“I don’t know,” I said. “I was as shocked as anyone. There seems no reason why anyone would attack Glencarnagh. It was my mother’s ancestral home: the loveliest part of our holding. I don’t know why you would have anything to do with it, but if you were somehow involved I wish you would confess to it and help Father find the perpetrator. This is tearing my family apart, Cathal. Finbar’s abduction has almost destroyed my mother. And now this attack . . . Father’s losing his good judgment, and that never happens. It’s caused a rift between him and Johnny. It made Johnny and Aidan argue. Father blames me; he thinks he can’t trust me anymore. And it hurts.”

“He distrusts you? Why?”

“Because of what you and I were doing when Finbar was taken,” I said with some reluctance. “Father was angry that I waited until the attack happened to tell him what you’d said. He thought I had personal reasons for protecting you.”

“Hah!” Not a laugh, more an explosion of disbelief. “You disabused him of that notion, no doubt. It sounds as if your name is on the list of those who believe me some kind of traitor. Here. It’s not of the standard to which you’re accustomed, but it’s hot.” He offered me a metal cup full of the steaming bread and water brew. I settled the sleeping Becan on the ground in his shawls, wedged between my pack and Cathal’s, and took the cup. It was warm between my hands.

“The evidence is not exactly in your favor,” I said. “I’ve kept an open mind. So has Aidan. He argued very strongly in your defense. He didn’t want to go after you. Johnny threatened to expel him from Inis Eala if he didn’t obey. As I said, this has turned everything awry. It’s as if someone is playing with us all; someone intent on stirring up as much trouble as possible.”

Cathal moved to lean his back against the rock wall. As there was only one cup, he scooped his share from the pot. There was a lengthy silence.

“So,” I said eventually, “are you going to tell me the truth?”

“About what?”

“About how you knew that attack might happen if you aren’t allied with whoever carried it out. And about why you left Sevenwaters so abruptly the moment this all began, without even telling Aidan what you were doing. Where were you going, anyway, and why are you still here?”