The Scot's Oath by Heather Grothaus

Author:Heather Grothaus [Grothaus, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2020-10-27T14:01:22+00:00

Chapter 12

Padraig drew back his head. “I doona ken what you’re talking about, Father. What prayer book?”

But Kettering only scowled at him with watering eyes before turning his attention to the male servants. “Bring the body to the chapel.”

Padraig reached out for the wooden brooch. “I’ll be having that back—”

Father Kettering flung his arm in a wide, surprisingly powerful arc, knocking Padraig’s grasping hand away. “You’ll not touch it again,” he growled. Then he turned and strode through the doorway, disappearing into the darkness of the courtyard.

The stench was horrible, but the oppressive atmosphere left by the priest was worse. Padraig looked at Lucan and Beryl in turn as Peter and another pair of servants struggled to lift Cletus’s limp, soiled corpse and then shuffled with it through the doorway. Beryl’s face glowed as white as the moon beneath her veil and rich hair, her eyes big and full of shock and fear. If it hadn’t been for Beryl laying her slender, cool hand on his arm at the table…

He reached out and took her elbow. “We canna speak freely here. My chamber is closest.”

“The pair of you go on,” Lucan said. “As much as it pains me, I have a duty to report back to Hargrave that Cletus has died. I’ll away as soon as I am able and meet you there.” Lucan looked to Beryl. “Stay with him.”

“I need to go to my own chamber,” Beryl argued, and although she did not address Padraig, he could see her agitated frown. “Lady Hargrave will call for me after the meal, and I must be there.”

But the knight was already shaking his head. “No.”

“Sir Lucan—” Beryl pressed.

“I’ll keep her safe,” Padraig interrupted, pulling her to his side. Although the sentiment behind his words was genuine, it pained Padraig to make the pledge to the knight under false pretenses. It was true that he had no intention of letting Beryl out of his sight after they had both come so close to death at an unknown hand. “I suspect everyone will be gathered in the hall for some time after such an event.”

Beryl pulled free. “Neither of you understands,” she insisted. “Lady Hargrave is fragile. She will be greatly disturbed by a death at the feast. She’ll want me. And if she can’t find me—”

“There will be disquiet, no doubt,” Lucan acknowledged. “But I suspect that’s what Hargrave wishes. I’ve the feeling he intends to somehow use the opportunity of Cletus’s death against you, Padraig.”

“He ate from my plate,” Padraig said. “Whatever killed him was meant for me.”

Lucan nodded, his noble face a grim mask. “And so I really must go.” He again looked to the beautiful woman who had distanced herself equally between the two men in the corridor. “Please, stay with him.”

She watched the knight return in the direction of the hall until the shadows had swallowed him, and then she turned and walked past Padraig. He caught up with her in two strides.

“I’ll wait with you,” she allowed. “But only after I go to my chamber.

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