Page 83 of Bound By Deception

Uneasiness churned within him with each stride.

What was wrong with him today? Aye, it would be a massacre at Dunmorth, but he’d done many distasteful things over the years, in the service of the High King. He’d learned to shut his mind off to it. And yet something about this campaign put him on edge. This evening, it felt as if someone had just walked over his barrow. The Reaper was close tonight and would hover at his shoulder until this deed was done.

It's her. His mouth thinned as thoughts of his wife intruded.She’s unsettled you.

Fia had, but it was more than that. Cailean was methodical by nature, and he liked to plan his campaigns before embarking on them. This whole enterprise was rushed. The High King’s hunger for vengeance had made him overeager.

Cailean’s hands clenched at his sides then. He had to stop trying to rationalize this. He wasn’t himself. Something had shifted within him of late, and he couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling that there would be no going back to his old self.

The rain fell in a light mist, causing the pitch torches they’d put up around the perimeter to smoke. A sea of hide tents now filled the mouth of the glen where they’d stopped for the night. They’d spent most of the day riding through meadows and woodland, but from this point forth, the landscape grew wilder, as they left the Wolds behind and headed toward the Uplands.

Smoke from their cookfires stained the damp air, and the aroma of roasting hare made Cailean’s belly rumble. Ignoring his hunger, he nodded to the High King’s men who greeted him. He marked the wary looks they cast at the huge dog that prowled beside him. Skaal never failed to make them uneasy, but Cailean went few places without her.

He’d already decided she wouldn’t approach Dunmorth Barrow though. Instead, he’d ensure that she waited on the edge of the Hallow Woods. Fae hounds were the guardians of barrows. Over the years she’d been with him, Cailean had avoided leading Skaal near one.

The warriors around Cailean were turning hare carcasses on spits over glowing embers. They clustered eagerly around the smoking fire pits, their rough voices carrying through the gloaming. There was both tension and anticipation in the air.The High King had assured them this attack would mark a great victory against the Shee. However, like most of the Marav, they feared the Hallow Woods.

And even taken by surprise and weaponless, the Shee weren’t to be underestimated.

Kennan should have been amongst his men, soothing their fears, and keeping morale high, yet he wasn’t. The prince, who’d been in a taciturn mood all day, had retreated to the largest of the tents in the midst of the camp.

Although he’d rather not, Cailean sought Prince Kennan out. They needed to discuss the ambush and the best way to approach it.

He found him sitting upon a makeshift stool next to a flickering brazier, his long fingers wrapped around a cup of mead. The prince was staring into the flames, his handsome face shuttered.

He glanced up when Cailean entered. “Mac Brochan,” he greeted him tersely.

“Your Highness.”

The prince indicated to the stool opposite, and Cailean lowered himself onto it. Meanwhile, Skaal sat down next to him. Setting his cup down, Kennan cast a jaundiced eye over the fae hound. He then poured the chief-enforcer a cup of mead and handed it to him. “All is well?”

Cailean nodded. “It usually is while we remain in The Wolds.” He paused then and took a sip of mead. “However, we’ll pass Golval Barrow late tomorrow … and that always makes the men nervous.”

Kennan frowned. “As it does me … althoughDunmorthBarrow worries me more.” His gaze returned to the flickeringflames within the brazier, and Cailean watched him for a few moments.

He should have used this as an opening to discuss the ambush, yet he hesitated. There was something else that had been bothering him all day, and he wanted an answer. “Did your father choose you to lead this campaign as a reward or a punishment?”

The prince’s chin jerked up, his dark eyes narrowing. Cailean had crossed an unspoken line, but he didn’t care. After the events of the past few days, a recklessness burned within him. He was sick of being surrounded by half-truths, secrets, and outright lies. As such, he held the prince’s gaze without flinching, awaiting his response.

Moments passed, and then Kennan reached up, pinching the skin between his brows. “Punishment. He’s vexed I drag my heels at finding myself a wife.” He cast him a wry look then. “It doesn’t matter whatIwant … there are duties that must be fulfilled. But then you know that already.”

Cailean snorted. “There always are,” he replied, not bothering to hide his own bitterness. He too was heartedly sick of having so little control over his own life. His gaze met the prince’s then, silence drawing out between them. “He’s not just punishing you for that though,” Cailean said eventually. “He blames you for the mess with the healer, doesn’t he?”

Kennan’s mouth pursed, and Cailean thought he might deny it. But after a few moments, he nodded. “I was foolish to tell Damhan about the armies that father has been rallying,” he answered, his voice roughening.

Cailean didn’t reply. After the healer’s arrest, he’d learned that the healer and the prince had been lovers. A few indiscreet words after a tumble weren’t a hanging offense—but in the earlydawn following Kennan’s admission, Damhan had slipped out of the furs and crept up onto the walls. The prince had followed him and witnessed his lover delivering a silver acorn to a huge raven, which flew off in the direction of Deeping Barrow.

It was a damning discovery—for silver acorns were normally used only by Shee royalty.

The High King had kept news of Damhan’s treachery quiet, discussing it only with his druidic council. Talorc had been both humiliated and worried that a spy had been able to infiltrate his household. Damhan had lived at Duncrag for nearly two years—who knew what details he’d already given to the Shee. The High King hadn’t wanted word to get out.

“My indiscretion affects us all,” the prince admitted then, his gaze shadowing. “Thanks to me, the Raven Queen knows we plan to move against her … that’s why father is so eager to provoke them now.”

Cailean nodded, his mouth thinning. Indeed, the High King didn’t want to wait for the Shee to build their own army.

Cailean left the prince’s tent with a sour taste in his mouth.

His conversation with Kennan had been yet another reminder that he had no say in his future. Years earlier, he’d been focused upon his career, on working his way up through the ranks. It had never occurred to him that the High King would force his will upon him.

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