He had just turned from the chore when the three-legged stool glanced off his temple.
Eve flew at Conall even as he reeled from the stool bounding off his head with a surprised shout.
She wanted to kill him. Her fury, her pain was so great it choked her, stole her breath, the beating of her heart. Her body felt like a stone afire, and she wanted Conall MacKerrick to pay. To pay dearly for…
…for never loving her.
She reached him as he straightened and swung her right arm, her claws spread and a shriek on her tongue.
“You bastard!”Her nails just missed his face as he jerked out of her reach. She swung her left arm. “Youliedto me! Youusedme!”
Conall caught her wrist and spun her away from him. “Eve, nae. Let me explain.”
“’Tis why you wanted to—to marry me, seduce me!To get me pregnant!” she screamed. Her voice strained and hitched from the force of her shouts. She felt as though she had not enough breath to fuel her hungry, white-hot rage. Her ribs ached. “Even after—after I—my greatest fear!” She flew at him again.
“I didna think—” He caught her, held her away from him even as she twisted her wrists and clawed at his forearms. “Eve, I didna think you could get with child. I didna lie to you about that!”
“But that was your intent!” she wheezed, jerking away from him and finding that she was blinded by tears. She dashed a hand across her eyes. “Wasn’t it, Conall?Wasn’t it?From the start, that was your scheme—to use me to bear the child that would save your precious town full of backstabbing liars from their much-deserved fate!”
“Eve.” Conall’s face grew ruddy. “Doona say such things. And calm yourself—the bairn—”
“Oh, yea—the bairn!” she mocked. “Never mindEvelyn’sheart,herpride,hersoul—she is but the vessel!”
“That isna how I feel about you,” Conall said.
“You. Lie!” She picked up an empty crock near her foot and hurled it at Conall. He batted it away and it smashed to the flagstones. “That’s all you wanted me for, isn’t it, MacKerrick?Your brood mare!Confess!”
Conall’s lips whitened. “’Tis true, my first thoughts were to put an end to the wickedness that has been killing my people—my first wife, our first child—”
“Your first wife took her own life and that of your child, just as surely as if she’d used a blade!” Eve accused. “It was no curse! She likely saw through your selfishness as I never had chance to!”
Conall’s nostrils flared. “Eve, I swear to you, my intentions changed.Youchanged me.”
Evelyn felt she was bleeding from her heart. That she was slowly emptying out her life force, facing the dirty, evil truth. The man she loved, was willing to risk her life for, had betrayed her. Nothing he’d ever said to her meant anything. The truth had come out of its dark, fetid hole at last.
But not all of it. Oh, no. Not yet.
Evelyn began to chuckle madly, tears overflowing her eyes and washing down her face.
“Eve?” Conall took a step toward her, his face a fine imitation of concern.
Her sobs mated with her crazed laughter so that her words came out like the halting caws of a crow.
“Fooled…you, MacKerrick!” she gasped. It was becoming more difficult to draw breath. “Fooled…you!” She stumbled backward against the box bed, a wave of dizziness pummeling her so that she had to reach out and take hold of the curtain to steady herself.
“Eve, sit down,” Conall warned, circling the pit and advancing on her, his hands out at his sides as if approaching a wild animal. “Sit down and we can talk.”
“You…st-stay…away.” She snatched the forgotten blade from the bed and held it before her, righting herself clumsily when the curtain began to rip. Their stances reminded her of their initial meeting. She flung her hair from her eyes with a wild toss of her head. Conall stopped midway in his approach.
“G-go,” she stammered, gesturing toward the door with the blade. “Go back to your own evil town, MacKerrick, and you can tell them that you have failed! I have saved you from making a fool out of yourself before the Buchanan. Ha!”
“Eve, I’m worried for you.”
Nonsensical laughter burst from her once more. “Don’t be! No need! I shall relieve you of your ob-obligation p-posthaste, sir! ‘Until a Buchanan bairn is born to rule the MacKerrick clan’?”
Evelyn thought for a moment that it might have been real concern on the highlander’s face, and she relished this moment before she would erase it forever.
Erasehimforever.
