Page 11 of Enchanted

Tormod stood. “Aye. What will you do with the soldier after he tells you what you need to know?”

“As long as he remains useful, we should keep him here at Dunvegan,” Keiran replied.

Orrick pushed back his chair but did not rise. “After that, Isolde and I can take him to Dunshee Castle and reunite him with his brethren there.”

“You have English prisoners at Dunshee?” Keiran frowned. He still had so much to learn about his family and their secrets.

Orrick nodded. “We have detained what remains of a regiment that attacked Dunvegan several months ago. They are treated fairly and are not confined to the dungeon as the English would have done to us if we were captured.”

An uneasy feeling settled in Keiran’s gut. “Do the English know about their location?”

“No one but those of us in this chamber know that secret,” Orrick replied. “The English most likely assumed they died along with the others at Caisteal an Bháis.”

“Rosalyn can never learn about this,” Keiran said in a grim tone. “Or we will all be in far more danger than we are now.”

Tormod’s gaze narrowed. “She is our enemy.”

“We do not know that for certain, but we should be cautious until we know more about her.” Keiran was suddenly eager to do just that, to learn more about the woman he had brought back to his home, to his family. If anything happened to them because of a softness he allowed himself to feel for this woman, he would never forgive himself.

“What do you think we will discover? That she is a spy?” Tormod asked.

Keiran headed for the stairs with Tormod following close behind. “I am almost positive she was merely at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“With a company of men?”

Keiran blew out a breath. “We will not know for certain until we talk to the English soldier.” Determined to know why Rosalyn had been attacked and hoping she was an innocent in all of this, Keiran took the stairs two at a time, marvelling he could do so. He’d never felt the need for haste in Fairyland. With the same efficiency, he moved down the hallway until he stood outside their prisoner’s chamber door. The portal was open, and Lottie had just finished winding a bandage about the man’s head where he had been nicked by a blade. Keiran stepped inside, startling the woman and the two guards who had been placed inside the chamber.

“I have completed my examination,” the healer said, returning her gaze to her patient.

“Your verdict as to his health?” Keiran studied the Englishman whose arms were tied to the bedposts. His angry glare cut through the distance between them.

“He is very fortunate. There is a fresh scar on his upper thigh that should have left him unable to walk. It appears mostly healed, and there is another puncture through his ribs, as well as a wound into his liver that should have killed him. Yet he is still alive, and his wounds are . . .” The colour drained from her face. “’Tis as if his wounds are healing themselves.”

Keiran nodded and moved past the healer towards the bed. “Would you please find and check on Rosalyn now?”

The healer gathered her bag of herbs and poultices and left the chamber.

“You did not seem surprised by Lottie’s assessment,” Tormod commented as he came around the opposite side of the bed where their prisoner lay.

Keiran ignored the comment and instead focused his attention on the man tied to the bed. He arranged his features not with anger, but with determination and strength as Oberon had taught him. In a stern voice he said, “You will tell us what we want to know, or this will not end well for you.”

The soldier turned his head away from Keiran, but at the sight of Tormod’s angry glare, he shifted back to Keiran. “I have nothing to say.”

“Why did you and your men attack Rosalyn de Clare’s travelling party?” Keiran kept his voice calm though he was anything but inside. He wanted answers now.

The man pressed his lips together and stared into the distance.

A tic started in Keiran’s jaw. They did not have time to wait for the man to be compliant. As Tormod mentioned earlier, there could be an angry bridegroom out there hunting for Rosalyn. “I’ll have answers from you one way or another.”

The man closed his eyes.

“Looks like we’ll have to torture him for answers,” Tormod said, his voice filled with regret.

“Nay. Not in the traditional way at least. Guards, Tormod, would you leave us alone for a few moments?”

The guards nodded and headed out the door though Tormod remained. “I am not going anywhere.”

“Very well. If you are to stay, then make yourself useful and blindfold him.” Keiran held out a piece of cloth to his brother.