Free Age of Druids by India Drummond

here.”
     
    “No one would criticise you for not staying with her. It must have been difficult to leave her behind when you’d spent so long worrying at her bedside after my death. You did the right thing. Caledonia did need you.”
     
    With a tilt of his head, Griogair went on. “A week after I arrived, I received a message. I’d personally commanded the Watcher who arrested him. If Koen tried to escape, he should be restricted to his suite and I was to be informed. This step had been taken after the Watchers discovered Koen trying to climb over a wall. I don’t know what he was thinking. Since my arrest, I sense the guards’ touch on my mind night and day. I know the moment they change the duty rotation. He had to realise he would be caught.”
     
    Munro agreed the move was stupid, but Koen hadn’t been very bright. “Desperation, I suppose.”
     
    “Perhaps. I suspect he managed to send letters to his father and possibly some followers or others I don’t know about. Maybe that was his only goal. Part of my order was no communication in or out. I didn’t want to risk him trying to organise a rebellion with Eilidh so vulnerable.”
     
    Again, Munro felt the blame squarely on his own shoulders. He sighed. Their bond gave them both strength and power, but this was the price they paid. “So what happened next?”
     
    “I was angry,” Griogair said. “Not at Koen, I suppose upon reflection, although he certainly deserved my ire. I went to Eirlioc Falls the next day. In front of half a dozen Watchers, I told Koen that if he tried to escape again, I would return and put an elemental sword through his gut.” With a rueful smile, he added, “I thought my words might deter further attempts.”
     
    Munro sat back in his chair and exhaled loudly. “Did they?”
     
    “For a while. Still, I had no right to issue the threat. Eilidh’s faculties had been restored. The decision to order his death was not mine to make from the moment you returned from the shadow realm.”
     
    “Christ.”
     
    Griogair shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I knew my position when I gave the command. In truth, after Eilidh returned to the kingdom, I didn’t give the incident much thought. This happened some weeks before. I only relay the story because it seems to indicate I planned to kill him all along.”
     
    “But you didn’t,” Munro said. Guilt washed over him at having been gone often and so preoccupied with the search for Huck and Demi that he’d missed such important events.
     
    “No. He goaded me and I lost my temper. A few weeks after she returned, she began hearing testimony concerning Koen’s betrayal to try to decide what to do with him. Two nights ago, we travelled together to Eirlioc Falls to hear whatever ridiculous defence he’d managed to contrive following his arrest.” Griogair put his feet on a low table. His posture was casual, but Munro knew him well enough to detect the tension beneath the surface. “We arrived close to dawn. We planned to rest, then see him the following evening. I received a note from one of the Watchers guarding him. Koen had been caught trying to escape. The attempt, according to his guards, was pathetic, with little chance of success. But because I had made the threat I did, they informed me as I had commanded them to.”
     
    “Did you tell Eilidh?”
     
    With a sigh, Griogair gave a minute shrug. “Upon reflection, I should have. But Eilidh was tired. Although she has recovered much in these three months since your return from the shadow realm, she still becomes exhausted easily. I went to see Koen, hoping that if I told him Eilidh was not inclined to execute her own mate, despite his treason, he would be relieved and not test my patience and her endurance.”
     
    Munro thought Griogair’s estimation of Koen’s ability to be reasonable was far too indulgent, but he understood the motivation. So far, nothing sounded out of character for anyone involved. “What happened