Child of the Mist (41 page)

Anne gave a small cry and buried her face in her hands. "Och, nay." She sobbed. "Poor Nelly. She came to me last night in the dungeon and I saw the bruises on her face. She said he'd beaten her, but I never thought he would kill her!" She lifted tear-filled eyes to Niall. "What are we to do?"

"You speak as if you know who Nelly's murderer is," Iain cut in. "Who is he, Anne? And why did he kill her?"

"Iain" she began.

"Nay, lass," Niall interrupted, holding her in the iron grip of his dark eyes. "She doesn't know and neither do I," he said, turning to his cousin. "We were about to find that out from Nelly."

"But you and she both know
why
Nelly was killed, don't you?" Iain persisted. "And, somehow, I sense Anne's welfare is tied in with it."

Niall clamped down on an angry retort. "The welfare o' the entire
clan
is tied in with it. But, for the time being, I don't wish to speak further o' this. Leave us."

The blond man faltered in the silence that engulfed them, a bewildered expression on his face. "The welfare o' the clan? What are you talking about? What is going on?"

Niall's rugged features tightened in anger. "Leave us, Iain!"

Anne laid a hand on Niall's arm, a silent entreaty in her eyes. She glanced up at lain. "Do as he says, Iain. Please leave us. Now."

His stormy countenance swung from Anne's to Niall's, then back. Iain bowed low to her. "As you wish, m'lady."

He shot Niall one last furious glare and left the room.

Niall rounded on her. "You'd no right to interfere. What's between Iain and me is ours to settle. Don't ever"

"You're no longer so certain Iain's your traitor, are you?"

He paused, then sighed. "After all that has transpired in the past few days, nay, lass, I'm not. Least-wise, I'm not so certain he's alone in this. Malcolm, or even Duncan, may have a hand in the treachery as well."

"Or even be the ones solely responsible for it." Anne frowned in thoughtful consideration. "And what o' Hugh? He may also be helping from the outside."

"Aye, there's Hugh to consider as well. Damn!" Niall's fist pounded the bed beside him. "The suspicions are eating me alive! Not only has the traitor or his henchmen tried to kill me several times, but he is now murdering others within the confines o' my own castle. And I no longer even have the certainty o' knowing who it is!"

"Iain wasn't even here in time to kill Nelly."

"Aye," Niall agreed, "if he was ever at Balloch to begin with. Though I begin to have second thoughts regarding Iain, I still cannot discount all the possibilities."

He shifted to a more comfortable position. "Think about it, Anne. That day I sent him away, I was shot with the quarrel. Iain could have still been here, fired the crossbow from the forest. And he could have remained here, using Nelly to poison me, then, when she began to have second thoughts, killed her.

"Nay," he said, "Iain's fortuitous arrival to rescue you may have been as well planned as everything else he did. And one thing is a certainty. He never meant to let you die. He wants you for himself. But he needed to make it look like he'd just come from Balloch, to divert suspicion from himself when Nelly's body was found."

"A clever plan, indeed," Anne agreed softly. "Yet if Iain isn't the traitor, how more clever is the real one to divert suspicion so skillfully to others? Don't blind yourself because o' your unreasoning jealousy. Think you on that, Niall Campbell."

Perhaps it was his utter weariness, or the stress of the past few hours, but at her words something snapped in Niall. "And mayhap I wouldn't be so unreasonably jealous," he growled, grasping her arm tightly, "if you weren't so constantly and ardently defending him! Think you on that, lady."

It was too much, after all Iain had done for them. Anger darkened Anne's eyes to stormy gray but, as she opened her mouth to deliver a stinging retort, Agnes bustled in with the nettle tea. Anne glanced at her and forced a smile.

"The Campbell is ready for his hands to be tended. Do you know what needs to be done?"

A small frown wrinkled Agnes's brow as she noted for the first time the sudden tension in the room. "Aye, m'lady."

Anne riveted her flashing eyes upon Niall, then pried loose his fingers from her arm. "Good. I'll leave you to his care. I've a need for some private time, as I'm certain," she added meaningfully, "does the Campbell himself."

With Niall's wrathful glare burning into her, Anne rose and headed for her room.

Anne slipped out of her bedchamber and quietly, ever so carefully, closed the door. It was well past midnight. Kilchurn was shrouded in silence and sleep. Even the guard stationed outside her door since her return from the stake was snoring soundly.

For the span of an inhaled breath, Anne hesitated. Her courage deserted her. The decision to seek out Iain in his bedchamber had been supremely difficult. The consequences if Niall found her there were terrifying. She risked not only his anger and loss of his love, but Iain's life as well.

But, in the end, it was all for Niall anyway, whether he ever understood or accepted it. Though the common people seemed to be warming to her gradually, little had changed in Kilchurn the past week since her rescue. If anything, thanks to Duncan and Malcolm, the situation was rapidly worsening. It was time to take matters into her own hands.

With that resolve to bolster her, Anne gathered her skirts and quietly made her way down the hall.

Someone, and Anne was convinced it was either Malcolm or Duncan, had notified the queen of Niall's flagrant disregard for the law. Even now, a royal representative was on his way from Edinburgh to judge the facts and report back to Queen Mary. Niall risked losing his chieftainship, if not his life, should the findings go against him.

In the meantime he was besieged with local officials and various Campbell lairds. All protested the course of recent events, already magnified beyond reason by rumor and speculation. Though Niall had managed to turn aside most accusations and dispell many of the false tales, sending the majority of his lairds back home satisfied with the true facts, the grumblings and unhappiness continued. Anne could see it in the faces of some of the castle servants, many of the clansmen, and, most especially, in Duncan's eyes.

His animosity had evolved into outright hatred, a hatred he made little attempt to hide. Even Caitlin, who spent many hours with Anne each day filling her in on the current state of affairs, was distressed by her uncle's unbridled rancor. The girl would pour her heart out to Anne, hurt, unable to understand what was happening.

Before her very eyes, Anne saw the Campbells being split into factions, one turned against the other. And all, it seemed, because of her. Though she was innocent of cause, it mattered not. It was tearing Niall apart.

He'd avoided her ever since they'd argued that day. He was still angry over her defense of Iain, and she refused to ignore his continued unfairness toward the younger man. It broke her heart to be yet another source of pain and problem to Niall, but what was she to do? Accept a wrong being perpetrated upon an innocent man? Watch Niall make a monumental error in judgement and not stand up to him over it?

She couldn't do it. To ignore a wrong went against everything Anne was and believed in. And she'd never betray her principles, not even for love.

Yet love, in the end, was what was leading her down the darkened corridors toward the room of a man whom she'd promised Niall she'd not speak to, much less visit alone. But what choice was there? Anne well knew Niall's stubborn pride. He'd fight until he was overcome and destroyed. And that destruction now seemed imminent if something wasn't done soon.

She would leave Niall, go back to her people. For some reason unknown to her, Anne had become the focal point of all the dissension. In her absence, she hoped the conflict would die. Niall's jealousy would end and he'd be able to separate Iain's desire for her from the possibility his motivations were that of a traitor.

Without that additional issue to distract him, Niall could at last turn all his efforts to discovering the real traitor, to strengthening his precarious position as Campbell chief. And perhaps the witch fever that Malcolm continued to stir would also calm. Indeed, what would anyone care about a witch who was no longer among them?

Iain's room was easy to find, for Caitlin had inadvertently revealed its location one day. It was a lucky thing she had. Anne dared not ask anyone about it or Niall would have known soon thereafter. Iain was the only one she could trust not to go to Niall. Iain, though his ultimate motives might be different, would help.

She reached his room. Before she could lose any more of her courage, Anne tried the latch. Though she hated sneaking in to wake Iain, it was better than risking possible notice by tarrying in the hall and knocking at the door. Blessedly, the latch opened, and Anne slipped inside.

For a moment she stood there, searching out the bed in the dimly lit chamber. A sudden thought assailed her. What if Iain were not alone, had taken some serving maid to his bed? Anne hesitated, then decided to move closer before she woke him. If he had a companion, she'd leave as quietly as she'd come.

Only one body lay in the bed. Anne touched Iain's bare shoulder. He flipped over and grabbed her arm. Before she could cry out, she was wrenched up against him, a dirk's blade pressed to her throat.

"Who sent you," Iain rasped in her ear, "and what do you want?"

Anne froze, the knife too dangerously close to dare struggle. " 'Tis me, Iain," she whispered. "Anne."

"Anne?" The blade lowered from her throat and he turned her face to his. "Lord, Anne," he groaned, what are you doing here? If Niall finds us . . ."

"II know, Iain." She shoved herself to a sitting position. "I wouldn't have come, if I didn't need your help. I don't know what else to do."

He levered himself up in bed and resheathed his dirk. The comforter fell away, the flickering candlelight revealing a muscled expanse of broad, lightly haired chest and taut abdomen. She flushed, realizing he was naked beneath the bedclothes, and averted her eyes.

Iain saw her embarrassed movement and smiled. "Would you like me to dress?"

Anne jerked her gaze back to him. "Nay. There's no time. What I have to say, I must say quickly and leave. Tis too dangerous for me to linger."

He stared at her. "What do you want from me, lass?"

A lump rose in her throat, but she forced her words past it. "I want to leave Niall and go back to my people. Will you help me do that, Iain?"

"Why, Anne? Why do you want to leave Niall?"

"Because I am a danger to him, even to the possible loss o' his life. He won't willingly let me go, so I must do it for him."

"I could take you to Balloch Castle," he offered softly. "I would protect you from him."

Anne vehemently shook her head. "Nay, Iain. 'Twould only make matters worse. I'll hurt Niall enough in the leaving. I won't hurt him in that way, too. I ask only that you make arrangements for an escort for me back to Castle Gregor."

"I can do that." He frowned. "Twill be difficult getting you out o' Kilchurn unnoticed, though. Niall has you watched at all times now for fear o' further harm befalling you. How did you manage to slip from his bed without him waking?"

She lowered her head. "We sleep apart, have so since he rescued me. We argued . . ."

"Over me, no doubt."

"It changes naught, Iain. I can't stand by and watch Niall go to his destruction. Will you help me or not?"

Iain nodded. "Aye, you know that I will, lass. I'll send you a message when the arrangements are made. Be ready. It could well come at a moment's notice." He paused. "The difficult part is still how to get you out o' Kilchurn."

" 'Tisn't a problem. I know a way. Just tell me where you'll meet me and I'll be there. And, Iain," she said, touching his arm, "you're not to go with me. Niall must not suspect you're involved in this."

"Damn him! I care not what he thinks! Besides, he already knows my feelings on the matter."

"But he won't be sure you were involved if you're here and I'm gone. I'll leave him a letter, making it appear I managed it all myself. That I sent word to my father and 'twas MacGregors who were waiting to take me away. You've only to find men who can keep our secret. Can you do that?"

Iain nodded. "Aye. I know a few, enough to get you safely home."

Anne rose from the bed. "Good. I must go now, Iain."

He stayed her with a light touch on her arm. "Anne?"

She glanced down at him lying there, a goldenhaired, handsome young warrior. "Aye?"

"In time, may I come to visit you?"

"You're my friend, Iain. You'll always be my friend."

His blue eyes darkened. "And Niall will always be your love? Is that it?"

She gave a sad little nod. "Aye."

Niall strode into his bedchamber and flung himself into one of the hearth chairs. Lord, but he was weary! The day had begun badly as it was and the arrival of the queen's envoy had only made it worse. After the initial flurry of preparing accommodations and seeing to his needs, it had been necessary to spend long hours with the man, addressing all the charges brought against him. Not surprisingly, his bastard uncle, Malcolm, had been his accuser.

Niall thought the inquiry had gone well, that the royal envoy had been satisfied with his answers. The final decision, however, rested in the hands of the queen. It was all that prevented him from banishing Malcolm from Campbell lands. Niall smiled grimly. For a time more he must be patient, but once he'd received official absolution of the crimes brought against him by his bastard uncle. . . .

If everything went as he hoped, in but a matter of days Niall would be free of at least one of the thorns in his side. Just one of many, he reminded himself, but it was still progress of a sorts.

The arrival of the last of his warriors sent out on the secret mission had only added to the day's stress. None had returned with any useful information. There seemed no true disloyalty among his lairds. Normally, that would have been the best of news, but not now. Now, he desperately wanted to find the traitor outside Kilchurn.