“Cathal never says much about his feelings,” Aidan said quietly. “But Johnny knows, and I know, what it meant to him to be accepted into the community of Inis Eala. Becoming one of Johnny’s trusted men wasn’t only being received into a brotherhood of peerless warriors, it was . . . it was like coming home for him. Finding a home he’d never had before. He could not have done this, Lord Sean.”

“He has been adept, perhaps,” Father said, “in deceiving even those who most trusted him.” He looked at Johnny. “You are quick enough to plead his innocence. If what Aidan says is true, Cathal owes you a particular debt for accepting him into the small number of your personal protectors—an elite within an elite. We know Cathal admires you. Like all your men, he strives to please you. We know also that his behavior is unconventional. Might not such a man decide to act unilaterally to remove someone he saw as a future threat to you?”

There was a pause. I clutched my hands together behind my back and tried not to see the way Johnny’s jaw tightened, or the anguish on Aidan’s features, or my father’s cold look of judgment. I knew what he meant and it made my heart shrink.

Johnny was the one who put it into words. “Sean, are you suggesting a plot to remove your son because he will in time be my rival for the chieftaincy of Sevenwaters? You believe Finbar has not been taken for ransom, but . . .” He did not finish the sentence; the alternative was too terrible.

“It’s not true!” Aidan burst out, speaking the words I was forcing back. “That’s wild speculation! I will not hear this—”

“Sit down.” Johnny sounded terrible; weary to the point of tears, though men like him do not weep. “Sean’s right. We must consider all the possibilities. In fact, Cathal cannot have been responsible for Finbar’s abduction, since Clodagh would have seen him carry it out.”

“The two events are not necessarily linked,” I ventured. “This attack on Glencarnagh and the baby’s removal, I mean.”

“Coincidence again? I think not,” said Father. “Someone seeks to undermine me on two fronts. To weaken my authority in any way he can. As for Cathal’s inability to seize the baby, there’s an accomplice, or so it seems—the shadowy figure Clodagh saw on at least one occasion. More than one accomplice, perhaps. Cathal may not have removed Finbar himself, but he provided the distraction that made it possible.” His eyes turned to me. “I would not like to think, Clodagh, that you were in any way trying to shield this young man. It seems the two of you were closer than anyone ever imagined. If there is anything that you have not told us, now is the time to disclose it. Your motives for holding back this information for so long must be suspect.”