Skye turned her head away, ashamed of what was happening to her and confused by the stirrings of desire she was beginning to feel. Claire thrust and moaned against Skye’s helpless body with increas- ing fervor until suddenly Dom pulled her away and, mounting his wife, thrust into her.
Skye screamed, which only seemed to madden him. Claire was now kneeling within Skye’s view, slack-mouthed with lust as she watched her brother use his wife. When Dom had sated himself with Skye he rolled off her and loosened her bonds. He pushed her away, pulled his sister over, and mounted her next, Skye curled into a tight, protective ball, and sobbed. She had never felt so fouled in her entire life. She knew that if anyone so much as touched her again, she would kill.
Strengthened by this realization, she marshaled her courage and crawled off the bed. Stumbling across the room, she reached the door. Dom and his sister had finished by this time and Claire saw her. She cried out, “She’s escaping, Dom! Get her back! I want her again!”
Dom lurched off the bed and lunged for his wife. Skye had now wrenched the door open. As he reached out for her, Skye sidestepped him. Dom stumbled through the door, lost his balance, and fell screaming headlong down the flight of stone steps leading to his sister’s day chamber.
There was a stunned silence. He lay still, twisted grotesquely. Claire leaped from the bed and stood gazing down into the room below. Then she turned on Skye and howled, “You’ve killed him! You’ve killed Dom!”
Holy Mother forgive me, thought Skye, but I hope so! Then as relief brought strength sweeping over her, she turned on Claire and furiously slapped her, leaving the imprint of her hand on the girl’s face. “Shut up, you vicious little bitch! Shut up!”
“We must get help,” whimpered Claire.
“Not yet.”
“You do want him dead,” came the horrified accusation.
“I’ll not deny it,” said Skye flatly, and Claire shrank away from her. “But before we can get help we must all dress. How will it look to the servants to find the three of us mother naked? I’ll not put that scandal on my sons. Get dressed! Then go and fetch me some clothes from my room. Quickly!”
The procedure seemed to take forever, but at last both women were dressed. Struggling together, they forced Dom into his clothes. To Skye’s sorrow, he was still breathing.
“Now,” said Skye, “rouse the house.”
“What will I tell them?” quavered Claire.
“That Dom has had an accident. I will handle the rest. Go, now!”
Claire fled, shrieking loudly enough to rouse the entire household, and quickly the room was filled with babbling servants. Skye calmly directed the removal of her injured husband to his own rooms. The family’s surgeon was sent for and arrived as the dawn was breaking.
Dom lived, but it would have been better if he had died. His spine was broken in two places. He was paralyzed from the waist down. He would not walk, or function as a man, ever again.
Skye thanked the surgeon, paid his fee, and sent him away. Then she took on the O’Flahertys. Gilly blustered at her. “Claire says you’re responsible for my son’s condition.”
“Your son is responsible for his own condition,” replied Skye coldly. “Last night after the meal was finished and I had seen to my household duties, I went to your daughter’s rooms to speak to her about arranging a marriage. I found her and your precious son fuck- ing merrily! And it was not the first time they had engaged in mis… incest! When I tried to flee from them they ripped my clothes from me, and used me vilely! Both of them! I tried to escape again and Dom lunged at me. When I stepped aside he fell through the open door and down the stairs. I’m only sorry he didn’t break his damned neck! It would have saved me the trouble of caring for him.
If you still believe that I have wronged your son, Gilly, then we will take our case and place it before the MacWilliam.”
“Yes!” sobbed Claire. “For once in your life, Father, take the initiative! Dom will spend the rest of his life half a man because of her! She deserves to be punished!”
Skye drew herself up proudly and looked down upon the vengeful Claire. “Yes, Claire,” she purred. “Take your case to the Mac- William. Do! And then be prepared either to prove your virginity before the midwives’ panel or name your lover! Who will you say it is, Claire? One of the serfs? I think not. You’re far too proud a bitch to admit to fucking with a serf. Who then? There is no one else! No one ever comes to visit you. No one! Perhaps you could claim the Devil for your lover. In a sense, you’d be speaking the truth.”
Skye’s father-in-law looked suddenly old, and defeated. Claire wept helplessly. Skye’s next words held a finality. “I am going home to Innisfana,” she announced. “And I am taking my sons with me. I will not be back. Since Claire loves her brother so deeply she will remain here to care for him for the rest of his life. I will see that Da withdraws her dowry. She has no chance of a decent marriage without it, and I would not, knowing what I do now, see her wed with some poor unsuspecting lad. She will be fed and clothed at my expense, or she may go with what she has. The choice is hers.
“Frang the bailiff will run the estate for me, and answer to me alone. This is, after all, to be Ewan’s inheritance someday and I want it turned over to him in good condition.
“Gilly, you will be taken care of, but my father’s lawyers will shortly have a paper for you to sign that will prevent you from gambling away any part of the estate. Mark me well, Gilly. I will not pay for your wines, your women, or your gambling debts!”
“Father! Are you going to let her do this to us!?”
Gilly stared straight ahead and Skye smiled triumphantly. “Yes, Claire, he is! He knows the alternative. I will bring my case before the MacWilliam-and before the Church! If I do I will accuse you not only of incest with your brother, but of witchcraft as well! You deserve to bum for what you’ve been doing!”
“I love him!” Claire screamed.
“You were his sister!”
“I loved him,” Claire repeated, “From the time we first bedded when I was but a maid of eleven. I was the only woman who ever really satisfied Dom.”
Skye looked pityingly at Claire. “In the years that Dom has left we will see how much you really love him.”
In the morning Skye bid her husband an unemotional farewell.
“I hope you enjoyed what you and your sister did the other night, for the memory of it will have to last you a lifetime!”
“Bitch!” he snarled at her. “What kind of a woman are you to leave me?”
“A better woman than you ever knew or appreciated, Dom. Your conduct with your sister has wiped free any obligation on my part toward you. Farewell.”
He struggled to rise. “Bitch! Come back! I command you, Skye! Come back!”
She never turned back. His voice, alternating between curses, threats, and pleas, followed her until the sound became quite un- intelligible and finally faded altogether.
Skye rode away from the O’Flaherty house, Ewan before her on her saddle. Behind her were the carts carrying her younger son, the two nurses, and her household goods.
But when Skye reached lnnisfana several days later there was no peaceful haven there. Dubhdara O’Malley lay dying, having been badly injured by a falling mast in a storm as he was bringing his ship home. A stubborn man, he had refused to die until he reached his home, and until he had seen his youngest daughter. The mes- senger he sent to Skye had found her as she took ship for lnnisfana Island.