He can call me craven all he wants. I care not, Adam thought as he left the man tied up on the floor of his room.
He jogged down the hall, sword in hand, over to Nellie’s room, but knew by the slightly ajar door that she was gone. He peeked in. Her bed was messy like she’d left it in haste, but there was no sign of any conflict.
But there was no sign of her either and that made him nervous. With the early morning still dark, she would be virtually blind and subsequently helpless.
Adam ran downstairs and almost slammed his body into Alister, who was breathing heavily in the entrance hall. His hand was pressed against his shoulder. Even in the shadows, Adam noticed the blood that stained through his tunic. A man lay lifeless by his feet.
“Dear God, Alister. Are you all right?” he asked.
“Aye, I think I’ll be fine.” Alister spat at the still body. “This guy on the other hand… I hope he rots in hell.”
“Are there any more of them?”
“I took down two in the great hall an’ some of the guards took down a few more on the other side of the castle. I’m not sure if there are any more, but it’s been quiet for a while.”
“Is Isla all right?”
“Aye, she fled with her maid an’ a guard to Lachina’s. She said she couldn’t find Nellie, though. Have you seen her at all?”
Damn. Adam shook his head. “I dunno where she is.”
Alister winced as he tried moving his injured shoulder. “We’ll find her, man.”
“I hope to God we do.” He breathed in slowly, knowing that an unclear mind wouldn’t help Nellie in this sort of situation. “Do you know how they got into the castle?” Adam asked his cousin.
“I’ve been standin’ here the entire night,” Alister replied. He pointed down the hall. “I left for a moment to take a piss an’ when I came back, the postern door was unlocked. They must’ve picked the lock.”
“This was our uncle’s doin’, Alister,” Adam told him. “The man who attacked me in my room told me. He must have a key to the door and used it.”
“Bearnard? Why the hell would he do such a thing?”
“I’m beginnin’ to suspect Una had a hand in this.”
Alister let out more oaths than Adam had ever heard him say at once. He made sure the latch was securely on the door before saying, “All right, I’m ready to find that lass. You, there!” A guard ran by, blood trailing down the side of his face. “Head over to Lachina’s house an’ make sure my wife and the healers are safe. Nobody comes back to Dunaid until Laird Maxwell or I say so.”
“Yessir,” the guard said and scurried out the entrance door, sword in hand.
“Thank you, cousin,” Adam said. “I will check the courtyard. You look for her in the kitchen.” He didn’t wait for a response, but quickly turned and headed for Nellie’s favorite spot in all of Dunaid Castle.
Would she be standing there, all smiles, waiting for him to take her hand? Would he then wake up and realize all of this was just one of his terrible dreams? That, in fact, Nellie was sitting beside him in bed, her vision restored, reading the passages of poetry to help calm him down?
He opened the door to the courtyard and in the shadowy light of the candles, he saw a figure in a dress, her features obscured by the dim light and her back turned toward him. Relief swept through him.
“Nellie,” he said breathlessly. “Thank God you’re all right.”
“Oh, I’m not Nellie.” The voice sounded familiar. As the woman turned to face him, he knew who it was, even though her face was still darkened by the shadows of the courtyard.
She looked just how she did fifteen years ago, the night she left him all alone as a nine-year-old boy. Had he ever noticed how odd her eyes looked, how they didn’t look quite so human? Or had he just been blinded by his boyish desire to have a mother figure in his life?
“Una,” Adam said. “What are you doing here? Where is Nellie?”
“I’m so happy to see you as well, Adam,” Una said demurely and walked toward him.
As she walked, the grass by her feet wilted. The branches of the trees and bushes shriveled away like they had caught on fire. The garden was dying.
Chapter 25
The sounds of yelling woke Nellie up in the middle of the night. At first, she believed it to be Adam, having one of his night terrors, but there was more than one voice cutting through the silence of the night.
Then, the unmistakable sound of clashing steel made Nellie hop out of bed. She was even blinder in the darkness, so she fumbled around until her hand met the hilt of her dagger. She held it close as she leaned against the wall of her room, ear pressed against the wall to listen.
Men were yelling and women were screaming. There were the sounds of rushing footsteps and thuds. Was Dunaid under attack?
If so, she did not have a chance if she stayed in her room. There were no strong locks on her door and she doubted if a mere chair could keep a man with a sword from barging into her room. After securing her dagger to her leg, she slipped through the door, staying close against the walls.
She made it to the entrance hall and listened in horror as somewhere nearby, men fought with swords. The repulsive sound of a blade meeting tissue and bone made Nellie clench her stomach with her arms to keep from losing her dinner. She prayed it was no one from Dunaid.
Her hand found the latch to the door and she tried to press it open, but it remained locked firmly in place.
Blast it.
Her other option was to hide in the courtyard. The bushes were big enough to conceal her small body and she could wait there until morning if she needed to, when the sun was shining and she could see a little bit better. She was a walking duck as it was now.
Still pressing herself against the walls, she made her way to the courtyard door, but was stopped as a large hand gripped her shoulder. Nellie stumbled backward and fell against someone’s hard body. She gulped as she felt the blade of a sword press against her neck, but unlike Mary’s nervous hands, this hand was steady and ready to make its mark.
“Hmm, no wonder my nephew married you. You’re soft in all the right places.”
Bearnard? Why would he be here?
“Get your hands off of me,” Nellie hissed.
When the man didn’t relent, she turned her head and sank her teeth into his arm, tasting the bitter, coppery taste of his blood. She spat it out of her mouth in disgust as the man cursed, freeing her for a slight moment before roughly grabbing her arm.
“You wench. To the dungeons with you. Tara, take her there. I gotta go find Adam.”
Tara? Wasn’t that the name of Adam’s sister? So, this was all likely Una’s plan, to kill her, to take over Dunaid? She turned her head, trying to find the girl Bearnard spoke of.
A softer pair of hands grabbed hold of her arms from behind and gave her a slight push. “This way,” the girl said quietly. She sounded so young and frightened.
Through her memory rather than her sight, Nellie knew that she was being led into the great hall and over to the kitchens. There was, however, a door that Nellie hadn’t noticed before. It opened with some struggle. Tara had to free one of her hands to give it a good push. Nellie took that opportunity to try to pull away from the girl, but to her surprise, her body was locked into place.
“What did you do to me?” she asked as she tried to free herself from the invisible bonds.
“I’m sorry,” the girl said. “These are my orders. Although, I’m surprised my spell actually worked.” She said with a bit of wonder in her voice.
“Orders from your mother? From Una? Do you know that your mother is an evil, wicked woman? This is your brother’s home she is attacking!”
The girl said nothing. When the door was fully open, she pushed Nellie to walk again. Nellie almost lost her balance as the floor suddenly turned into descending stairs. Tara had the decency to help her down slowly.
A few lit sconces lined the walls and Nellie knew without seeing that the dungeons hadn’t been visited i
n a very long time. She walked through cobwebs and heard Tara’s muffled disgust as the air grew humid. Drips of water echoed through the stone walls and grew louder and louder as they made their descent. The ground was more mud than stone and Nellie thought she felt something furry run across her bare feet.
The girl finally shoved her through a door and closed it behind her. Nellie turned around and grabbed the cold bars of the cell door with both hands.
“What do you want from us?”
“I am not supposed to talk to you,” Tara said. Her voice was wavering and uncertain.
Perhaps her naiveté could be used to Nellie’s advantage. “Whose orders were to put me in here?” Nellie asked.
The girl remained silent.
“You seem to be a bit young to watch over a prisoner,” Nellie remarked. She paused. “Your hair is very beautiful, by the way. I’ve always fancied having such beautiful brown hair.”
In fact, through this dim light, she looked a bit like Una. She was taller than Nellie and her features were elegant, although she had none of the leannan sith’s assuredness and all of the innocent awkwardness of a girl reaching womanhood. She very much was a human as much as she was a fairy. Her eyes gave off an uncanny glow, even in the dark light.
“Thank you,” the girl muttered. Nellie could see her reach up to touch her hair as she said this, as though she didn’t quite believe the words. “I think your hair is beautiful as well.”
Nellie decided to sweet talk her some more. “And your eyes… excuse me, my vision isn’t so well. Are they green?”
“Aye,” the girl replied. Her voice revealed her smile. “They are.”
“I know someone who has eyes of a similar color,” she said, thinking of Adam, although his eyes did not reflect like a cat in the darkness.
She perked up at this reference. “Who is that?”
“Adam Maxwell. Ah, it seems like you know him?”
“Aye, he’s my half-brother.”
“Ah, right. Your name is Tara. He’s mentioned you before. You two have such striking similarities.”
“I’ve never met him before,” Tara revealed, sounding wistful.
“You’ve never met him? Why is that?”
“My mother never let me. She said he was a wicked man. Is he so wicked?”
Nellie wanted to laugh at Una’s accusation and Tara’s innocent ignorance. Perhaps Una should gaze in a looking glass and see who really the wicked one was!
“Nay, he is not at all wicked. I am very thankful for him.”
“Why?”
Tara did seem swayed by Una’s dark influence. How could she not if it was Una who raised her for her entire life? But she did seem wary and curious. Furthermore, she was at an age where one began to question everything in the quest to find independence.
“Adam saved my life. A leannan sith killed my parents, but I managed to escape to Adam’s castle. He took me in and brought me back to health. And we both fell in love with each other.”
“You and… my brother are in love?”
“Yes, we are.” And once she said that, she knew immediately it was true.
Aye, I am in love with him, as insolent and proud as he is. Hopefully, I’ll have the chance to say it to his face.
“And now, the leannan sith has taken my sight from me for revenge. All I want is for Adam to be safe. I… I don’t want him to die. Even if it means I were to blind for the rest of my days.”
“I don’t believe he will die,” Tara insisted.
“How do you know that? Do you know where he is?
Nellie heard her take a few steps away from her. “I know not.”
Nellie detected the lie in her voice and sighed, leaning away from the bars. “Adam only just discovered he had a sister, but when he learned about it, he wanted ever so much to visit you, to meet you.”
“I’ve always wanted to meet him. But mother…”
“Your mother is a leannan sith, correct?”
Tara hesitated. “Aye, she is,” she finally admitted. “But you are not surprised. You already knew that, didn’t you?”
“Indeed, I did. I’m sure you must be able to contact her in some way, to see where Adam and she are? Please, Tara. I don’t want Adam to be in danger. You say that she would bring no harm to Adam, but look at the harm she’s already done—to all of us.”
Tara closed her eyes for a moment and was silent. Was she in some sort of communion with Una? Nellie was about to ask when the girl opened her eyes again. They flashed in the darkness.
“She is with him. They are plannin’ to go to a standin’ stone near the castle.”
The standing stone where she and Adam had their picnic?
“Is he in danger?” Nellie asked.
“He might be. I don’t know why she would take him there unless it’s to bring him to the Unseelie Court.” She shook her head. “This was not part of the plan.”
The Unseelie Court: the realm where all the dark fairies reside. Adam would be trapped in a hell of sorts if she did not save him.
“Tara,” she said desperately. “Wouldn’t you like to meet your brother?”
“Oh, verra much so.”
“Then, please let me out of here.” When Tara hesitated, Nellie said, “Please, Tara. I know that you believe that what your mother is doing is wrong, that attacking your brother and his men is wrong, that keeping me here, disabled by your mother’s curse, is wrong. Please, wouldn’t you like to do something that can save your brother?”
“Why would she take Adam to the Unseelie Court and leave me here?” Nellie could hear the pain in Tara’s voice.
“Who knows what goes on in that madwoman’s mind?” Nellie uttered. She didn’t mean to say it out loud, but Tara did not reply.
Tara finally relented, thank God. Her shoulders sagged as she opened the cell door. “You’re free to go,” she said to Nellie. “But please, help my brother in whatever way you can. I will try, too, but my magic isn’t so great.”
“I’ll do my best,” Nellie told her. Although, how she was going to fare against fairy magic, she knew not. She, however, wanted to escape before Tara changed her mind and locked her in the dungeon for good.
“You made the right decision, Tara,” Nellie told the girl, and then fled.
Chapter 26
“Una.”
“Adam, it’s been so very long. You grew up to be such a handsome man.”
“Never mind all of that. What are you doin’ here? Why did you attack my castle?”
“Oh, my sweet son. I am takin’ over what is mine.”
Adam folded his arms across his chest. “Dunaid Castle is not yours.”
“Dunaid Castle, Scotia, perhaps England… I will make it all mine in time.”
Adam remembered his uncle’s mad plot at Hammish’s party to take over Scotia. “You enchanted my uncle, didn’t you? This is all of your doin’?” he asked, outraged.
Una stepped closer into the light, revealing her young face and soft hands as she caressed Adam’s cheek. “Oh, how I missed you. I love you, son, an’ I cannot hide it any longer. Yes, I’m a leannan sith. My words in the letter to you were true.”
Adam recoiled from the touch. “If you think you can persuade me to join your side on your ridiculous quest for domination, you are mistaken. If you love me so much, why did you betray me so? Why did you keep so many things hidden from me?”
For a moment, he thought he saw his stepmother look vulnerable as she looked away from him. “I couldn’t. When I killed…” She shook her head. “No, never mind.”
Adam did not fail to catch her misspoken words. “What were you going to say? When you killed whom, Una?”
“Adam,” she pleaded, her voice sounding desperate. Tears filled her eyes. He knew not if they were genuine. He couldn’t trust anything that came out of her mouth. “I loved you so much. What I did… I didn’t want you to hate me after what I did.”
“What did you do?” he asked slowly, his heart dropping. Did she speak
of Nellie?
Una laughed nervously. “Remember, remember when you were about six winters or so, I took you to the village fair. You wanted a candied apple but Lachina warned you that it would make your stomach hurt. But I couldn’t say no to that sweet face, so I bought one for you anyway. You had a stomach ache so terrible that I had to carry you back to Dunaid in my arms.”
“Aye, I remember,” Adam said. “But you are changin’ the subject. What did you do? Who did you kill? If you love me, you wouldn’t keep somethin’ so serious from me.”
Una lowered her head, looking like a lass of sixteen… indeed, how old was she?
“Aye, Adam. I do love you. I love you like a son. An’ I hope that you have it in your heart to forgive me. I killed your father.”
At first, Adam felt relief that she did not utter Nellie’s name, but then, a newfound feeling of grief washed through him. It tore his heart in half to hear those words come out of his stepmother’s mouth. His father died by her hands, not from being heartbroken as had originally been thought. His father could still be alive if it were not for the leannan sith.
He struggled to keep his hand from reaching for his sword. Oh, how he wanted to plunge it deep into Una’s heart so that she could feel the same pain he did. But he couldn’t. He would never do such a thing.
Perhaps he was a craven.
He felt sadness. And, in a way, he felt sorry for Una. She would never understand what it would be like to be loved by someone, and be loved in return without using her magic for manipulation.
“Why did you do it?” he asked softly.
“I never did love him, Adam. I had eyes only for Malcolm Lyall an’ Calum knew it. The Lyalls ruined my life, so I ruined theirs. Calum figured out who I was and what I did, so I killed him before he could tell anyone else. I raised my daughter while hidin’ at a nunnery, before realizin’ that I still wanted power. I wanted to control all of these silly lairds and take over Scotia as revenge for not winnin’ Malcolm’s heart. I can rule this land better than any man could.”
“So, you do admit that you cursed the Lyalls, all because Malcolm never loved you? Isn’t that a bit petty, Una?”
Lady Nellie Page 17
