Page 99 of Fragile Oath

Was that really all there was? People dying and my family living in fear and my fiancée stolen, all so she could feel just a bit more in control? Or to become the queen of a kingdom she had stolen?

“Don’t you have enough power?” I bit out. “An estate to yourself, a seat on the Assembly—”

“And a kingdom full of men to condescend me for both,” she cut me off. “Don’t play naïve, Davin. We both know the only real power any woman has is not found in an Assembly room unless you’re one of the precious chosen royal few.”

I bored my gaze into hers, trying to see past the flippant façade she put forth.

There were so many questions I had, but none that she would answer outright unless I was willing to drag her down to a holding cell. And if she was the Viper, accusing her now, like this, felt like a mistake.

“That’s not a good enough reason to hurt people,” I said quietly.

“I think it’s time you leave,” she said flatly. “If you’re going to insist on being so…boring.”

I shook my head, turning around to leave, headed to see someone I wanted to talk to even less.

* * *

I foundhim sitting alone in the parlor, holding an untouched glass of whiskey in one hand and an unlit cigar in the other.

“Did you come to gloat about your visit?” MacBay asked when I sank into the chair next to him.

If I hadn’t known his guards reported to him before, I certainly did now. They must have sent word when I was still in Fiona’s room.

I reached into the snuff box and pulled out my own cigar, along with a small stick. I dipped it into a candle, then held it out to him. He nodded, so I lit his cigar and my own before blowing it out.

“Would it bother you if I did?” I asked, only somewhat sincere.

We both knew it would bother him. Whether or not it was because of hisattachmentto her, or because he was working with her, was something I hadn’t figured out yet.

How he had fallen so low was another mystery. Camdyn wasn’t a terrible person. Not a shining example of humanity, with his questionable loyalties to both his friends and his wife, but he had always been a good laird to his people, just like his father before him, just like he had raised his sons to be.

Just as I had with Fiona, I struggled to reconcile the man I had known all my life with someone capable of the Viper’s sins. Did he know what Fiona was up to? Did he support her?

“She plays her games,” he said a moment later, denial lining each of his words.

“Sometimes, they’re more than games.” I couldn’t quite keep the anger from my tone.

His face reddened, his fingers clenching around his cigar just a little too tightly. “I know who Fiona is.”

“Do you?” I asked. “And it doesn’t bother you?”

His gaze narrowed, but he still didn’t look up. “Don’t pretend you don’t understand the draw.”

I scoffed. “I haven’t understood the draw in some time. When I make promises to a woman, I keep them.”

He ignored my jab. “Then why were you there?”

I took a puff of my cigar, giving myself a moment to debate how much of the truth to give him. We were running in circles, getting nowhere, so I took a gamble.

“Because a man in a cell told me something very interesting about the Viper. He said thatsheis a member of the nobility.”

MacBay shot me an incredulous look. “You think Fiona is the Viper?”

I studied him carefully while I responded. “She certainly fits the bill, and it would explain your unlikely…attachment to her.”

His dark-brown eyes flared with a rage I had never seen from him. Usually, he was more prone to even-keeled responses and the occasional bout of righteous indignation, but this was new.

“I want to help our people, not terrorize them,” he growled. “You may be offended that I doubt Lochlann’s prosperity under the guidance of a generation who hasn’t been bothered to put the people first once in the entire time I have known them, but you can’t possibly think that I would condone the murder of children. Try to recall that my village was one of the ones attacked by rebels before the war — a rebellion that was, by the way, led by a man your father later appointed to Council.”

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