Page 68 of Dancing On Air

“I know what you’re doing, Eleanor, and I don’t like it. Can I speak to you outside, please? Alone,” he added, sticking the executioner’s hood under his arm and walking out the door. When he turned around to talk to her, he realized that everyone had followed him and were standing there listening.

“I don’t like this addled game you’re playing,” he growled. “Now stop it at once.”

“It’s not a game,” she told him, with a serious look upon her face. “This is life, Connor. Or should I say death? Get used to it, because this is the way it is going to be from now on.”

“Nay, it’s not. I don’t want my siblings there to witness this.” He raised his hands in the air and when he did, he dropped his hood. Rose, who was standing there as well, bent over and picked it up.

“What is this stain on the hood?” asked Rose, looking closely at the material.

“It looks like blood,” said Rook, peeking over her shoulder. “God’s eyes, Rose, put it down. Don’t touch that.”

“Nay, it’s not blood. I think it is wine,” said Rose, bringing the hood to her nose and taking a sniff.

“That’s Father’s hood,” said Leoric. “He spilled some of the wine on it that Lord Sampson gave him at the execution since his hand was shaking so badly.”

“Sampson gave Father wine?” asked Connor, thinking that was an odd thing for him to do. Especially since they hated each other.

“There’s an odd odor to the wine stain,” said Rose in thought. “I’m sure I’ve smelled this somewhere before.”

“It’s the scent of death.” Connor snatched the hood away from her, heading over to hitch his horse up to the wagon so he could haul away the dead body after the execution was over. “Stay here, all of you. I repeat, do not follow me to the castle.” He finished preparing the wagon and climbed up onto the bench seat, preparing to go.

“Connor, wait.” Eleanor ran to him, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Please, don’t kill Finnian. There must be some way we can help him instead.”

“I wish there were, sweetheart. You know I don’t want to do this, but for the life of me, I can’t think of a way to get out of this mess.”

“That’s it!” exclaimed Rose, rushing over to them. “I remember now where I’ve smelled the scent and I know what it is. It’s monkshood.” She stood in front of the horse, petting it on its nose.

“I don’t really care. Now, move to the side, Rose, or you’ll be run over. I need to leave right now,” growled Connor.

“Monkshood?” asked Eleanor. “What are you talking about, Rose?”

Rose continued to pet the horse, doing nothing to move, ignoring Connor’s command. “I knew I’d smelled that scent before. The one mixed with the wine that was spilled on the executioner’s hood, that is. My father used to use it to poison the weeds that got too overpowering in the garden. It’s also called wolfsbane. Every part of the plant is poisonous and can be used in many ways to kill something. Or someone.”

“Wait a minute. What are you saying?” asked Connor, now taking interest in this.

“I’m saying that I think that wine spilled on the hood had a poisonous plant mixed in it. One that could easily kill a man. Especially a man who is already weak and ill. It wouldn’t take much, and the wine disguises the bitter taste.”

“So, are you saying that Sampson killed my father?” asked Connor.

“Well, I don’t know for sure,” said Rose. “But I do smell the herb in that spilled wine, so I think it could be true.”

“Father didn’t want to drink the wine, but Lord Sampson forced him to do it,” said Leoric.

“Good God, Father has been murdered,” said Connor. “But how can we prove it?”

“If we had the lord’s goblet that the wine was served in, it might still hold traces of the wolfsbane,” said Raven.

“Well, we don’t have it,” said Connor in thought. “By now, Lord Sampson has probably washed off any traces of the poison anyway.”

“Nay, he didn’t,” said Leoric. When Father drank from it, he dropped the cup and it rolled into the blood of the… beheaded man. Lord Sampson told me he didn’t want the goblet back and that I had to bury it with the body. He also said if I stole the cup, he’d have me beheaded for taking it.”

“So, what did you do?” asked Rose.

“I buried it, just like he told me to do. With the body,” said Leoric. “I was frightened that he might behead me if I didn’t.”

“Brother, do you remember where you buried that body?” asked Connor, finding a sudden spark of hope.

“I do,” said Leoric. “It’s in the prisoner’s graveyard. Connor, please don’t tell me you are going to make me dig it up.” He held his hands over his stomach as if the idea made him nauseous.