He had opened the shutter in Jack’s bedroom during the debriefing, but in his fury, he had forgotten to close it. Moray’s story of Adaira’s origins must have slipped out that small crack, riding the wind. This was not the way Torin envisioned the clan learning the truth, and when more questions were shot at Adaira—questions laced with wariness and devastation—Torin swiftly turned his horse around to face his cousin.

“Escort Moray on to the dungeons,” he told the closest guard. “See to it that no harm comes to him.”

It was a mess as the guards moved forward with Moray, forcing the crowd to part. Adaira remained frozen and mounted on her horse, listening as the din rose around her. Torin wove his way to her side, his stallion nearly trampling a few people in the process.

The Elliott boys had approached her now. Eliza’s older brothers.

“You knew all along the Breccans were taking the lasses!” the younger Elliott boy shouted, veins pulsing in his temples. “You knew and were trading with our enemies in secret!”

“Of course she would!” the other brother snarled. “She was giving away our goods, rewarding them for snatching our sister.”

“That’s not true!” Adaira said, but her voice broke.

“You were fraternizing with our enemies!”

“Why would we believe you, when you’ve played us for fools and lied to us for years?”

“Whose side holds your allegiance?”

The comments and questions rose and spun like a whirlwind. Adaira tried to respond again, to calm the people’s distress and anger, but their voices were overpowering hers.

Spirits below, Torin thought. The clan knew of the trade. Like a fool, Moray had remarked about that private meeting between him and Adaira, and now everyone knew only bits and pieces. Enough for the information to become twisted against Adaira, even as she had only striven for peace and the Tamerlaines’ good.

“Quiet!” Torin shouted.

To his shock, the crowd heeded him. Their eyes shifted from Adaira to him, and he suddenly didn’t know what to say as he felt the weight of their gaze on him.

“We have a culprit in custody for the kidnappings,” Torin continued. “Which he committed on his own, without Adaira’s knowledge or assistance.”

“But what of the illegal trade she was partaking in?” an Elliott shouted. “What of justice for our sister? For the other girls still missing?”

“Justice will be served,” Torin said. “But first, you must let me and your laird pass safely and quickly to the castle, where we can settle the matter and bring home the other lasses.”

The crowd began to step back, clearing a path.

Adaira still seemed frozen, and Torin reached over to grab her reins, urging both of their horses forward. He didn’t relax, not even when they reached the safety of the castle courtyard.

“Adi,” he said, watching her dismount.