"I went to the gate and saw the boy walking toward the forest." Tearle took a breath. "My brother's men watch this place."
"We know that," Rogan snapped. "I will not listen to this."
Liana put herself between her husband and Tearle. She was protective of the child and anyone whom the child befriended. "What did you do?"
"I saddled my horse and went after the boy," Tearle said, and he looked at the boy fondly, his big hand on the back of the child's head. "My brother's men had taken him, just as I feared."
The boy sat down in Tearle's lap and began to play with the tattered remnants of his surcoat.
Tearle looked up at Liana. "I could not kill my brother's men, and I could not risk injury to the boy. I went with them in order to protect the boy."
"I will listen to no more of these lies. He is a Howard and is as dangerous as a snake," Rogan said.
Liana turned on her husband. "Do you think your son is so stupid that he does not know an enemy when he sees one? Was the boy so at ease with the other men?"
"He was frightened of the other men," Severn said. "Remember, Rogan? The boy screamed when one of the men came too near him."
"I remember nothing," Rogan said, but he didn't move toward Tearle.
Tearle looked down at the boy in his lap. "My brother's men are barbarians. They would have killed him for the sport of it. I could not allow that." He ran his hand down the boy's leg. "He is a fine lad."
Zared had not said a word, but it was at that moment that she knew he was telling the truth. He had done just what he said he had done: He had gone after the boy and stayed with him to protect him.
"He is telling the truth," she whispered to her brother, and she could feel Tearle's eyes on her.
"A Howard does not know how to tell the truth."
"He does, and he is," Zared said, her jaw clenched. "He did not take the child." She glared at her brother. "Where did you find my husband?"
When Rogan did not immediately answer her she knew without a doubt that her husband had been telling the truth, and suddenly she felt lighter than she ever had in her life. "Where was he when you found him?" she practically shouted at her brother.
"He was returning," Severn said.
"Returning?" Zared's heart became even lighter. "You mean he was coming back here? He was bringing the child with him and coming back here? I thought you said you killed the other Howard men."
Rogan had a look on his face that said he was not going to speak, so Zared looked to Severn,
"They were chasing him," Severn said quietly.
At that both women erupted, and they attacked the two brothers. "He was running away from his brother's men? You killed the Howard men, and then you beat the man who was saving your son?" This last was from Liana.
Liana went to her husband and looked up at him. "Is your hatred so strong that it colors your judgment? For weeks I have seen you punish this man, and day after day he has taken your abuse, yet I have seen no evidence that he is the devil that you claim he is." She gestured toward her son. "Look you at them. Your three-year-old son has more sense than you do. He knows a friend when he sees one."
With that she turned to Tearle and bent to him. "You may be a Howard, but you have proven that you are a friend. Thank you for saving my child." She leaned forward and kissed Tearle's cheek, then took her heavy son from his lap and stood up. "Take our friend and care for him," she said to the men. "He is to be treated with the utmost care that we can offer him."
Tearle pushed the helping hands away, hands that a moment before had tried to kill him. Slowly, with much pain, he managed to rise without aid. "I will stay here no longer. I will go home."
Liana looked at him and nodded. She felt very bad for the way she had treated him in the past few weeks, but she understood that he did not want to see any of the Peregrines ever again.
Zared moved to stand beside her husband and looked at her brother in defiance. "I am going with him."
Before Rogan could protest Tearle turned to look down at her. "No," he said.
She looked up at him. "I want to go with you. Wherever you go, I want to go with you."
His swollen face was cold and hard. "No. I do not want you."
Cold fear washed over Zared. "But I trust you. I know you did not take the child. I know now that you are not my enemy."