I waited in the hall, unwilling to retreat to my bedchamber in case Father called for me. If he sent someone to find me they’d almost certainly stumble on Becan. I paced nervously as serving people and men-at-arms came in and out on their various duties, their glances touching me, then sliding away. I made pleats in my skirt; I poked the fire and set on more wood; I fiddled with the empty ale cups on the little table. My whole body was on edge. Who could hate Father so much that they would burn the lovely house of Glencarnagh and kill so many men? Why would Cathal be involved in such an undertaking? Why would he warn me about the attack when to do so must suggest he was in some way implicated? For it seemed to me he could not have known the precise details without a link to the perpetrators. If he wasn’t spying for Johnny, then he must have been allied with the other side, whether they were Illann’s folk or someone else’s. Why? Why throw away his position with Johnny, the home and profession he had apparently longed for? It didn’t make any sense at all. My mind raced from one unlikely explanation to the next. All the while, my heart was sick with the memory of Father’s stern face, his cold voice as he interrogated me.

I could hear raised voices in the council room, but not the words. A moment later the door slammed open and Aidan strode out, followed by Johnny.

“I’m not going!” Aidan shouted. “He’s my friend! You can’t ask me to do this!”

They had not seen me. Four paces into the hall, Johnny put a restraining hand on Aidan’s shoulder and the other man whipped around to face him, fists clenched. I shrank back into the shadows.

“Are you refusing an order?” Johnny asked, his voice deadly quiet.

“I can’t do it!”

“Take a breath,” Johnny said. “Calm yourself. We are professionals; we do not allow personal loyalties to interfere with the missions we undertake. If you cannot respect that, you have no place among my men, Aidan.”

“Maybe I don’t want one,” Aidan snarled, wrenching away from Johnny’s touch. “Not if it means hunting down my best friend and dragging him back to face an inquisition.”

“Aidan.” I heard in Johnny’s voice that he was fighting for calm. “Believe me, if there were anyone else to whom I could entrust this, I would ask him in your stead. You are the only man I have left right now.”

“Since you’re so ready to believe Cathal guilty,” Aidan growled,

“go after him yourself. Have you no sense of loyalty, that you would ask me to do this?”