an innocent creature scream and writhe in pain? It was obvious what had happened — Perry had led his little band of fools down to the docks with iron weapons, having heard from the Castle folk that Faerie creatures were weak to iron. They’d lured the creature in — and clearly tried to kill it, if that net was anything to go by. She was grateful that they hadn’t managed it — at least, not yet. She had no idea how serious those wounds were, or how long it would take the Monster to heal from them.
The fishermen grabbed as many of the men with spears as they could — it seemed two or three had managed to escape, along with Perry. Soon enough, the guards appeared from the castle wall, having spied the disturbance from up above, and when the situation had been explained, the men were dragged up to the Castle to be imprisoned in the dungeons until such time as it was decided what to do with them.
That left a crowd of distressed fishermen, standing around the wreckage of several fishing boats, and Niall, who looked shellshocked and very much the worse for wear, his arm bleeding profusely.
“Must have slammed it into the broken mast,” he said through gritted teeth as she looked at the wound, trying to pull the fabric of his tunic away from it. “It’ll be fine.”
“Let me look at it,” she said sharply. “First aid training was part of my FBI qualification. I can bandage it for you, at least.”
“The men —”
“Brendan knows what happened. Let him do his job.” She asked a nearby servant to bring a pail of hot water to Niall’s quarters and dragged the man inside, forcing him to sit down. He was shaking, his eyes wild, and she knew shock when she saw it. “Niall. I want you to focus.”
“Can’t. Those fools — Perry MacCullen — I have to get after him, have to track him down before he does anything more stupid—”
“He’s done what he wanted to do,” she said rapidly, gently easing his shirt from his shoulders to get it away from his wounded warm. “He’s hurt the Monster. But thanks to you, he didn’t kill her. So for now, you can just sit here and let me tend to your wound.”
He took a deep breath — then looked at her gratefully. “You’re right, as always, Helen.”
“It’s a hard burden,” she said primly — then she bent to press a quick kiss to his forehead.
He smiled at her, a real smile, his eyes twinkling, and she breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was on the way back to her. “I can’t believe they came for her like that,” he said softly.
Then a familiar voice interrupted him. “Came for who?”
Eamon, standing in the doorway to his room, bleary-eyed but intensely curious. Helen bit her lip, not sure what to tell the boy — but Niall didn’t seem worried. He invited the little boy over — Eamon hopped up onto a chair and peered with unbothered curiosity at his father’s injured arm.
“Did you do something silly?” he asked brightly — and Helen burst out laughing, taking a seat as the laughter blew through her. Niall chuckled too, reaching out with his uninjured arm to tousle Eamon’s hair.
“For once, little man, your da wasn’t the one being silly.”
Chapter 46
Helen recovered from her fit of laughter, gasping for breath, as Niall began to tell Eamon the story of what had happened with the Loch Ness Monster. He was surprisingly honest with the boy, providing more details than Helen might have for a small child — but Eamon made it clear that he was comfortable with this level of detail, nodding thoughtfully as Niall explained that Perry and his men had behaved that way because they were angry, and not thinking clearly.
“That’s why it’s so important, when we feel angry, to take a minute to try to calm down,” he said seriously, looking straight into Eamon’s eyes. “Because it’s okay to feel angry, but we should wait until we’re feeling better before we do anything. Otherwise, people get hurt.”
“Like you,” Eamon said, his eyes full of understanding at the simple lesson conveyed by the story and the bleeding arm before him. “And the Monster.”
“Aye, exactly.”
“Is the Monster okay?” he asked, looking worried. “Should we sent her some bandages?”
“She’ll be able to take care of herself just fine,” Niall said reassuringly, though Helen could tell that that was the part