Through the shifting torchlight, she could just make out the way he crooked his mouth, as if he knew she was lying.
“And do ye often commune with the dead?” he asked.
Hmm.It seemed best to keep the lie simple, so it would be easier to remember. “Just Silas.”
“And ye expect me to believe—”
“She loved him greatly,” Kinsey blurted, breaking away from her own place in the circle and rushing to link arms with Patience. She was so dumbfounded by the show of support that she could do no more than stare in wonder and suspicion at the woman who’d acted as if Patience did not exist since the day she’d arrived.
Brodee’s brows dipped together with obvious displeasure. “I must say, I’m surprised to hear this.”
“Well, she did,” Kinsey responded. “I mean, she does! Patience told me just yesterday that she could never imagine loving anyone but my brother.”
She was so startled by Kinsey’s lie that Patience opened and closed her mouth several times before she could make words come out. “I…I…”
“Poor Patience.” Kinsey patted her hand. “She gets quite tongue-tied when nervous.”
Patience took a deep breath to rebuff what Kinsey was saying, but Brodee’s words popped into her head:I dunnae have mercy for someone who has lied to me.Patience nibbled on her lip, trying to decide what to do. If she revealed Kinsey’s lie, what would happen to the woman? She had no loyalty to Kinsey, but neither did she want her to lose her hands—or worse. Patience did not know Brodee well enough to judge what he would truly do. So she simply shrugged, as if Kinsey spoke the truth, and made herself a liar, as well. Even more than lying, she hated for anyone to think there had been anything remotely worth loving in Silas, because there had never been.
“Is this true, Patience?” Brodee demanded.
Blast.Why did he have to make her give specific agreement? It somehow seemed to make things even more reprehensible. “Aye,” she said, unable to get her voice above a threadbare whisper.
He stared at her for a long, silent moment, and then he asked, “What is Kincaide wearing when he speaks to ye?”
“What’s he wearing?” she repeated. When Brodee nodded, she frowned. Why in God’s name did he want to know that? Mayhaphewas the one touched in the head. “His plaid.”
“Oh, aye? Nae anything else?”
Was he supposed to be wearing something else? Mayhap Brodee knew a fae or a seer, who’d told him of ghosts. “Some braies.
“Why, of course!” he pronounced. “Everyone kens ghosts wear braies, dunnae they, Father Murdock?”
The priest, who still stood at the outer circle, coughed a bit and then said, “Aye. We all ken it.”
“Deerskin shoes, too,” Brodee said. “Ghosts always wear deerskin shoes, so their feet stay warm.”
She had a suspicion she was somehow being tested, and whether she agreed or disagreed, she doubted she’d pass. She stepped back, recalling Ivan’s hits when he was irritated with her. “Aye,” she said, “and deerskin shoes.”
Brodee nodded. “Ye speak the truth, then. Ye’ve proven it. I’m glad to ken ye’re so honest, Patience.”
She could not make herself agree with the statement, and she was awfully glad she held no torch because he’d surely see the blush of shame that was singeing her face. “Will ye give Father Bisby the dagger now?”
“Aye,” Brodee said. “William, take the priest off my land and give him one dagger to make his way with, courtesy of my kind,honestbetrothed.” Before anything could be said or done, Brodee spoke again. “I’m laird here now, and what I say is law. I am fair, but I demand complete fealty and that every man and woman do their part to ensure the success of the clan. Ye can earn a higher place or a better position in the clan if ye show ye are worthy of it, and that is theonlyway ye can earn it. If ye kinnae give me complete fealty and ye are too lazy to work, ye should leave now. I’ll give ye food rations and weapons to make yer way to where it is ye wish to go. But if ye stay and ye cross me, or ye think to overturn me as laird, or ye dunnae do yer work, or ye are nae honest, I will nae have tolerance for that. And I will nae be merciful.”
With that, Brodee looked to her, and try as she might, she could not stop herself from squirming. His eyes narrowed almost infinitesimally. Unease trickled through her. Did he know she was lying?
