Chapter 24

“Just one tracker,” Feiyan repeated when Morgan was gone, this time with a sly smile. “You know what that means.”

Jenefer wasn’t listening.

“He can’t just change the babe’s name,” she said in annoyance. “I’m going to keep calling him Miles.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Miles. I can call him whatever the hell I want.”

“Why do you care?” Feiyan asked. “The babe’s not yours.”

Jenefer knew that. But she did intend to take him.

Eventually, she’d find him a suitable home at Rivenloch. Maybe she’d invite Bethac along. The charming old maidservant would probably be glad to leave her hot-tempered, dominating brute of a master.

“Allison,” she sneered.

“Honestly, Jen, let it be. We need to make a plan.”

Jenefer had a plan. She intended to send Morgan Mor mac Giric packing to the Highlands. The sooner, the better.

The man was infuriating. For one moment, she’d thought he might actually have a heart beating in his chest. Now she knew he was as cold as chain mail.

“As I was trying to say,” Feiyan continued, “if he only sent one tracker, then Hallie likely wasn’t found.”

That was good news. “I suppose we’ll know soon enough if she made it to Rivenloch.”

“Aye, and now we know the Highlanders’ strength.”

“That was quite clever, Feiy,” she had to admit, “getting all that out of the maidservant.”

Feiyan smiled with pride.

Jenefer sighed. “I hope Bethac’s grandson doesn’t become a casualty of the siege.”

Feiyan shrugged. “He’s a soldier. He knows the risks.”

“Aye, but ’twill be hard to convince her to stay here if the knights kill her kin.”

“Stay here? Jen, what are you talking about?”

“I’m taking the babe.”

“What?” Feiyan’s eyes were as round as an owl’s.

“And ’twould be good to have a maidservant who knows a thing or two about babes.”

“You can’t just take the babe!” Feiyan hissed.

“Why not?”

“For one thing, the laird would tear Rivenloch apart looking for him.”

Jenefer gave her a puzzled laugh. “Why would he do that? He doesn’t even like the child.”

“The hell he doesn’t. Why do you think he stormed in the way he did?”

Jenefer flinched in surprise. Then she bit the corner of her lip. Morgan had seemed excessively upset that Bethac had brought the lad here. She assumed it was because he hated being disobeyed.

“Besides,” Feiyan added, “I think the babe’s mother might have something to say about that.”

“That’s just it. He doesn’t have a mother. She’s dead.”

“Wait.” Feiyan stared at her for a long while and then bit back a smile. “You don’t think you are going to be his mother, Jen?”

“Of course not.”

Still, the scornful, mocking look Feiyan gave her and the cruel laughter afterward felt like a kick in the gut.

Why Feiyan’s words should bother her, she didn’t know. But ire suddenly blazed in her like fire on a hot forge.

Before Feiyan knew what was coming, Jenefer gave her a shove that made her tumble back onto the bed.

“What the…” Feiyan began.

Another skirmish might have started then, but from outside the window came a distant cry. “Aim! Draw! Loose!”

The familiar commands made them forget their quarrel and rush to the window.

In the courtyard, a row of four archers were shooting at a straw target. Morgan yelled out the orders again, and they let their arrows fly.

“Are they any good?” Feiyan murmured.

Jenefer watched with a critical eye. While Feiyan could be classified as a weapon in and of herself, and Hallie was deadly with a blade, Jenefer’s weapon of choice was the longbow. Neither of her cousins could come close to her skill.

“’Tis hard to gauge their marksmanship at this distance,” she said. “But two of them missed the target completely.”

“Aye? That bodes well for our uncle then.”

Jenefer wasn’t so sure. “Bethac said there were eight, aye? Their best archers may already be posted atop the wall.”

“Ah. Right.”

They shot again. Their form was flawed. One of them jerked as he released the bowstring. Another pulled to the left. And one of them didn’t even have the strength to draw the bow back fully.

“Again!” Morgan yelled.

She narrowed her eyes at the Highlander. He might have a loud bellow and a firm hand. But he didn’t know the first thing about archery.

“If I were in charge,” she mused, “I’d have those archers hitting the target every time.”

Feiyan grew bored and left the window.

Jenefer watched for another hour, longing all the while to feel her own bow in her hands. She wondered if anyone had yet retrieved her weapon from the woods.

Soon her stomach began complaining again. How long would it be, she mused, before someone brought food to them?

She glanced over her shoulder at Feiyan, who was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She looked like she was daydreaming. But Jenefer knew Feiyan was probably devising a plan of attack. Though her cousin could be bothersome sometimes, there was no one Jenefer would rather have by her side in a battle.

But it had begun to look like there wasn’t going to be a battle today. The sun had moved halfway across the cloud-strewn sky, and there was still no sign of Rivenloch.

Finally, Feiyan voiced what they both were thinking.

“Damn it, they should have been here by now.”