Page 5 of The Rightful Highland King (The Last Celtic King #4)

Chapter Three

Everyone started talking at once, a cacophony of sounds that made it hard to pick out individual voices. Breana's face drained of all color, and she stood up to grab the letter from Cailean's hands. He gave it to her and she quickly read it, and then stumbled backward into Eoin's waiting arms.

"Nay, this cannae be happenin'," she gasped, her words strained, panic pulsing through each word. "It cannae! This is me fault, I did this. I should have agreed tae go and rescue her when we had the chance. Eoin!"

"Bastard. Bastard!" Eoin growled. "As if ye havenae suffered enough. Damn the king and damn his son too."

But it was Maeve who transformed the most in an instant.

Maeve, whom Neala had so far noted as one of the calmest and most put-together people she had ever met, was wild-eyed and frenzied as she jumped to her feet and paced back and forth.

"This cannae be happenin'. It cannae. I dinnae care how foul Nessa has been, we cannae leave her in the hands of that monster. I'm goin' tae Blackthorn Castle. Now."

Despite herself, Neala bristled. It felt wrong to hear Maeve say those words when the last thing Ansel had done for them was an undeniable act of kindness in letting Neala go.

Even Cailean looked alarmed at Maeve's reaction. He put a placating hand on her arm. "Me love," he said, "Be reasonable. Did ye nae counsel me tae be cautious in the exact same situation just days ago?"

"Reasonable!" Maeve snapped. "Neala was never in danger!

She's a trained White Sparrow, and she was here as a spy.

She was never in danger of being bound tae that devil for the rest of her life.

Nessa is an untrained daughter of a Laird who pampered her for her whole life. Ansel Ashkirk will devour her."

Cailean grimaced. He did not look like he disagreed, but he was obviously trying to calm the sisters down. "He let Neala go. Ye told me that yerself. Argued with me about it even."

"Aye," Eoin said darkly. "And sometimes I'll let a fish go from me net when I fish down by the river. It doesnae mean I'll spear a hundred more."

Maeve nodded frenetically. "We dinnae ken why Ashkirk let Neala come tae us. Given what we ken of him, it may be part of a wider plan. Perhaps it was even at his father's command. But what I do ken is that we cannae leave Nessa in his claws."

Cailean turned his gaze to Neala, and she saw a beseeching tone behind that look. Cailean, too, agreed that this was terrible, but he also needed to get control of the situation. "What say ye, sister?" he asked. "Ye're the most acquainted with the man."

"I say we approach yer council," Neala said, trying to remain calm while her heart was threatening to choke her. "And see what they have tae say. If we're gonnae act, we need tae have input from everyone."

Cailean squeezed Maeve's shoulder. "She's right. We need tae consult the others. We're already missin' Darren and Fergus, and Kier is back at Bruce Castle. We cannae go runnin' off without informin' them."

Maeve's expression was thunderous, but she nodded. "Let's go, then. Now."

The council room was bare, stripped of the portraits left by the occupiers but not yet redecorated by the newly-reinstated McNairs. Nevertheless, the core members of the rebellion who were present in McNair Castle sat around the table as Cailean explained the situation to them.

Neala stood next to Ewan and Hamish, the two men who had once been under her father's employ and had come to be leaders of the rebellion.

She felt a great deal of affection toward the pair of them, and she enjoyed the way that they fussed over her.

They'd given her identical huge smiles when they saw her walk into the room, but those smiles had faded as Cailean had described the letter, and both men now looked deadly serious.

Senan was here too, the man who had helped raise and train Cailean and who had rescued Maeve and taught her to fight.

He was watching the whole situation with a keen eye, his expression impassive.

Neala hadn't met him before she had come to McNair Castle, though she knew that he had once been a close friend of Morag's, and still exchanged frequent coded letters with the White Sparrow leaders.

Finally, in place of Kier, Darren, and Fergus, Ferda had invited herself as a representative of the Bruce Clan.

Nobody even tried to argue with her. She had more than proven herself an essential player in the rebellion despite the fact that she was not a warrior, and even now, her arm still in a sling, she looked fierce.

"...so it seems that Nessa O'Sullivan is tae be wed tae Ansel Ashkirk within the next few weeks," Cailean concluded. "And since me wife and sister-in-law rightfully believe we cannae stand back and allow such a thing tae happen, we must decide what tae do about it."

Maeve immediately started insisting once again that they march on Blackthorn Castle immediately, but Ewan spoke up.

"Forgive me, Maeve, but that isnae gonnae work," he said. "We already discussed this when we found out about Morag and Anne, and again when Cailean wanted tae rescue Neala. We're simply nae ready for an all-out attack."

"We're almost there," Hamish agreed. "But nae quite. We just need a little more patience."

"I dinnae have more patience!" Maeve snapped. "He has me sister! "

"And mine," Breana added. "I've already shown meself capable. Give me a bow and I'll go and fetch her. I let her down once, I willnae do it again."

Neala felt Cailean's eyes upon her again, and she knew that this was it: her first test as the princess.

She needed to speak up and try to help calm this building frenzy.

"Please," she said. "Please remember this is what I've trained for me whole life.

We have a whole network of people who can help us. Let me use it."

"What do ye mean?" Hamish asked.

"The White Sparrows," Neala explained eagerly, seeing that she was successfully gaining their attention.

"Elspeth is still stationed in Blackthorn Castle, and I'm sure now that I've gone and things have changed, Laura has placed more girls there besides.

Let me reach out tae them. I can find out how Nessa is doing, and maybe we can work out a way tae get her out. "

"That will take too long," Ferda insisted. She sounded strained, and looking at her, it was clear she hadn't been sleeping well. "We've got all the information we want, but Ann and Morag are still rottin' in a cell, and now Nessa is there too. Let me go. I'll break them out meself."

"With yer broken arm?" Eoin asked. "Darren would kill us if we let ye go off anywhere in such a state."

Ferda glared at him. "And ye with that healin' wound in yer chest? Ye think ye'll be more help?"

"Dinnae take it out on him!" Breana shot back. "This isnae about yer pride, either of ye. It's about me sister. I think Maeve is right, we need tae attack."

Senan cleared his throat. "Ye're all approachin' this the wrong way.

We need tae be strategic, aye, but it needs tae be a wider plan.

We cannae keep makin' wee rushes, nay when we've gained so much momentum.

It's time tae finish gatherin' our allies and tae make a final attack.

We can free Morag, Ann, Nessa, and all of the hundreds of other people who are trapped under the False King's tyranny.

We can destroy Edric Ashkirk once and for all, and once Cailean is where he should be on the throne, then we will all be free. "

The words were so surprising from the usually-lighthearted Senan that even Maeve stopped talking for a moment.

But the silence only lasted for a second before the riotous shouting started all over again.

The arguments overlapped each other, the feelings were burning so hot that they were attacking each other with words, and nobody seemed to agree with anyone.

Neala, used to the calm cooperation of the convent then the ominous quiet of the castles, found herself completely overwhelmed.

She grabbed at her own forehead, pressing her fingers into her temples, trying hard to fight off the pounding headache that was forming there.

Maeve's voice raised over all of them as she announced loudly, "I will never leave me own sister there with that monster. Never!"

The pressure burst, and Neala whipped up her head, meeting her sister-in-law's gaze directly. "He's nae monster!" she protested, shouting so passionately that the others turned to look. "He isnae! If he was I wouldnae be here!"

Maeve scowled. "We already talked about this. He could have freed ye for any reason. I dinnae ken what he did tae ye, but?—"

"He never touched me!" Neala interrupted. "Nae once. Nae even—" she cut herself off before she could finish the sentence. Nae even when I wanted him tae.

"Never touched ye?" Breana asked quietly. "Neala, he cut ye. He held a knife tae yer throat and threatened Cailean with yer life. Maeve told me what happened in that room. It wasnae a joke."

Neala shook her head. The room felt like it was spinning around her. She saw that moment again: the moment Ansel's fingers had brushed her throat, the horrified self-hatred in his eyes burning into her soul. "He wouldnae have hurt me."

"He would have hurt us all," Cailean said darkly.

"I saw those catapults. I saw the plans they left behind.

If ye hadnae trapped him in that room, he would have sat back and allowed all of me men tae be slaughtered by his own.

If I'd have agreed tae the duel he requested, he would have happily stabbed me in the heart if he'd had the chance, and let me blood run on the floor.

Just as his father once did to our own family. "