Page 69 of The Speed of Lightning
To Calum’s right, Aoife slid a flagon of ale toward Murdoch. He caught her hand under the table, and gave it a squeeze. Her smile flickered, quick and bright.
At least someone in the room wasn’t having a miserable night.
David slammed his fist on the table. “Without patrols, we’re at the Wolf’s mercy. We had him cornered on Man, ready to submit. Now all the blood, all the years—it’s for nothing. He knows the crown’s tied our hands. He’ll come fast, and hard, for retribution.”
Angus made a sound so deep it silenced the hall. Rarely did Shadow speak, and only when it mattered. He leaned toward Calum, his voice low and deliberate. “The blasted stories from Jura. Freya and Týr stirred him up. He’ll come for our clans first, once he learns who we are. I’ve been attacked sixteen times in three years. My people are weary. I want consequences, Hector. That was reckless.”
Calum stiffened, hackles up. “I’ve told you, they meant no harm?—”
Angus cut him off. “For the love of the saints, what does that matter? Your father leaked dispatches. He handed them to a minstrel. I want justice. They should answer for it.”
Calum was on his feet before he knew it, Angus rising with him, their chests colliding. “And what do you suggest? That I turn my wife and father over for punishment?”
“Aye. Strip your father of the chieftainship. Lock them both in Morvern until the tales die out.”
Rage shook Calum’s frame. “Over my dead body.”
Léo rose, his face hard. “Not prison, Angus. Think of what you’re saying.”
“I ken my own mind, I’m no’ an idiot.”
Hector slammed his fist on the table, the flagons rattling. “Sit down. All of you.”
Léo sat, but neither Angus nor Calum moved.
Angus jabbed a finger across the table. “I’m not the only one who think gaol a fitting punishment. Iain. David. They agree.”
Betrayal stung as Calum’s gaze found Iain staring into his cup. Beside Hector, David sat with arms crossed, unrepentant.
Hector’s spectral eyes fixed on Calum. “I told you to sit.”
Birdy signed quickly.Sit, Calum. We just need to sort this out. Angus is only upset because?—
“I can speak for myself, Birdy,” Angus snapped. His voice cut like an axe. “I’m the only one here who’s buried kin because ofhis wife. Six from my clan in the past three months on midnight raids. Dead. Do you no’ understand that? They’re gone. Likely gone because she spun reckless tales—and because your father spread them.”
Stripped of gentleness, he felt a heathen urge to tear Angus apart for trespassing into his territory and daring to slander his wife. He leaned in, every muscle taut, ready to strike. “How have you lived so long in a world at war and still only see absolutes? We dinnae ken what caused those attacks. But even if they did, how many more were spared because her stories rallied the clans and brought men to fight beside us?”
Angus stepped closer, his face a mask of fury. “Wrong is wrong. Týr deceived us all. If your father had any honor, he’d step down as chieftain.”
Calum’s breath came hard and fast, a primal lust for vengeance flooding him. He was seconds from drawing blood, from casting off the measured ways of the coigreach and answering as the savage Juran he was. Barely holding his temper, he wrenched the door open and stormed into the hall. “I’m finished.”
“Sit down. I said SIT DOWN!” Hector’s bellow rattled the doorframe, but Calum didn’t slow.
Half a dozen servants froze wide-eyed as the meeting spilled into the corridor. He strode past them, chest heaving, desperate to escape before he did something he couldn’t take back.
Birdy darted after him, clutching his sleeve, her head shaking in frantic refusal.
“I’m not stopping, Birdy. I have a wife to protect, a defense to organize. I’ve wasted three days trying to make Hector—trying to make any of you—see that no harm was meant. The Shield is dissolved. What is the point in staying? Why should I waste another moment when no one listens? This is over.”
Iain hurried alongside, pressing a hand to his chest. “Lightning, mate, just listen—let me explain?—”
“Get away from me, Sea.”
From the stairwell, Cara appeared, alarm etched on her face. “What is going on? What’s happened?”
Behind him, Hector’s voice thundered down the corridor. “This is an order, Tànaiste MacLean—STOP.”
Clenching his fists, Calum stopped and turned, rage and betrayal searing hotter than ever. “I will not, under any circumstances, hand my wife or father over to you, Hector.”
