Her nails dug into her palms. What’s wrong with me? Pulling up her hood, she covered her face as tears ran down it. Then, with a deep breath, she pushed her emotions down as best she could and strode towards the smokehouse. She had to know if her father was telling Mairi the truth about his whereabouts and, even if he was, she decided to confront him about his secret meetings with that woman.
The smokehouse was empty and Dermid’s boat was visible out to sea. A glimpse of red hair caught her eye. Aedan was walking eastwards along Cannasay. She could easily catch up with him and it would be a good opportunity for them to talk alone. But was there something suspicious about the wary look he cast over his shoulder? She decided to follow him instead.
Keeping a fair distance between them, she walked along the beach, almost losing him as she waited for him to cross the river on the rope ferry before she could do the same. However, she spotted him on the winding path ahead and guessed he was heading for Blinhope Bay.
The bay was framed by tall, jagged rocks like crumbling pillars and it had very little beach, being mainly rocks which gave way to deep water. As she clambered from rock to rock, she saw a small boat moored to a boulder. Sitting inside it was a shabbily dressed man with a weather-beaten face and a straggly growth of a beard. Certainly not the stranger she’d expected her father to be meeting. She knew the waters to be treacherous, hidden with rocks that could cut through a hull of thick oak. The sailor must have either been familiar with the area or else extremely lucky.
She hid behind a rock, her fingertips white as she gripped it, watching her father clamber down to the water’s edge. He handed the man a package wrapped in cloth. The glint of gold also caught her eye. The stranger pocketed the coins Aedan gave him and shook his hand.
“Thank Heaven for the oath-keepers,” said the stranger.
Aedan spoke in hushed tones.
She remembered her father’s words to the strange woman. I’ll send it. Was this what he was talking about? Sending a package to a sailor? And who were these oath-keepers? She thought of Hetty from Ciadrath and her talk of Aedan helping her brother when he was in trouble for smuggling. What if that was what he was involved with now?
She slunk back into a gap between rocks as her father passed by. Then his footsteps stopped. Had he heard her? Guilt gripped her like icy fingers. She shouldn’t be here. She was wrong to assume that he’d been having an affair. She held her breath, relieved when he finally walked on.
SEVENTEEN
Closing Net
Ingredients were strewn over the table, including practically every item from the larder. Kaetha had decided to make the effort to cook for once. She couldn’t apologise to her father for what she’d assumed about him but she thought that doing something helpful would go some way to easing her guilt.
Donnan returned from fishing and slumped onto a stool beside her. “It’s strange.”
“What is?” she asked.
“Going back to normal life after last night.” He waved an arm through the air. “Fire and magic and the elf-man.”
“Baukan. He’s a Baukan.”
Donnan shrugged. “Don’t they have powers, those kinds of – creatures? He’ll be indebted to you, won’t he? Maybe he’ll be your servant or something.”
“I’m not sure if it works like that,” she said. “Besides, we might not even see him again.” Kaetha swore, dropping her knife and sucking on her finger where she’d nicked it. “Damned fish.”
“Not the fish’s fault. You’re cutting it wrong.”
She glared at him. “You do it then.”
He laughed and filleted the fish for her. They worked together quietly. “Don’t let it trouble you. That person I thought I saw last night, they might not have seen us. And no one’s come asking questions today so I think we got away with it.”
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” she said. “Mairi and I argued this morning.”
“What about?”
The door opened then and Mairi came in with a basket of clothes she’d collected for mending. She sat by the fire with them, chewing her lip as she took out her needle and thread, barely looking at Kaetha, her hands working away, quick and nimble as a spider spinning a web.
“Well, this is nice,” said Donnan. Kaetha rolled her eyes at him and he shrugged.
“He really has been gone a long time,” said Mairi. “I had no idea he would be at the smokehouse all day.”
“I was out there a couple of times today,” said Donnan, “and I didn’t see him. Didn’t he say he was riding out to Kaernock or somewhere on business?”
Mairi looked up from her sewing, deep lines between her eyebrows. “But Lossie and Arrow are both in the stable.” She caught Kaetha’s eye. “Where else might he be?” Her face was pale as she gazed out of the window, her needle idle in her hand. Her anxiety was contagious, particularly when Kaetha thought about the secretive business at Blinhope.
“I’ll find him,” said Kaetha. “He probably got into conversation with someone at Donalt Brewer’s and is unaware it’s nearly supper time.” She spoke lightly, as if this wouldn’t be an unusual thing to happen, but she heard how unconvincing her voice sounded.
“I think you should stay home now, lass,” said Mairi. “Before you know it, it’ll be starting to get dark.”
“That won’t be for a long while and I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“But—” began Donnan.
“Trust me,” she said, leaving before any more objections could be made. She kept up a swift pace all the way to the monastery, fear gnawing at her that whatever it was he’d been
