Page 53 of Fletcher

The maid he’d left with her rose to her feet. “Forgive me, Seneschal, but she woke suddenly, and claimed you wouldnae mind.”

“You did well to bring her here, lass,” he told her, and after she left went to the bed, where he tucked the coverlet around Lark. Yet when he stepped away to strip out of his damp garments and bathe, she caught his hand to stop him.

“I’m sorry about what happened today,” Lark murmured as he crouched down beside the bed. “When Duncan told me about Idonea I blamed myself. I do know what happened to her wasn’t my fault. I just couldn’t stand it.”

“You neednae think on such now,” he assured her, stroking her hair with his hand.

“There’s something I didn’t tell you.” She sat up, looking exhausted now. “Today, when that boy dragged me into the water, it made me remember how I nearly drowned in Central Park. I tried to get away from him, but he wouldn’t let go. That’s how we both ended up by that islet. He didn’t take me there. I threw us both across the bay. I didn’t even think about it. I just did it.”

Now he understood how she had gotten there so swiftly. “We’ll train each day until you may master the boon, my lass.”

“In the meantime, we have to do something to protect the people here at Dun Ard.” Lark took hold of his hands. “I want to train away from the stronghold.”

Merrick’s guards kicked open the door to Bered’s palace, announcing the entrance of the king without words. He hid a smile as he waited for his cousin, only to frown as Jamaran entered with a contingent of older guards. They seized him without a single thought of warning, and hauled him out and to the surface. There the commander pushed him into a ghost boat manned by an elder before he climbed in after him.

“What do you now?” Bered demanded as soon as he cleared the water from his gills. “Forget you I’m heir to the throne? How dare you–”

Jamaran produced a length of wide whale hide. “Hold your tongue until we reach land, or I shall gag you.”

The elder manning the boat trimmed the sails to catch the wind, and used the rudder to steer them toward the Islet of Death. Bered kept his expression pained and indignant, but he couldn’t stop his insides from clenching tightly. Merrick could not in any fashion hold him accountable for the failed abduction of the female; he hadn’t done anything to aid the young males. Indeed, the whole affair had been their notion, not his, and he had warned them of the consequences. Yet if the king decided to hold him accountable anyway, it was on that islet that he would be staked to the ground and left to breathe his last in the glare of the sun.

He eyed the commander, knowing it was useless to try and bargain with him, especially as Merrick would hear through their thoughts every word Bered said.

At the islet Jamaran climbed out and pulled him over the side, forcing him to wade on shore. From there he marched him across the ground to the spot where all of the traitors responsible for the last rebellion had been executed. Seeing the ancient iron spikes still poking out of the soil like blunt, blood-crusted fangs made bile surge up from Bered’s belly.

Merrick emerged from the trees and walked to them, first eyeing Jamaran, who bowed and retreated. He then regarded Bered without any hint of what he intended in his expression.

“Why bring me here, Cousin?” Bered asked, spreading out his hands. “Need you my counsel, mayhap? I’ll gladly accompany you and speak with the MacMar on the morrow. ’Tis best we show our unity before them.”

“Ever I’ve seen you covet my place on the throne,” Merrick said softly. “’Twas naming you my heir brought such misery on me, so I shall blame myself. I forgave the many slights you’ve shown toward me and mine, for ’tisnae a comfortable place you occupy as next in line, with the power you crave just out of your reach. I’ve even ignored you overstepping your bounds and acting as if you wear the crown already.”

Bered tried to appear bewildered. “Surely you imagine thus, Cousin.”

“Imagine, do I? You using lads in the throes of their first mating lust for your selfish games? Goading them so they attack helpless females? Hoping by such they might spark a war between us and the MacMar?” The king shook his head. “These things, Cousin, I cannae forget nor forgive.”

He knew everything, and still Bered thought he might be able to wriggle free of the accusations.

“’Tis true I heard their scheme, yet I thought such only the bragging and boasting of younglings,” he said quickly. “Had I believed them serious, I should tell you at once, Cousin.”

Merrick took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “The elders gather on the morrow to judge Tethys, and shall likely exile him. He’s barely come into manhood, and never before left the settlement. His sire came to me and begged to take his place, else his màthair end herself from grief. I expect I’ll lose all three when they announce the ruling. I’ve a dozen other lads who cannae mate for a centurial.” He tossed a sack at his feet. “Now I must deal with you, you stupit, thoughtless bastart.”

Bered looked down to see the ends of heavy iron spikes sticking out of the sack. “No, you cannae. You’ve no heir without me, and you cannae take a mate. We two, we’re all that remains of the royal bloodline.”

“You imagined the kin we share would save you, when you’ve done all you may in disgracing our family and their line?” He looked past him. “Jamaran, bring that hammer.”

Falling to his knees and begging for his life, something Bered had never imagined he’d do, proved easier than he reckoned.

“Abducting Mistress Ambrose, ’twas Tethys’s notion. I warned him and the lads that she should point the finger at them, and that taking her would violate the truce. Ask the lad.” He bowed over until his brow touched the soil. “Spare me, Cousin, and I shall serve you faithfully. I shall give up my place and live as other Selseus. Only permit me live.”

“Tethys, come here.” As Bered stared up at him Merrick turned away to watch the young male being led out of the brush by two guards. “What say you? Does my cousin yet lie so he may save his worthless hide?”

“No, my king.” The lad hung his head. “What he claims, he told us in truth. The prince, he did warn us of what should happen if anyone discovered us taking the female by force.”

“There, you see? Everything I told you, he confirms.” Bered straightened. “You punish an innocent.”

“You stand by Tethys’s word on all you discussed with him and the others?” Merrick demanded. When Bered nodded, he said to the guards, “Take the lad back to his sire.”

Relief swept over him as he watched the fool lad being marched off into the surf. “There now, you see, my king? ’Twas all a mistake.”