Page 35 of Duncan

“’Tis but half mortal. Fack.” Connal rubbed a hand over his face. “Duxor brings the dead back to life, then, Merrick?”

“If the Selseus could do such, my sire would remain our king.” Merrick glanced up at him. “If our power enveloped something alive feeding on a corpse, then a merging, ’tis possible.”

Jamaran gave him an appalled look. “My king, no Selseus possesses such power.”

“Those of royal blood do, lad.” The Finfolk king rose to his feet and regarded the laird. “You should destroy the remains, Connal. As for the rest…come and walk with me at sunset.”

Fletcher watched the two aquatics wade into the bay and swim off before he said to the laird, “I shall take the bodies and burn them in the carcass pit. Shaw, please escort Mistress Fairburn back.”

AS NICOLE RETURNED to the castle with Shaw, all she wanted to do was hide in her room. Valerie would see to it that meals were brought to her, and the maids wouldn’t ask any questions. What had happened with the hybrid disturbed her on so many levels she didn’t know what to think. Then there was the guess she’d made about Fletcher that had turned out to be true.

Stop being such a coward. He apologized. The hybrid is dead.

She did understand better now how much danger the clan faced; an entire army of creatures that could shift so quickly from aquatic to mortal would likely overrun the island in a matter of hours. Worse, if the monstrous things could breed indiscriminately, and had no natural predators, then in a few decades there might not be a future for Nicole to return to.

“When my brothers freed me from slavery, they found me little better than a wild animal,” Shaw said suddenly, startling her. “I wouldnae eat at a table like them; I snatched food and fled the hall. Connal would find me crouched in some corner, my back pressed to the walls as I gobbled half what I took from the platters.”

She glanced at him, suspecting he was trying to distract her from her thoughts, and then glad he was. “What did you do with the rest?”

“Stuffed the food in my pockets and later hid them in my chamber, so I could eat in secret when they starved me. I knew in my head my brothers wouldnae do such, but the memories of the slavers’ hunger punishments proved stronger. ’Tis a rare thing now, yet I still hide food in my trunks now and again when such impulses come over me.” His mouth hitched. “’Tis the same with you, I reckon.”

Nicole stopped in her tracks. “I have never been abused, enslaved or starved, Chieftain. My life has been quite the opposite of what you experienced at the hands of the Pritani.”

“Then why should you look upon a monster as we just saw with understanding and pity instead of fear?” he countered. “The thing wished tear out your throat, and you near wept—and now you seem haunted by what occurred.”

He was too perceptive.

“That hybrid was trying to survive the best way it knew how after terrible things had been done to it. Just as you did when you ran off with food you really didn’t have to steal or hide,” she said, keeping her expression composed. “Who wouldn’t pity someone or something in such a desperate situation? Besides Fletcher,” she added.

“My younger brother’s kettle, ’tis ever ready boil over. ’Twas why Connal and I decided he should run the household. The lad, ’tis too angry when riled, and in battle one needs a cool head.” Shaw eyed her. “As you possess, my lady. You have dealt well with him.”

“You’d be surprised,” Nicole countered. “I nearly kicked him in the kettle today.”

As they walked on down the path toward the gates, he looked up at the tower beyond them. When she followed his gaze, she saw a cluster of men with the captain of the guard, who was talking and pointing to different parts of the shoreline.

“It’s not great that the Finfolk found that shifter in the bay,” she said. “After the attack on that man, we know it’s not alone, too. Does this mean a search of the bay for the rest of them?”

“Merrick and his warriors guard the waters here,” the chieftain told her. “We need patrol closely the shores, and attend to the tide pools, shallows, streams and springs on the island. Anywhere the shifters may find running water with enough depth to conceal them, they shall use it so they may move across our land outside our notice.”

When they stopped at the gate, Nicole noticed Duncan striding toward them on the other side, his expression dark and his eyes glittering. He seemed focused on Shaw rather than her, which puzzled her until she recalled she hadn’t told him what she was going to do for the laird.

“You’d better let me talk to the healer,” she said to the chieftain.

“I dinnae reckon he shall listen with me here,” Shaw said. As the guards began raising the gate, he turned to her and bowed. “Take care, my lady.”

Nicole blinked, and the chieftain had disappeared into a stream of black that went around and vanished before the curtain wall. When she walked through the gate Duncan intercepted her, his expression even more furious now.

“I’m sorry, Healer MacMar,” she said, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. “I should have checked in with you before leaving the castle.”

Without a word of warning he grabbed her, lifted her up and tossed her over his shoulder, and began striding back into the stronghold. When she struggled a little he smacked her backside.

“Dinnae fight me now, Mistress,” he warned in a flinty tone, “or you shall regret such.”

Nicole hung upside down, her embarrassment growing with every person they passed. Guards looked at Duncan wide-eyed before their gazes grew sympathetic for her. A few maids darted out of the healer’s way, some looking aghast while others smirked. Yet she didn’t want to make him any angrier, so she didn’t resist. When he carried her inside a room she didn’t recognize he kicked the door shut behind them, loud enough to make the slam echo outside in the passage.

I probably can’t make him any angrier.

“Would you put me down now?” she asked softly. “All the blood is rushing to my head and making me dizzy.”