“I won’t!” Layla shot back. “Not until you listen to what Abi has to say.”
“Abigail Fenton will say naught!” Laird Campbell bellowed, lurching forward. “She is a witch and a spy and is under arrest! Guards! Get in here!”
They all froze, expecting Campbell warriors to come pouring into the tent. But nothing happened. Laird Campbell looked around in shock.
“They’re not coming,” Abigail told him. “This tent is ringed by men who are loyal to Reid. You’re alone.”
“Witch!” Laird Campbell hissed. “Ye have used foul sorcery on them!”
“No, only common decency. A lesson you might want to learn yourself sometime.”
“Then I’ll deal with ye myself, witch!” He raised his crossbow and pointed it at Abigail.
Reid launched himself across the tent and barrelled into Laird Campbell, taking them both crashing to the ground. There was a dull ‘thwup’ as the crossbow discharged, the bolt ripping into the canvas ceiling.
“What are ye doing?” Campbell bellowed. “I am yer lord! Yer blood! They are our enemies—dinna let them poison yer mind, ye damned fool!”
“It is ye who’ve done that,” Reid answered. “The moment ye imprisoned Abigail.” He scrambled to his feet and Laird Campbell heaved his bulk up after him. Reid picked up Cinead’s discarded sword, keeping the point aimed at his former lord.
“Look what ye are doing!” Campbell bellowed. “Ye are falling into their trap. They are trying to drive a wedge between us. They know it’s the only way they can beat us. Will ye let the Muir’s win?” He pointed at Cinead. “There stands the man who cost ye everything! Yer mother. Yer home. Yer birth right. There stands the man who massacred yer men and turned ye into an outcast! He stands before ye right now, Reid! Finish this!”
Reid wavered. Campbell was right. Cinead was the source of all his problems. If it wasn’t for his stepbrother, things would have turned out how they were meant to. He’d be laird of Clan Muir. He’d have a home, respect, all the things he had once taken for granted. And those boys would be alive.
Cinead had to die. Nothing would be right until he did. He tightened his grip on his blade and swung around to face his stepbrother.
“You’rethe liar!” Abigail cried. She advanced on the aging laird, her eyes blazing. “You’re the one who has manipulated this whole thing from the beginning! Reid refused to join you so you engineered a way to make him hate his stepbrother enough to drive him into your arms. And why? Not because you wanted to avenge your sister, not because you cared about your nephew! Because Reid was once heir to the lairdship of Clan Muir and if Cinead died—leaving only a little girl as his heir—they would likely accept him back again. You would rule Clan Muir through your nephew. Isn’t that what you planned all along?”
“Shut yer mouth, witch!” Campbell hissed. “Dinna listen to her, Reid. Her words are poison.”
Reid ignored his uncle. “What do ye mean?” he asked Abigail. “What did he engineer?”
She turned to look at him and sorrow shone in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Reid. It’s been him all along. It wasn’t Cinead who massacred your men. It was Campbell. He had his men dress in Muir colors and then spread lies so you would hear that Cinead was boasting about it.” She turned to Cinead. “And it wasn’t Reid who attacked your garrison either. That was Campbell’s men again.”
Cinead shook his head. “That isnae possible. I saw him with my own eyes.”
“Did you? Or did you just see what Campbell wanted you to see? Did you really just see a man with white-blond hair from a distance? A man that could have been anyone if you didn’t get close enough to see his face?”
Cinead’s gaze sprang to his wife, Layla.
She nodded. “It’s true.”
Reid felt as if the ground was shifting beneath him and he had nothing to cling onto. All these years he’d clung to his need for vengeance. And it had all been a lie?
“Horseshit!” Campbell bellowed. “Ye canna accuse me of such heinous crimes without proof!”
“Yeah, Layla thought of that,” Abi said. “Once a police officer, always a police officer. So we wondered how you could have pulled this off without Reid finding out. I mean, there must have been many men that took part in those raids—what if one of them let something slip? So the only way was to have Reid watched. That made me wonder: who has been with Reid from the start? Who would have the freedom and the authority to do what was needed? There was only really one option. Thomas! Clyde!”
The tent flap opened and Thomas and Clyde entered dragging a man between them.
Reid’s mouth dropped open as he recognized the man. “Malcolm?”
Malcolm glanced at Laird Campbell and his already pale face paled even further.
“Dinna look at him! Look at me!” Reid shouted, stomping over and grabbing Malcolm’s chin. “Is this true? Have ye been working for Campbell this whole time? Tell me the truth, man. If I so much as suspect ye are lying to me, I’ll run ye through right here and now!”
Malcolm licked his lips. “It’s true.”
It was like a punch to the stomach. “And the massacre of my men? The attack on the Muir garrison at Spiny Head?”
