Niall scowled. “If it was only a flesh wound, why was it necessary for Katherine to spend the afternoon tending him?”
“Well, ye know women, They all love the attention of handsome young men. A captive audience is irresistible.” He winked.
Niall fumed as he headed for the east tower. He went straight to Fingal’s chamber and entered without knocking, only to find Fingal alone and asleep. As he left the room, Niall met Diarmad in the corridor.
“How fares your brother this evening?” asked Diarmad.
“He is asleep.”
“He has been most of the afternoon. Katherine gave him a potion when she stitched him up.”
“Katherine didn’t stay with him?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think so. Turcuil and Edna have kept an eye on him and were to notify Katherine if anything changed. Although with love blossoming, I am not sure they would notice. I believe she is in your chambers with Tomas now, he apparently is not feeling well. She wanted to see ye as soon as ye returned from hunting.”
“Tomas is ill, too?” Niall headed to the stairs without waiting for an answer. When he reached their chamber, he found Katherine sitting with Tomas on her lap telling him a story.
She looked up and her face flooded with relief, “Oh Niall, I am so glad you’re home.” She stood Tomas on the floor and crossed the room to hug him.
He returned her hug, and put his hand on Tomas’ face, saying, “Diarmad said Tomas was ill.” Although Tomas appeared to be upset, he didn’t feel feverish.
“He isn’t ill,” Katherine explained. “Something very upsetting happened yesterday and I wanted to talk to ye about it. I thought it better to keep him away from—everyone, until I did. Tomas, Tell your da what ye told me.”
Tomas told the same story about slipping downstairs unnoticed and overhearing the whispered conversation. “Da, I don’t want ye to die,” said Tomas as he burst into tears again.
Niall felt the anger rising in him but he tried not to let it show. “Stop crying, Tomas, I am not going to die, but I need ye to tell me as much as ye can about what ye overheard. Were they men? Did ye recognize either voice?”
“They were whispering and I couldn’t hear them well. I think they were men, but I don’t know for sure.”
“What exactly did they say?” pressed Niall.
Tomas looked scared and Katherine said, “Tomas, Da isn’t angry with ye, he just wants ye to try to remember everything ye can.”
Tomas said, “One person said everything was arranged and it would end in your death, Da, and he said Duncurra would belong to the other person then. The other person said he pretended to be something for too long. He was the one who said he was sorry he wasn’t the one who would kill ye, because he wanted ye to know it was him. That’s all I remember, Da.”
Seething, but not wanting to scare Tomas more than he already was, Niall said, “It will be all right, Tomas, don’t worry.” Then Niall sent for Rab and instructed him take Tomas to his chamber and to let no one other than himself or Katherine in the room. When they were finally alone, he turned to Katherine and said with barely contained wrath, “It must be Fingal.”
“Fingal?” Katherine said, aghast. “Niall, it certainly is not Fingal. He is loyal to ye—he loves ye.”
“Nay, Katherine, he loves ye,” Niall spat. “It can only be him. He thinks he would be Duncurra’s heir if I died. My dear little brother may have waited too long. He doesn’t realize there is another heir on the way.”
“Niall, I think ye are jumping to conclusions. Talk to Fingal about this rationally.”
“I will talk to Fingal, but I can’t right now because he is sleeping off the potion ye gave him,” Niall snapped. The stunned look on Katherine’s face did not cool his anger even though part of him knew he was being irrational.
Katherine stammered, “I-I just gave him something to help with the pain.”
“Well, we certainly wouldn’t want Fingal to be uncomfortable, would we?”
She remained silent for a moment, then said softly, “What are we going to do about Tomas?”
“We aren’t going to do anything. Tomorrow, after Fingal wakes, I will get to the bottom of this. If ye aren’t too busy tending my brother, I will take ye down now for the evening meal. Don’t speak of this to anyone.”
Katherine said no more. During the meal Niall knew by his people’s reactions his unusually short-temper was clearly apparent. Katherine remained subdued and quieter than normal. Fine, everyone will assume we are arguing and there will be nothing to explain. As soon as dinner was over, Niall offered his apologies to Malcolm and Eithne, retiring with Katherine. On their way up the stairs, Katherine said, “I would like to check on—”