by Lucy Monroe
It was far too many layers for a wolf to wear for easy shifting. Did the Sinclair not teach his Chrechte the importance of speed when doing so? It could make the difference between life and death.
Had Eirik not been able to shift near instantly only moments before, that death would have been hers.
“I was a Donegal.”
So, she had married into the clan. Why that knowledge should make his dragon feel like casting fire Eirik did not know.
“And now you are a foolish Sinclair who does not know better than to keep your vigil of curiosity on the top of a tower. You are no bird to save yourself with a shift.”
She frowned, clearly affronted by his plain speaking. Too bad. Someone should have spoken to her of such before.
“Your husband has failed in his duty to protect you.” And Eirik would tell the idiot just that when he met him.
“I have no husband.”
“Then how did you come to be a Sinclair when you were a Donegal?” Only his younger cousin would dare to interrupt Eirik’s discourse with the Sinclair wolf.
Ciara turned her head so she could see Fidaich. “I came to live with the Sinclairs after your prince killed my brother and mother.”
Low exclamations and gasps sounded from the others, indicating they had heard the woman’s accusation.
Fidaich grabbed her arm and shook her. “You take that back. My cousin is no murderer like the Faol.”
Eirik’s dragon growled.
“Not all wolves are killers,” the boy’s mother reprimanded, apparently oblivious to the dragon’s precarious temper.
But both the Sinclair woman and Fidaich ignored Eirik’s aunt to glare at one another.
“Release her,” Eirik ordered in a voice none had ever been foolish enough to ignore.
Fidaich did so but stared up at Eirik with frustration. “She cannot be allowed to make such false claims against you.”
“They are not false.” The woman’s voice was laced with absolute certainty, but worse—with pain.
Eirik did not like it.
Fidaich did not, either. “They are.”
“Not.”
Eirik rolled his eyes. “Fidaich.”
Just one word, but his cousin subsided. Eirik met the now accusing gaze of the woman. Her fear had not diminished, but now it was laced with anger and hurt.
“Explain.”
“You killed my brother with your fire and my mother took her own life because of it. Therefore, you murdered them both.”
His dragon had only ever killed two men in that way. One had been this woman’s brother. But how had she known?
“’Twas not murder, he was protecting me and Canaul,” Fidaich growled, clearly unable to keep well out of it.
The woman started. “You were one of the boys Luag meant to harm?”
“Your brother was this Luag?” Eirik asked before Fidaich could answer.
The utter revulsion that came over the woman’s features denied Eirik’s words before she said a vehement, “Nay.”
“The other one?”
“His name was Galen. He was a good brother.”
“But not a good Chrechte.”
Shame dropped her eyes from his and made his dragon want to sneeze with its acrid scent. “He was deceived by those he thought were friends.”
“He would have allowed his friend to murder a child.”
“So, you killed him.”
“I did not know he was any less a threat than the man with a fist raised to my cousin.”
“He was.”
“I could not risk it.” Not that he’d even considered the matter.
“You burned them to ash.”
“Aye.”
“I left Luag’s remains in the forest for the animals.” She said it as if admitting something no one else knew.
As far as Eirik was concerned, she’d done exactly right. “’Twas no less than the would-be killer of children deserved.”
She nodded and he helped her to her feet, unable to let her sit so defenselessly in the grass any longer. It just didn’t feel right. “You saw me.”
“Yes.” She pulled away from him as soon as she was standing.
“How?”
She swayed a little but seemed to stay standing by sheer will alone. “Does it matter?”
“It does if you were in a position to protect the boys and did not choose to do so.” He knew not all Faol were bad, but to think this woman lacked honor in that way made something in Eirik’s gut twist sickly.
“I was going to intervene, but you got there too quickly.”
“Barely quickly enough to stop Luag from killing my cousin with a single blow.”
“I was set to attack him as a wolf.”
“You hesitated too long. If I did not see you, you could not have reached Fidaich in time.” Eirik made no effort to soften the censure in his tone.
This woman accused him of killing not only her brother but her mother as well by his actions in protecting Fidaich and Canaul. He would give no quarter on the circumstance of her brother’s death. Chrechte did not harm children.
And none should stand by while one tried to.
“The only one who killed that day was you.”
“Would you have rather I left my cousin to the nonexistent mercies of your Luag?”
“He was not mine.”
But Eirik was not listening, nor did he care how much revulsion she showed at every mention of Luag’s name. He had heard enough from this female wolf who accused him of murder when she had stood by while Éan children were threatened.
He regained his mount and nudged his horse into movement. The Sinclair wolf could walk. The bridge into the fortress was close enough.
Nevertheless, Eirik was not surprised to hear Lais offer the woman a ride on one of the extra horses. As healer to their people, the eagle shifter was the only one with the authority to do so without Eirik’s say-so.
Lais must have seen how weak the woman was, the way she swayed on her feet, and chosen to show more pity than the woman’s brother had had for two Éan children caught playing in the forest.
The quiet words of acceptance and gratitude reached Eirik’s ears before he kneed his horse into a gallop.
Ignoring the looks of censure he received from the others, Lais helped Ciara onto the back of Eirik’s extra mount. It was the only horse well trained enough that he had no worries about it dumping the obviously shaky woman on the ground.
“I am Lais. I don’t know if you remember me, but I was once a Donegal as well, Ciara.”
“You know my name.” Ciara searched his features until her green gaze glimmered with recognition. “You are here with the Éan? But you were a friend of Rowland’s. Of Wirp’s.”
“I was never their friend.” Though he’d been misled into believing himself so at one time.
She pondered that for a moment and then nodded ever so slightly. “Like my brother, you were deceived.”
“Yes.” Which was why, of all the Éan, he was probably the only one who would understand Ciara’s defense of a man who had stood by while Chrechte children were threatened.
He was also one of the few Chrechte, maybe the only other one besides himself, who knew the toll that day in the forest had taken on Eirik’s soul. And how much Ciara’s accusations would have bothered the prince.
“Do you remember my brother?” Ciara asked softly.
“I did not know him well. He spent most of his time with Luag, some with Wirp.”
“Yes.”
“He would have mated you to Luag.” And a damn shame it would have been. Luag had been a sadistic, honorless man who did not deserve the wolf that shared his soul.
“You can’t know that.” But Ciara’s tone said she knew the truth of it, just as Lais did. The scent of grief and sadness coming off of her told their own story.
Wishing he had not reminded her of her brother’s other failings, Lais said, “You never told anyone of the dragon.”
“No.”<
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“How did you explain your brother and Luag’s disappearance?”
“I told everyone Luag had led Galen into harm’s way and caused both their deaths. It was the truth and the Chrechte of our clan could scent it. I masked the deceit in my scent when I told them I had built my own pyres and burned them as is right and true.”
“You can do that?”
“Yes.”
“That’s unheard of.”
“Others in my family had similar talents.”
He did not doubt it, but he could not help being glad her brother was dead. A wolf who hated the Éan but had the ability to mask a lie? He could have wreaked havoc in a way even Rowland could not have competed with.
“Your prince did kill my brother.”
“But he did not murder him.”
She did not answer, but her lack of argument said it all.
“How did you know he is our prince?”
“How could he be anything else?” Ciara asked in a tone that said she doubted his intelligence but he should not doubt hers.
Lais laughed. “You’re an arrogant little thing, aren’t you?”
“I don’t mean to be.”
“With eyes as green as yours, I always suspected you and your mother were descendant of the Faol royalty.”
“MacAlpin killed all the royals of our line.”
“Only those counted by matriarchy.”
“It does not matter; the Sinclair recognizes Scotland’s king. To be royalty among the Faol can have no meaning.”
After seeing what the royal family of the Éan did for their people, Lais wasn’t sure he agreed. Besides, Scotland’s king had less sway in the Highlands than with the Lowland clans. “Laird Sinclair only submits to King David when he wants to.”
“He is a Highland laird and Chrechte as well.” Ciara gave Lais an almost-there smile. “How could it be any other way?”
He chuckled. “It could not.”
“And your prince? Does he intend to submit to Laird Talorc?” There was very real worry tingeing her tone now.
“As clan leader, yes.”
“As pack leader?”
“Only wolves belong to packs. Birds are flocks and ours knows no clan boundaries.”
“That won’t be easy.”
“Eirik is aware.” Anya-Gra had not let the prince forget it, voicing her concerns right up until the Éan left the forest, each of three groups taking a different direction.
“Why don’t you call him prince?”
“Because I am his friend.”
Ciara recoiled.
Lais sighed. “Eirik is no murderer.”
“That is your opinion.”
“It is yours as well, when you are thinking clearly.”
“Thank you for telling me my innermost thoughts.”
“I understand wanting to believe those you hold dear are good people…and having to accept when you realize they were not.”
“My brother was a good person. He was deceived.”
“Do you enjoy your life among the Sinclairs?” he asked, refusing to continue such an argument.
She might well be right. He knew what it was to be deceived. Would her brother have shifted his thinking if exposed to the truth? There was no answer to that quandary in the violence of the past.
“Laird Talorc and Abigail have been very kind to me.”
“You live with the laird?” Lais asked with surprise and humor he made no attempt to mask.
Eirik had agreed to make his home in the keep until the Éan were settled amidst the clan.
“I have a room next to their children.”
That was an interesting way of putting it. She could have said that she was part of the family, or treated like family, but she avoided doing so.
It probably made Lais a bad friend, but he could not help looking forward to the times to come with Eirik and Ciara under the same roof.
There was something there. Lais had never seen Eirik shift so fast and not once into a dragon in front of his people.
Eirik kept the dragon private and Lais thought he was probably the only Éan who understood why.
Everyone else speculated it had something to do with the power or pride of the dragon, but Lais knew Eirik feared his dragon as much as he embraced it. To burn another Chrechte to ash was not an easy event to carry on one’s conscience.
“Eirik killed your brother in protection of the young of our race, but he saved your life this night. Will you let that go unremarked in your bitterness?”
Ciara jerked so hard she almost fell off her horse but shook her head. “No. I would tell him of my appreciation.” A moment of silence passed. “I am not bitter.”
“Good.” He thought about what he had to say next. “You can show your genuine appreciation and continue to maintain the secret of Eirik’s dragon.”
“Laird Talorc does not know he is a dragon?” Ciara asked, anxiety coloring her voice and making her heart quicken.
“Aye, he does, but others do not. It is a closely guarded secret.”
“Because of Faol like Wirp and Luag.”
“Aye.”
“Perhaps news of such a being would frighten them off.”
“Or make Eirik the greatest target to them all.”
“I will not betray his secret.”
“Thank you.”
She was silent as they entered the lower bailey, the only clan there to meet them the night guard who spoke in low tones with Eirik before sending a young soldier running toward the keep.
Eirik’s people had all dismounted and gathered their belongings by the time the Sinclair made it down the hill from the keep. His hair stuck up as if he’d been drawn from his bed and he wore only a sword and his kilt.
Nevertheless, he was smiling. “I’m glad you and your people have finally made it.” Like the friend that he was, the Sinclair reached out and pulled Eirik in a warrior’s embrace.
Eirik returned it before stepping back. “I did not mean to pull you from your bed.”
“It happens.” The Sinclair gave the shrug Eirik knew could irritate the man’s wife, Abigail, no end.
“We were going to camp outside the wall.” Eirik let some censure bleed into his voice. “I saw the drawbridge was down, so changed my plan.”
The smile the Sinclair gave was smug. “I had a feeling you would be here tonight.”
“The security of your people is more important than a little inconvenience.”
Instead of taking umbrage at Eirik’s clear censure, Talorc merely let his grin grow wider. “You are all my people now, too. Abigail insisted you would feel more welcome if the drawbridge was down.”
“You allow your lady to dictate in matters of clan security?” Eirik asked with no little shock.
“You know Abigail.” But there was something in the Sinclair’s voice and then he looked over Eirik’s shoulder.
Eirik turned his head to see a group of warriors entering the lower bailey as the sound of the drawbridge being lifted could be heard.
“You had a guard on watch outside the walls.”
“Of course.”
Eirik almost smiled. “It seems your life is filled with headstrong women, but you know how to handle them for the most part.”
“Women?” Talorc asked with a puzzled frown that went dark as he seemed to comprehend all that Eirik had said. “For the most part?”
Eirik indicated the woman Lais had been referring to as Ciara. The prince had heard her tell Lais she lived in the keep. He had not missed his second’s amusement at that fact, either.
The Sinclair bellowed, “What in the hell is Ciara doing down here in the middle of the night?”
The woman in question jumped and then bit her lip before giving a small wave to her laird. The Sinclair did not look amused, nor did he look particularly surprised.
Eirik doubted the other man would take the rest of his ward’s exploits with the same equanimity. “A better question might be: what was she doing on top of the west t
ower?”
Clearly able to hear them, though she stood several feet away, Ciara glared at Eirik as if he had betrayed her most bosom-held secret. He let his own disapproval show in the look he returned her.
If she had expected him to keep her dangerous actions from her laird, she was not only deluded about her brother—the woman was a fool.
The Sinclair’s eyes began to glow with the wolf’s light and the scent of his fury was so strong, Eirik wasn’t sure the pack alpha would not shift right there. His own dragon roared for a chance to come out.
“Ciara was on top?” Talorc asked with deadly quiet.
“Until she fell.”
Talorc did not ask Eirik to repeat himself. He did not question how Ciara came to be in the lower bailey now, in one piece. He simply turned toward the tower and bellowed a man’s name.
Seconds later a guard came running up, breathless and pale with fear. “Yes, laird?”
“My daughter was on top of your tower.”
“C-Ciara, laird?”
“Do I have another one I do not know about?”
“N-no, of course not, Alpha. It’s just that, I didn’t…she didn’t…how did she…” Clearly overcome by too many questions and no answers his laird was going to accept, the guard’s voice trailed off. “How did she get off, sir?” the hapless guard was foolish enough to make as his one complete sentence.
“She fell.”
Grief mixed with fear and the guard dropped to his knees. “I’m so sorry, Alpha.” He offered his neck for whatever the other wolf meant to do.
“She lives.” The Sinclair shook his head, his fury still strong, but a resignation about it.
Eirik lifted one brow in question.
The laird sighed and it was not a happy sound. “She is far too adept at masking her scent.”
“She’s sneaky.”
“Aye.” Talorc sounded proud, despite his anger.
“How does she live?” the guard asked with a fair amount of trepidation.
Talorc turned his anger back on the still-kneeling guard. “Our new clansman saved her.” His tone and manner implied it should not have been necessary.
The guard seemed oblivious in his shock. The look of awe and respect he gave Eirik surprised him, but not as much as the gratitude wafting off the young wolf’s skin. He bowed his head to Eirik. “Thank you.”
