“It was nothing you did. For all we know, Ellis might have seen Renee first. She might have led him to you.”
Shay yawned.
“Are you still tired?” Cody asked, frowning.
“I feel like I could sleep for a week.”
“Let’s get some food first, and then you can rest.”
“I don’t think I can eat. Maybe later.” They entered the castle, and two men approached. “Who is that?” she asked. One man was big, with a shiny head and arms thick as tree trunks. The other was tall and slim with long, dark hair to his waist and eyes like a hawk. Both men wore kilts, leaving Shay with the feeling that she had stepped back in time.
“Shay, this is Niall, and that’s Shane behind him.”
“Shay.” Niall shook her hand. His was so large it covered hers past the wrist. “We’re glad you’re here. Don’t worry; we’ve got two dozen warriors surrounding this castle. We’ll keep you safe.”
Just like Sorcha, Duncan, Brodie, Anna, Ronan, Faelan, and Bree, these warriors were putting their lives on the line for her, when they didn’t even know her. But they would have known me, if I had been told who I really was. These strangers would have been her family and friends.
“I’m off to raid the kitchen. Anyone want to join me?” Niall asked.
“And face Coira’s wrath when she wakes up to an empty pantry and all these people to feed?” Shane shook his head. “Not me.”
“Chicken,” Niall said.
“You’re on your own. I’ve got to get Shay to bed,” Cody said.
Niall grinned, and Shane’s eyes twinkled. “Aye? Well, have at it then,” the burly warrior said. Shay heard them chuckling as she and Cody left.
“Sorry,” Cody said as he walked her to her room. “That didn’t come out right. Although…” he grinned.
“Don’t you have work to do?”
“Aye, I reckon I do.”
“You have more of a brogue. Is that what happens when you put on a kilt? I haven’t seen you in one since you were thirteen.”
“Want to see me out of it?” he asked.
“Aye, I reckon I do.”
“I’ll be back in a bit.” He kissed her gently, with such feeling that she wondered how she could have ever hated the man, how she could have lived for nine years without him.
“Promise?” she asked, holding on to his kilt belt, reluctant to let him go.
“I promise. I’ll never leave you.”
***
Lucy Bell climbed the steps to Shay’s porch. She was glad to help Shay. Such a delightful girl, but with such deep-rooted pain behind her smile. She didn’t talk about it, and Lucy didn’t ask. Some things were too painful to relive. Lucy retrieved the hidden key and stepped inside. A tearing noise came from Shay’s bedroom. Surely she hadn’t come back and forgotten to call. Lucy tiptoed toward the bedroom and peeked inside. Furniture was upturned, and books lay scattered across the floor. A man leaned over the shredded mattress. He looked up at her and smiled, and she could see he wasn’t a man at all. She didn’t have time to register another thought before the thing flew across the bed at her.
***
Someone tapped on Shay’s door. It was her sister. Her sister. Shay rolled the words around in her head, amazed at the thrill.
“Hey,” Bree said. “I wanted to see how you’re feeling.”
“Just tired. Come in. I wondered what you were doing, besides trying to eavesdrop on top-secret Council meetings.”
Bree plopped down in a chair. “Cody told you?”
Shay grinned and sat in the chair beside hers. “If I’d been awake, I would have joined you.”
“I couldn’t hear a thing, but Faelan told me the Council is worried. They’re not happy with Cody for telling you, but they aren’t going to punish him. Not this time. I found out what they did to him before. I made Faelan tell me. They branded Cody’s arm.”
“They branded him for telling me the truth?”
“Calm down. It isn’t really a punishment, but a reminder. They branded a small sword on the inside of his wrist as a reminder of what’s at stake.”
The mark Cody had called a scar. “I think that’s barbarous,” Shay said, clenching her fists.
“So do I, but we have to remember that the entire world is at stake here. They take this stuff seriously. They could also remove his warrior status. Even though he’s retired, it would still be a big deal.” Bree settled back in the chair, resting her hands over her still-flat stomach. “Faelan said if they had, every warrior there would’ve told the Council where to stuff their robes. They all stood up in support of Cody.” Bree studied Shay. “Seems like you two have worked things out.”
“I guess so.”
“Why do you seem so worried, then?”
“I did something stupid. I told Cody something I shouldn’t have, just like you’re worried about distracting Faelan. There was another reason that I ran away all those years ago. Right before Cody told me who I really was, something else happened…” Shay licked her lips and stared out the French doors. She had opened the curtain so she could see the night. There was something compelling, almost seductive about it lately. “I’d just turned eighteen, and Cody was home for a few days. He was hardly ever there, off fighting demons, I guess. We were in the hayloft one night, looking for something, and one thing led to another.” Shay sighed. “Nina came into the barn right after we’d finished. She didn’t know what we did, but it was just awful, scrambling to get dressed, afraid she would hear. Cody and I didn’t even have a chance to talk about it. He tried, later that night, but I was so embarrassed, thinking we’d committed incest or something, that I wouldn’t talk to him. He tried so hard, but I couldn’t even look at him. He finally caught me out on the back porch when Nina was gone. That’s when he told me about my past. He was frustrated, and I guess it slipped. When I left, it wasn’t just because they lied to me, that my best friend had deceived me. I wanted to get away from Cody because of what happened in the hayloft.” She had never confessed this much to anyone, not even Renee.
“A few weeks after I left, I realized I was wrong. What we did wasn’t incest. He wasn’t my brother, just the hot guy who happened to live next door. I tried to call him, but a woman answered. I thought it was a girlfriend. Then I found out I was pregnant.”
“Oh, Shay.” Bree took her hand and squeezed it.
Shay remembered staring at the pregnancy strip in disbelief. “I was scared, but I thought he had a right to know, so I wrote to him. Twice, asking him to call me. Begging. But he never called, never wrote back. I assumed he was still angry with me for running away, or that for him, what happened between us was just a moment of teenage lust.” Shay swallowed with the memory. “I hated him after that, and I blamed him for what happened next.”
“You lost the baby,” Bree said softly.
Shay nodded. She didn’t want to go into detail, since Bree was pregnant. “But it was all a mistake. I hated him for nothing. He never got the letters. Remember when Renee called, she said something about letters? She was supposed to mail them.”
“Oh no, she didn’t—”
“I spent years hating him, but he never even got the letters. He had no idea. He even came after me, left in the middle of hunting an assigned demon to try to find me. Renee told him I didn’t want to see him. I know she thought she was trying to help, but she ruined everything, and I can’t be angry with her, because she’s dead. And it’s my fault she’s dead. I didn’t plan to tell him until this was over, but it slipped out.”
“What did he do?”
“He was devastated. Heartbroken. Guilty. I think the kidnapping took his mind off it, but I’m still afraid for him.”
“Then comfort him, don’t hold anything back. If he already knows and he senses you’re withdrawn, it’ll make things worse.” Bree patted Shay’s hand. “He’ll be okay. A lot of warriors are here to help. You know it’s weird, we’re both strangers here, but this is our home too. Our father was part of this clan.”