Page 35 of Honour Bound
She raised a trembling hand and gestured towards the door. Damn it; obviously she wasn’t going to listen to a single thing I had to say. I’d probably have to run back to the cabin to find the damn necklace and dispose of it before she sent out troops to ransack the place. So much for getting her on side for the votes I needed to participate in the Games.
I looked at my watch. If I hurried, I could still check out the cabin.
I ran out of the MacBain suite of rooms, yelling to Taylor, Lexie, Brochan and Speck who were waiting outside with hopeful expressions, and sprinted down the castle stairs, taking them three at a time. Narrowly avoiding crashing into a nervous-looking pixie laden down with a tray of canapés, I ran out of the castle towards the competitors’ village, damning the fact that our cabin was located so far away.
I was too late. By the time I reached the cabin, the door was already wide open and there were shouts from within – and two burly Sidhe guys on guard outside. No doubt there would be questions about the amount of food we’d brought with us and I hated the thought of some Cruaich guard rummaging through my underwear. It wasn’t the potential discovery of the necklace which worried me the most, though – it was what might happen to Dagda’s harp, sitting quietly in the corner.
I stormed over, demanding to be allowed in and to know what right they had to invade our private space, just as Lexie showed up behind me. No doubt the others were close behind.
‘What the hell is going on, Tegs?’
‘Necklace. Stolen.’
I didn’t need to go into detail. Lexie immediately understood and tossed back her blue hair defiantly. ‘And they think we took it,’ she said flatly.
‘Actually, they think I did.’
‘One and the same,’ she grunted as Brochan arrived. He didn’t ask questions – he took one look at the cluster of bodies ransacking the cabin and barrelled forward. ‘Get the fuck out!’ he yelled.
The guards exchanged glances then moved to intercept him. ‘Sir,’ one said with undisguised loathing, ‘you need to wait outside.’
‘No chance,’ he snarled. He made to push past them but the second one raised his hand.
‘Brochan!’ I shouted in warning but it was too late; the guard, whose Gift seemed to involve some kind of electrical lightning strike, had already made his move. Brochan was thrown back, his body rising several feet into the air then landing some distance away with a heavy thump. Sickeningly, his limbs were still twitching.
‘You wankers!’ Lexie screamed, ready to follow in Brochan’s wake. Fortunately Speck appeared and grabbed hold of her. She struggled against him. ‘Let me go!’
‘You’re going to pay for what you’ve just done,’ I said calmly to the guard.
His lip curled as he looked me up and down. ‘I’m quaking in my boots,’ he sneered. I glared at him with the most hate-filled look I could muster up and his face paled. ‘Shit.’
‘Yeah,’ I told him. ‘I might not look much and I might hate violence but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of doing whatever is necessary to protect me and mine, buster.’
‘Could someone,’ said Byron from behind me, ‘explain what’s going on here?’
Realisation dawned and I looked at the guard. ‘You’re afraid of him, not me.’ I nodded. ‘Right.’ Then I shrugged and tried to look fierce. ‘You’ll learn.’
The guard bowed to Byron while Goon Number One began babbling. ‘Integrity Taylor stands accused of theft. Chieftain MacBain’s necklace was stolen in the middle of the night while she slept. It’s worth thousands of pounds and…’
‘Enough.’
Taylor appeared, breathing heavily and with sweat on his brow. He caught sight of Brochan, still lying inert on the ground and ran over. ‘Is he…?’
‘He’s fine,’ Speck said, peering over Lexie’s shoulder. ‘Just a bit winded.’
Just as fucking well. I looked at Byron. ‘They have no evidence and no right to barge in to our room and rake through our stuff. We were all here all night. He,’ I jabbed my thumb in Goon Two’s direction, ‘assaulted a member of my entourage for no good reason. I demand reparation.’
Byron, his jaw set, gave me a grim look then strode past the guards and stared into the hut. Whoever was in there had stopped searching when they heard him arrive. ‘Out,’ he ordered.
He looked round for a long moment before turning back to us. ‘Who gave you this cabin?’
‘A servant brought us here,’ Speck said, loosening his grip on Lexie. She wrenched herself away with a glare that said he was in serious trouble later on and rubbed her wrists.
Byron looked even madder. ‘Does my father know this is where you are staying?’
That’s pretty much a given, I thought. ‘I have no idea,’ I said aloud. ‘Why? Is something wrong?’
Angry as he was, Byron still had time to look at me suspiciously. I tried to flutter my eyelashes but it probably looked like a fly had flown into my eyeballs. Thankfully, he switched his attention to the wankers who’d just left our cabin.
