Chapter 30

KYLERHEA GRANARY - SEPTEMBER 25, 1385

U ntil the gathering at Dunvegan, everything had gone according to plan. And now, in only a few days, everything in Léo's world was falling apart.

Please God, keep her safe. The same words he'd prayed for days came to his mind as he watched workers feed grain into the granary. The guard had ushered he and Gordon to Kylerhea to complete the harvest five days ago, informing them they must remain and not return to Dun Ringill until Niall arrived. Something was amiss, and for days he'd been tortured by fear for Moira's safety.

Please God, don't leave her alone. Better that she feel your presence than I.

Gordon stood at the door to the granary, issuing instructions, but keeping his eyes resolutely away from Léo. Having beaten him into a semblance of good behavior, the man had barely spoken a word to Léo since the night of the attack on Moira. Gordon rubbed around his collarbone, wiping the sweat from his brow, looking ill.

A distant sound of thunder rumbled and Léo looked at the cloudless sky, wondering at the noise. And then, on the horizon he saw the gathering cloud of dust. War.

Instincts sharpening, he drove Thorny forward, considering his paths of escape. His eyes found a break in the heather that traveled up into the elevation of the mountains. On the skittish rouncey he would be easily overtaken on a straightaway, but the animal was robust enough to navigate a mountain path better than a fine-boned palfrey.

A contingent of fifty strange guard burst over the hill, Niall riding at the front. Léo studied the colors held aloft with the pelican argent feeding her young from her own breast. Stewart. The Wolf's personal guard.

Niall held his fist in the air and the guard barked in response. The noise caused Gordon to turn, his face full of interest that diminished into terror. Niall turned his fist and gave the order, "Seize him!" Léo's fist tightened around his estoc.

At once, the guard moved in, passing Léo and surrounding and seizing Gordon, hauling him toward Niall. Disbelief burst through Léo's chest. They weren't here to take him, they were taking Gordon. It could mean only one thing—Niall knew about the attack on Moira.

Niall waved Léo forward. "Léonid."

Léo led Thorny, tail swishing, back legs bucking, toward his brother.

Niall nodded at him. "I understand there was an incident while I was away."

Two guards threw Gordon to the ground in front of their horses, and he looked up at them, eyes rimmed with disbelief and steel. "What's the meaning of this?"

Niall's voice raised. "I have it on the authority of my mother that while I was away you took advantage of your position of trust and stole her keys. It seems you used them to gain entry to Mistress Allen's room. The maidservant Ardis, and the housekeeper, Isobel, have confirmed this story."

Léo's chest clenched, and he said another prayer. Ardis, Isobel, and Moira were all in trouble.

Having enough pieces of information to avoid entrapping himself, Léo nodded. "I heard a scuffle as we passed Moira's chamber and ripped the door down. You'll have noticed its replacement."

Niall nodded. "Aye. But what I cannot understand is why you didn't kill the man or send for me at once."

Careful to keep his face neutral, Léo explained. "A fair complaint. I would've killed him but didn't want to foster a misunderstanding and be sent to Cràdh for murder. Additionally, I decided in order to keep Mademoiselle Allen protected it was best to hold it over his head, guaranteeing his good behavior until you returned."

Niall grunted. "My mother searched for her keys and found they'd been stolen."

Gordon gave a small convulsive shudder as Malvina's lie left him abandoned. She would've had to tell it in order to clear herself from suspicion, only admitting to the partial truth. There was no recourse for Gordon. The keys had sealed his fate.

"I—I did no such thing."

Feeling no pity for him, Léo watched as a guard hauled him up, exposing an oozing, angry-looking wound at the top of his chest from the pin Moira had plunged into him.

"How do you explain this wound?"

Gordon's jaw hardened. "You'll take the word of a wench no matter what I say."

A flash of movement from the bushes caused Léo to look up. Crouching beneath the heather was Angus MacKay. He moved his hands. Birdy sent me and Eoghan. Said you may be in danger.

Blessing her, Léo gave the subtle sign for stay .

Angus signed back. We will.

Niall sneered at pale-faced Gordon. "My only regret is that my half brother didn't end your life when he had the chance. Take him."

The guard dragged Gordon kicking and screaming toward a lone birch tree, throwing a rope around his neck. Screeching like a wounded animal about to be devoured, Gordon pointed at Léo. "Don't trust him. Don't trust him, Laird. He's up to something…the man has always been up to something."

Stony-faced Niall watched as the noose was tightened around Gordon's neck and the rope thrown over the branch and tied to a horse.

"What man gains weight in prison? Why? Don't trust him. He's hiding something. He's always been—no—no…"

In one quick motion, the guard slapped the horse's backside sending Gordon up by the neck, still kicking, protestations strangling in his throat .

Turning Thorny, Léo walked the horse away from the gathering, unable to bear the sight of the execution.

Niall headed straight for him. "You're in charge of the granaries now. See this job completed. I expect you home before sunset. If you're not back I'll send the guard for you. Ardis has shared much. You're next."

After securing hundreds of pounds of harvested grain and setting watches of guard, Léo had barely enough time to ride for Dun Ringill before the sun would set. Praying with all his might, he navigated over the hills on the spooked horse toward the settlement of Heaste, where he would meet Angus to exchange information. Each time he urged the gelding into a canter, he bucked. If he couldn't get the horse to go faster, he wouldn't make it to Dun Ringill on time.

Sweat poured from Léo's brow. Because Ardis had divulged Moira's sickness, Malvina would have picked her out as the weakest link in the chain. A bug on which Malvina could lean until it squashed beneath her shoe. What else did Ardis know, and what did she guess at? Malvina would find out.

Angus and Eoghan walked into the middle of the road, a look of concern on their faces.

Angus shook his head. "You're nearly an hour behind. You'll not make it back to Dun Ringill before nightfall. Come back to Dunvegan with us."

"I can't. She's in danger. I'm losing my mind trying to get this beast above a trot. He keeps bucking. I can't look at him or raise my voice. He's the most useless horse in the stables, which is of course the point."

Rapt with interest, Eoghan came toward the horse and immediately the gelding began to shy. "Get off the horse."

Annoyed, Léo rolled his eyes. "We don't have time. I've been riding horses all my life, I'm telling you he's useless."

Eoghan waved a hand at him. "Trust me. Get your bum out of the saddle."

Knowing he would never make it by nightfall without a miracle anyway, Léo dismounted, almost being carried away before his right leg made it over the saddle. Eoghan caught the reins and led the horse away, and then in an easy circle.

Desperate, sweating, and filled with horror, Léo looked at Angus. "How did she get word to you?"

"Walked to Dunvegan last night when Niall returned. Fingon found her in your room the day you left for Kylerhea. Found a Psalter she'd left for you with her name in it."

Frustration built in his chest. She'd been careless and gotten caught, just as he feared she would.

Eoghan nodded to them. "Stride is good in the front and in the hind." Coming closer he checked the fit of the saddle.

Léo made a frustrated noise, wanting only to ride for Dun Ringill, wishing his own destrier was on Skye. "I've already checked it. It isn't the saddle."

Eoghan held onto the saddle and mounted in a slow, easy motion. Thorny began to move his hind and Eoghan loosened slack into the outside rein. As he sat, the gelding's ears pinned back and his tail began to swat, turning tight circles against the stranger on his back.

Eoghan corrected him, leading him in a circle the opposite direction. Tail swishing, Thorny picked up his back foot and stomped. When he became quiet again, Eoghan gave him a chance to go forward. Immediately the horse began to move into a buck. Eoghan picked up the inside rein, softened the horse's nose, and moved the back hip so he couldn't buck.

The horse snorted. Eoghan gave him the chance to go forward again and he bucked several times in a row.

Squirming, Léo struggled to hold onto his temper. "I told you."

Ignoring him, Eoghan repeated the exercise, correcting the buck by softening the nose toward the ground, moving the back hip. For fifteen minutes he continued working with the horse, giving him a chance to move forward, and each time he bucked, Eoghan softened the nose and moved the hip. Realizing he wasn't getting anywhere by continuing to buck, Thorny began to walk forward, and then relaxed.

It was the first time Léo had ever seen the horse act like a normal rouncey .

Angus looked at the position of the sun and fidgeted. "Before you go, know what you're in for. She got attacked, Léo."

Anger burst through him hot and fast. "How badly?"

"Two black eyes, her lip was torn open. Otherwise, hale. Spirits higher than ever. She said she felt fine. They wanted her to confess to a relationship with you, but she would only admit she gave you the Psalter in prison."

Now out of his mind with fear, he yelled at Eoghan. "Let's go! I need to go!"

Angus continued. "We couldn't keep her at Dunvegan, she snuck back when she realized we wouldn't let her leave. Climbed out of a fifth-story window over the loch, no less." Léo cursed himself for helping her conquer her fear of water. "We sent for Hector on Mishnish, thinking he could get her out of Dun Ringill if something happened to you. She brushes danger aside like it doesn't exist. It's terrifying."

Across the field Eoghan led Thorny in a large circle around the pasture, then took him into a trot, then a canter, then a gallop. Leading the reformed horse back to them, he dismounted. "Somewhere along the way he learned if he bucks and skitters someone will get off him. Look, he isn't afraid. I could see it in his eyes. He just doesn't like you, sorry to say. He doesn't like anyone. Typical gelding."

Heart pounding, breath coming in bursts, Léo mounted on the now-steady horse.

Eoghan handed him the reins. "Get going. Have your inside rein ready if he starts to buck, correct it immediately. Don't let him think about it or get away with anything."

Angus called to him as Léo turned the horse. "We're at Father Allen's cottage on Breacais. Get her out and come to us, we'll be waiting there with Sea's bìrlinn."

Léo nodded and spurred the horse into a walk, then a trot, then a canter, then a gallop. Flying over the hills now, the little rouncey proved how solid and strong he was. He may make it in time.

His heart sank. Even if he did, he knew Moira wouldn't go.