not until he rallied enough forces to push Niall away from Cameron Castle. Away from all that he held dear. “I willna ask ye what ye mean, for it would bring ye pleasure, and ye are deserving of none. Enjoy yer time as Laird, for it shan’t last long, brother.” Baodan dropped his hand from Niall’s arm, turning so that he could mount his horse.

  “Will it no? I doona see how ye shall end it. I will tell ye this and ’tis the truth whether ye wish to hear it or no. Griogair was no the person I wished to harm.”

  Baodan turned to look at Niall over his shoulder. “Do ye think me a fool, Niall? I know that he wasna the one ye aimed for. Ye told many that ye were headed to see Mother, dinna ye? And ’twas Mother’s food that ye believed ye’d poisoned.”

  Niall laughed, and the sound of it chilled Baodan to his bones.

  “Aye, but it seems that all has turned out for the best. With Griogair gone, I now have a home when ye have denied me one.”

  “And what of Nairne, did ye kill her as well?”

  “No, ’tis all that troubles me, for I doona know where she is. I expect she is dead somewhere on the castle grounds. Felled by the grief of watching her only son die before her eyes. But believe me, if she is no dead, I shall be the first to find her, and the last to see her alive.”

  Baodan needed to leave here, to return home to find the truth that he sought and to wrap his arms around the woman he loved. Yet he had to find a way to protect his aunt. His heart filled with enough hate and disgust to last a lifetime, and he needed to wash it away before it consumed him. “Do ye think that Nairne’s words are all that can end ye? I doona need proof of what I know for men to join me against ye. Me word is worth much more than yer own.” Baodan turned but he heard Niall’s snickers as he walked away.

  “And just what makes ye think that?”

  Baodan kept his back to his brother as he spoke, moving away from the monster behind him. “While I have denied meself much, I havena spent me life treating others like they are mine to pawn as I wish. I have many a friend, while ye have none. There is more power that lies in that than ye know.”

  For the first time in as long as Baodan could remember, his brother said nothing. Baodan rode away from Cameron Castle knowing he must rally his forces with all speed, or he wouldn’t be able to protect his aunt.

  All he could hope was Niall had taken his bait and would come after him before finding Nairne. Surely Niall would be more concerned with stopping him than finding their helpless aunt.

  Chapter 31

  McMillan Castle

  Every instant spent within Osla’s journals brought me closer to her secret. Unable to continue the work Kenna started, I offered to help Rhona in the kitchens but made sure to sneak away for a few hours each afternoon so that I could dive into Osla’s sad world.

  Eoghanan remained absent after the first day, but I knew he stayed around the castle. Each day on my way to the tower room, I would see him pacing outside, waiting with baited breath for Baodan’s return.

  The seventh morning after Baodan’s departure, I woke early and headed straight for the tower room. We expected Baodan back today, and I wanted to finish the few entries left in Osla’s book. With every step up to the room, I prayed that the answer would reveal itself in the riddles gone unsolved for far too long.

  The book detailed her gentle descent into darkness and the evolution from happiness to despair broke my heart. Osla’s life had been a happy one, at least for a while.

  “After much begging, Eoghanan agreed to teach me to write. Baodan would have taught me, but he would not have understood my desire to learn as Eoghanan has. He too holds things within and finds release within the written word. We have worked for many months, and I have left these pages empty until I was skilled enough to grace them. Finally, he says I am ready and now, when I am too quiet to speak, I will pour out my soul to these empty pages.”

  I wondered if Baodan knew that Eoghanan taught her. Their lessons must have begun even before they married for she detailed the wedding.

  “Today shall be wondrous. Even if clouds fill the sky, there will be sun in my heart.”

  I flipped past those entries. The girl seemed likeable enough, but I didn’t really want to read about how madly in love she’d been with the man I loved. Dead or not, the thought caused jealousy to flare within me.

  Her entries continued happily for the first five days of my search but, on the sixth day, her words took a turn for the worse and with them, a secret of betrayal uncovered.

  “He is the devil, yet I am drawn to him. I know that what he offers I should not take, yet I am tempted.”

  Two entries later, guilt and despair.

  “I have betrayed the man I love most in all of the world, all for a moment in the arms of evil. I was a fool. ’Twas empty compared to the love I receive from Baodan. I should not have listened to his sweet words. I have seen too many lasses enter and leave his bed, why did I believe that I was different to him? I deserve the hell that awaits me.”

  She never mentioned the man’s name, not that she needed to. Only one person within the castle fit her description. Niall.

  I sat down on day seven, picking up on the aftermath of their affair. Baodan knew nothing of this, but I suspected Eoghanan kept it from his brother. A few entries down the page, my suspicions were confirmed.

  “I wish this to end, but Niall threatens me, and so I must obey. Today our secret was discovered. Eoghanan saw us together. I could not be filled with more shame. There is perhaps some good that has come from his discovery. He will not allow Niall to touch me again. Upon finding us, he covered me and tore Niall from the bed, smashing him into the wall. He told him that if he ever came to me again, he would kill him. It was not an idle threat, and I believe that Niall knows that.”

  I understood why Eoghanan had not told Baodan. He cared very much for Osla. He knew her regret and didn’t wish to dishonor her. He also understood Baodan well enough to know that the knowledge would destroy him. So he kept their secret, not foreseeing the trouble that would arise from it.

  “I am grateful that Eoghanan will keep my secret, but I can bear it no longer. Tonight, I will tell Niall my wish to confess. Perhaps, he will see reason and we can tell Baodan of our betrayal together.”

  I’d spent very little time with Niall, and even I knew that would never work. Only one entry remained, and it differed from all of the rest. So hopeless were the words, even the handwriting changed. While I knew not the exact date of Osla’s death, I knew her life ended shortly after these words. This
Osla bore no resemblance to the one who started the journal.

  “Secrets lead to death and I will welcome mine. Then Baodan will be free of me.”

  If the entry ended there, suicide would have been a believable death, but the words that followed proved the key to the true secret behind it all.

  “I should end my life but I am too much of a coward, too selfish to release Baodan of me. Despite my agony, the will to live is strong. Although I try to diminish its flame, there is a spark of hope within me. Hope that my mind will heal itself, but I know that I will not be given the time to do so. He comes for me, I feel it every moment, and fear has taken up permanent residence within my heart. My moments left in this world are few, and perhaps, that is just as it should be.”

  I sat blinking at the empty pages following her words as I put together all of the pieces within my mind. Osla hadn’t killed herself as Baodan believed. She’d been murdered by the same man who tempted her into his bed, making the rest of her brief life a living hell.

  A few pieces still lay unconnected. Eoghanan’s illness on the night of Osla’s death, Kenna’s sickness that caused her to leave McMillan Castle, and Griogair’s sudden death now. They all related to Osla.

  I looked at the flickering light that danced on the walls around me. Slowly they seemed to ignite a light within me. Kenna worked within this very room before falling ill, saw the very words sitting before me. Suddenly, I could see it all.

  As each piece fell smoothly into place, a voice behind me jerked me out of my thoughts.

  I turned to see Eoghanan standing in the doorway.

  “Ye canna tell him, lass. No ever.”

  Chapter 32

  “Why?” I wanted nothing more than to tell Baodan. He deserved to know the truth after believing himself at fault for so many years. More than that, he needed to know.

  Eoghanan moved inside the room, leaning against the desk in front of me as he closed Osla’s journal. “There is no need for him to know. ’Twould only cause him pain.”

  “He’s already in pain.” I stood, confused and frustrated. “Keeping the truth from someone doesn’t protect them. It only keeps them living a lie longer than they need to. Baodan blames himself for what happened to her. He thinks he wasn’t enough to make her happy.”

  Eoghanan regarded me skeptically. “How could he think such? Osla loved him more than anyone.”

  “He thinks that because Baodan thinks everything is his fault.”

  “To tell him would only lay the blame with Osla and ’tis no her fault either.”

  “Bullshit.”

  I pressed my fingers hard against my forehead, willing myself not to lose it in a show of anger. I couldn’t take another moment of this “women are weak” mindset that all of these men seemed to have.

  “I’m sure you’ve never heard the expression, but it takes two to tango. Niall is at fault more than anyone, but unlike he tried to do with me, I don’t get the impression that Niall forced Osla into his bed. We have our own minds, and we are responsible for our own choices. I know that you liked her, but she played a part in this. I’m not saying that she doesn’t deserve forgiveness, but better Baodan lay the blame on her and Niall than on himself a moment more.”

  For a long while, Eoghanan paced the room as he started to speak, only to stop after a few syllables. “Ye…ye…I…”

  I could take no more. “Oh gracious, just spit it out!”

  “Ye are the oddest lass I have ever seen.”

  “Yeah, I get that a lot around here.” I crossed my arms as I glared back at him. We stood in an odd sort of showdown across the tower room. Him at one end gripping the journal, me in front of the doorway blocking his exit.

  “I mean it, lass. I’ve never heard a woman speak the way that ye do.”

  “Am I wrong?”

  He placed the journal back on the table, and I took it as a sign of his resignation. “Ye are no wrong. ’Tis only that I havena spoken of all that happened in so long, it pains me to do so now.”

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so harsh.” Of course it hurt him. The death of his friend, the grief of Baodan, the betrayal of Niall. Too much for anyone to keep inside of them for so long. “Why did you? Why haven’t you told anyone?”

  I stepped outside the door and waved for Eoghanan to join me out on the steps. He nodded and followed, only speaking once we were both seated.

  “For the longest time, I dinna see it, what Niall had done. I suppose I dinna really want to. She couldna move past what she’d done, couldna bear the guilt of it. It wasna so difficult to believe that she would harm herself.”

  He stared in front of him and, although he spoke to me, Eoghanan’s mind roamed far away, lost in dark memories of the past. I allowed him his silence until he readied himself to speak again.

  “After her death, I could think of no good reason to tell Baodan about the affair. He dinna need any more pain, and Niall had already done all of the damage he could. I was wrong to think so, but I thought ’twould be best to leave their secret in the past.”

  “How long did you believe she ended her own life? When did you learn what Niall had done?”

  “’Twas only after our mother fell ill. She would never tell me, but I knew by the way she started to treat Niall that she’d uncovered his secret. Shortly after, she fell ill. It dinna take long for me to see the similarities in her sickness and the one that felled me the night Osla died. ’Twas much slower moving, but she couldna eat nor hardly move from her bed. That’s when I knew what he’d done.”

  “He killed Osla.” I didn’t ask it as a question. I knew what he would say.

  “Aye. Niall would do anything to keep Baodan from learning what he had done. He knew that I dinna wish to tell him, but Mother would see it differently. Like ye, she would see the need for Baodan to know the truth. He killed Osla for the same reason. In the end, she wished to tell Baodan the truth, but he refused to give her the chance.”

  “So why not tell Baodan the truth once Kenna fell ill? Surely that concerned you enough to make you not worry about how the news might hurt him?”

  He closed his eyes and I could sense the regret he tried to push away.

  “I should have, lass. ’Tis the verra first thing I should have done, but I dinna trust him. Ye have changed him more than ye know, Mitsy. Before ye found him, Baodan blamed me as much as himself. I thought that if I approached him without proof, he would cast me aside for good. ’Tis why I sent our mother away, so that she would be safe until I found the proof I needed to approach Baodan.”

  Listening to his words, the final piece clicked into place. “But Niall went after her anyway, didn’t he? He didn’t mean to kill Griogair. He tried for your mother.”

  He nodded and glanced somberly in my direction. “Aye and ’tis me fault that Griogair is dead. Before I sent Mother away, I finally got the truth from her. She found the journal just as ye have done. She promised not to tell Baodan right away, to give me time to gather proof. Had I told Baodan sooner, Griogair would not have met such a fate. I doona believe that Niall truly wishes to be Laird, but the mishap provided him a convenient place to hide.”

  I reached out to him, wishing that he would understand through the squeeze of my hand just how wrong he was.

  “There is no one to blame for Griogair’s death but Niall. It’s impossible to always see what the right choice is. You did your best with the knowledge you had. Of course you would expect that Baodan wouldn’t believe you without proof. He has treated you poorly for far too long. He knows that now.”

  “Does he? I doubt it verra much, lass.”

  Eoghanan carried just about as much self-loathing as Baodan. It broke my heart to see it in both of them. “He does, I know he does because he told me.”

  “If he did, lass, then ye canna know how much he must love ye. For he never speaks to anyone about himself.”

  “Well, I’m pretty good at extracting information.” I nudged him playfully, and a slight smile show
ed at the corner of his mouth, disappearing as quickly as it came.

  “Aye, ye are that, and I see that ye are right. As soon as Baodan returns, we shall tell him. All has been kept secret for far too long. With Griogair’s death, Niall must be stopped.”

  “Ye doona need to wait another moment for me to arrive. I think it best if ye both start speaking at once.”

  Either his footsteps were quiet or we were too engrossed in conversation, but neither of us noticed his approach until he stood before us. Tired, anxious, and scowling, Baodan moved past us on the stairwell and into the tower room.

  Chapter 33

  “Well…” he stood with his arms crossed, waiting for us to join him inside the room. Exhausted and dirty from his journey, it would have been understandable for him to be testy anyhow, but I knew that seeing Niall at the burial played a large part in Baodan’s cool greeting.

  “Hey,” Looking up, I gave him a half-smile as I approached. Standing on my tip-toes once I was in front of him, I kissed him gently.

  He thawed instantly and exhaled loudly as he squeezed me tight against him. I expected the breath had been awaiting escape for days.

  “I’m sorry, lass. I am so pleased to see ye, but me soul is sick. I am tired of all these untruths. If either of ye know something that I doona, please for the love o’God, tell me now.”

  No matter the stress that hung in the air, I found it heaven to clutch onto him, to know he stood near me and not within Niall’s reach. “Sit down. I’ll tell you, and so will Eoghanan. The story isn’t really mine.”

  * * *

  As Eoghanan stepped forward, I leaned against the wall allowing the brothers their moment of revelation, never tearing my gaze from Baodan’s stony face. I knew the ache that started deep in your stomach and spread after the betrayal of a spouse. The difference was, Baodan loved Osla where I never truly loved Brian, not in the way that one should. It would be even harder for Baodan.