Authors: Phoebe Conn
Oriana pulled her hand free of his gentle clasp. His hands were warm, his touch pleasant, but it failed to evoke the same tingling thrill as Egan’s slightest caress. “Aye, I recognize the danger. The fortress is rife with it.”
Albyn moved aside to allow her to escape him, but he still feared she posed as great a danger to Egan’s life as Kieran’s challenge.
Egan noted Albyn’s arrival in the bailey with a casually raised brow, but he was disappointed not to find Oriana with him. After issuing such a serious demand, he was puzzled as to why she had not come to watch him make a great show of fighting Kieran without actually killing him. He intended to win the first two challenges. There would be no need of a third.
“You’d do well to emulate Oriana’s single-mindedness,” Albyn cautioned. “Don’t allow your focus to stray.”
Egan nodded grudgingly, but although they were apart, he still felt the haunting beauty’s presence. She lingered not merely in his mind, but in his body with the tenderness of a lover’s caress. He had never become attached to another woman, but Oriana had easily captured his heart.
Kieran was testing the weight of a spear, and Egan gathered his resolve to prod him along with his selection. “Grab whichever one is closest, and let’s hunt wild boar. They’re more dangerous than any man, and much more difficult to kill. It will be a far truer test of our courage than if we were to fight each other.”
That suggestion caught Kieran completely off guard, but after a moment’s pause, the idea took on an immense appeal. Once they left the crowded fortress, the dense forest would provide an abundance of thick cover for an attack. He might even succeed in herding a boar toward Egan. Then he could watch in feigned horror as his half brother was gored by the vicious beast.
“Aye, that’s a splendid idea,” he agreed with a grin, and then, after selecting a spear with a fancy bronze inlay in its iron tip, he gestured toward the stable. “To the horses, then.”
A murmur of confusion rumbled through the crowd, for clearly the whole assembly could not ride out. “Let’s each take a half dozen men,” Egan said.
Kieran responded with a sweeping wave toward their kinsmen. “Can you find that many to side with you?”
“Aye, and a great many more, but six will do for today.”
Albyn feared that might prove an empty boast, but a sufficient number of young men made their way to Egan’s side for him to choose among them. Albyn took note of their families, and just as Oriana had claimed, those with ties to Ula’s clan overwhelmingly backed Kieran, while those more closely related to Cadell stood with Egan. There were powerful families on both sides, but the real battle would still be between sons who had
both
inherited Cadell’s size and strength.
Albyn whispered a warning. “Keep a closer eye on Kieran than the boar.”
Despite the tension of the morning, Egan laughed. “Aye, I intend to.”
With the imminent approach of autumn, the forest was gloomy and cool. An occasional noisy flurry of crows swept overhead but the hunters were curiously silent. While still within a few yards of each other, Kieran and his men rode to the left; Egan and his followers kept to the right.
Still debating the wisdom of agreeing to Oriana’s plea, Egan made a concerted effort to drink in the calming influence of the woods, but before long, he began to curse his own stupidity in not recognizing the obvious fact of how well the wily Cadell had trained both his sons.
While impetuous in the past, Kieran’s present cautious restraint made it clear he had skillfully mastered their
father’s lessons. That made the challenge impossible to dismiss as a tedious chore rather than a sincere attempt to seize power. Egan had been convinced his skills were far superior to his half brother’s, but for the hunt at least, the two young men were apparently an equal match.
An adept observer, Albyn read Egan’s doubts in his slight frown. “You underestimated him, didn’t you?”
Egan always preferred the truth to a lie, but this admission hurt. “Completely,” he murmured.
Nearing the heart of the forest, they left their mounts to continue on foot. Egan plucked a fallen branch from the leaves padding the forest floor and hurled it after his half brother. “This is more time than I’ve spent with him in years,” Egan confided softly.
Albyn might have lost track of Kieran’s age, but his memory was clear on one point. “He idolized you as a lad, but you ignored him.’ Tis no wonder he’s issued a challenge.”
Egan studied the angle of the sun overheard to judge the hour and cursed the day for creeping by much too slowly. He then raised his hand to signal stealth, and his party halted in midstride to listen for the low grunting snort of a boar. All they heard, however, was Kieran’s group filing by on their left.
Egan paused to consider a change of direction, and Albyn again came to his side. Frustrated, Egan spit before voicing his confusion, “I’ll fight Kieran in ways he’s never even heard of, let alone seen, but I can’t understand why it is so important for me to keep him alive.”
Oriana’s desperation had also weighed heavily on Albyn’s mind, but he had come to only one conclusion. “Perhaps there is simply too much of you in Kieran for Oriana to wish him any harm.”
“She is not overly fond of me,” Egan scoffed. “Why should the close resemblance matter?”
Not trusting their lives to the hounds, Albyn squatted down to scan the forest with a watchful eye. Relieved to find no sign of danger, he rose and spoke freely. “I fear
you have also badly underestimated Oriana. Such a remarkable young woman would not give her love lightly, and her affection would surely spill over to include Kieran as well.”
Egan longed to accept Albyn’s wild raving as true, but he was reluctant to believe Oriana held any tender feelings for him. “Let us keep our minds on our task,” he grumbled, but with every step, it became increasingly difficult.
Finally, with a great strength of will, he locked the distracting thoughts of Oriana away in his heart. With every step his eagerness for a fight grew, and when a boar suddenly broke from the thicket in a wild, scrambling charge, he was poised for the kill.
Oriana went first to Egan’s chamber, left her cloak, and from there made her way to Adelaine’s room. Just as she had hoped, Myrna was there adding fresh rushes to the floor. The door stood ajar, but not wishing to startle the friendly servant, Oriana rapped lightly.
“Oh, it is you, lass,” Myrna exclaimed. “Is there something you’re needing?” She scattered the last of the rushes and came forward.
Oriana closed the door behind her, and taking Myrna’s tiny hand, led her toward the bed. “Please, sit here with me for a while. I’ve so many questions, and you’re the only one I can ask.”
Myrna blushed with pride, and she swayed a bit, until she was nearly dancing over the carpet of rushes to the bed. “I know so little, but ask whatever you please, and I’ll do my best to answer.”
Oriana waited for the little woman to make herself comfortable before she took her place at her side. “You seem to have such fond memories of Adelaine. If it would not sadden you too greatly, can you tell me how she died?”
Myrna leaned back, and her eyes widened in alarm. As though desperate for courage, she knotted her hands
tightly in her lap. “It was all so long ago. Why do you want to go stirring up trouble?”
“She was Egan’s mother,” Oriana stressed, “and my curiosity about her is quite natural. I’d ask Egan, but he was too young to recall the details.”
Already cognizant of that fact, Myrna straightened until her spine was as stiff as a poker. She sat there frozen for an instant, and then a reply burst from her pursed lips. “Aye. I’ve forgotten them too.”
“No, you haven’t, and we’re going to sit right here until you describe in explicit detail exactly how Adelaine met her death.”
Myrna shook her head so violently, the bun atop her head began to list toward her left ear. “No one was there, lass, so the story died with her.”
Myrna was so terribly uneasy, Oriana was certain she knew far more. Egan might be able to force the truth from her, but she doubted he would agree to try. That meant she would have to find the answers on her own.
“Please take me to where Adelaine was standing when she fell. Once I’ve seen it, perhaps I’ll be better able to imagine what happened.”
“Oh, no, I never go up there,” Myrna vowed. “I refuse to make the climb.”
“Up where?” Oriana asked softly.
“Just follow the winding stairs to the top. You’ll come out on the wall walk behind the battlements. It’s windy and cold, so you best wear your heavy cloak.”
Oriana smiled at the motherly advice. “Did Adelaine enjoy strolling the battlements?”
Myrna’s scowl deepened. “No. I never knew her to seek out a chilly wind.”
Encouraged by that aside, Oriana offered another possibility. “Perhaps the magnificent view drew her.” Perhaps due to the depressing nature of their conversation, Oriana shivered from a sudden chill. “What time of day did she fall?”
The need to confide in a sympathetic listener continued
to war with Myrna’s natural reserve, and a lengthy silence preceded her reply. “The mists had already drifted down off the mountain, but when I came to help Adelaine dress for the evening meal, her chamber was empty.”
Myrna paused to weigh her every word with care. “She spent many an afternoon with Cadell, or with Egan, so I did not worry until they both came to look for her here.”
“So she may have been missing long before her absence was noted?”
Hot tears stung Myrna’s eyes, and she wiped them away on the hem of her long tunic. “Like as not, she was already dead, my lady, but we searched the whole fortress for her. It wasn’t until dawn that a guard spied her broken body on the rocky cliff bordering the sea.”
The elderly woman raised shaking hands to cover her ears. “I’ll never forget Cadell’s anguished screams. By the time he reached his dear wife’s body, he was all cut and bloody from scrambling down the cliff, but he sat out there all day holding her in his arms. We all feared he would carry her out to sea and drown himself to be with her.”
“Oh, how awful,” Oriana murmured, and she began to pat Myrna’s bony shoulders. “But he lived many more years, so someone must have convinced him to embrace life despite the loss of his beloved wife.”
Briefly, Myrna appeared puzzled, but then she shrugged. “Well, of course you wouldn’t know, but it was Egan who traveled over the rocky cliff with the ease of a crab. He’s the one who led Cadell down to a waiting boat. It broke all our hearts to see him holding his dead mother’s hand as they were rowed around to the bay. He wasn’t more than five years old, but he became a man that day.”
Myrna reached out to touch the wooden beads Oriana wore. “Cadell dropped these around his son’s neck, and they dangled nearly to his knees. He wore them a long
while, then packed them away with his mother’s belongings.”
Oriana smoothed her fingertips over the charming necklace. She had been immediately drawn to it, but could that have been a warning she had missed? “Adelaine was wearing these beads when she died?”
“Aye, it was her favorite gift from Cadell. Now I’ve said too much and really must be about my work. There’ll be another feast tonight, and we’re all needed in the kitchen.”
Oriana rose with her, but she tarried in Adelaine’s chamber long after Myrna had gone. In the solitude, far more remained of Egan’s mother than a treasured fragrance. Faint at first, it gradually grew into an unsettling presence that swirled around her, and then drew her to her feet.
Compelled to end her reverie, Oriana fetched her cloak and hurriedly retraced Adelaine’s final journey up the winding stairs.
Upon his return to the fortress, it took Egan a long while to locate Oriana up on the wall walk. She was leaning into a crenellation meant to shield a warrior, and was gazing out toward the sea. The salty breeze had tousled her hair, and as her cloak whipped about her, she resembled some wild spirit fully capable of flight.
“If you’re keeping a vigil for my safe return,” Egan called as he drew near, “you’re facing the wrong direction.”
Oriana looked up at him with a sad, sweet smile, and he slipped behind her to capture her in a tight embrace. He bent slightly to be heard above the wind. “Or were you hiding from me to avoid fulfilling our bargain? Since you neglected to ask, Kieran and I are both alive and fit, but the challenge will continue on the morrow.”
She had been lost in a crime that had gone unpunished, but relaxed against him and dipped her head slightly. A single glance at the waist-high crenellations
was proof Adelaine could not possibly have slipped and fallen through one. There was no doubt her body had been found on the rocks below, but that meant she must have climbed through the crenellation and jumped, or far more likely, been hurled to her death by someone with the strength to carry out the ghastly deed.
Either was such a sickening possibility that she dared not share her suspicions with Egan. Not yet, at least. Not while his life remained at risk.
He was the elder brother, a proven warrior, and logic gave him the clear edge whether the challenge lasted mere days or weeks. She did not want to delay taking him for a lover though, and turned slowly in his arms. “I came up here to avoid not you, but all the others,” she stated convincingly.
“Rather than feel faint with worry, I’ve watched the sea, but now that you’re home, I want to hear all about the day’s challenge.” He had bathed and dressed in clean clothing, and she splayed her fingertips through the soft curls at his nape. “I wasn’t certain you’d accepted my bargain.”
Egan kissed her very lightly, and when she clung to him, he kissed her again. “Aye, I agreed, but we failed to work out the necessary details.”
“There are none,” Oriana assured him. “I trust you to spare Kieran’s life, and I am yours.”
Her slight smile was enchanting, but Egan still suspected she was up to some clever trick. “You are the greater challenge,” he swore with a laugh that caught on the wind. “But come with me now, and I’ll see you safely down the steep stairs.”