“I promise it was him. I saw the cloak, the black leather armor, and that glove as he tried to get off a second shot after the first missed you.” Her heart warmed as she caught the slightest quirk of a smile deepen Quinn’s dimple. Yes. He not only trusted her, but he also believed every word she said.
Kendric snorted. “Lies. That is all the English know, how to lie.”
Closing the distance between them, Quinn grabbed hold of Kendric’s shoulder and yanked him around to face him. “Ye will mind yer tone and yer words when ye speak to my wife.”
“All I will mind is seeing ye dead at last.” He spun and threw a hard blow at Quinn’s jaw.
Quinn dodged and countered, knocking Kendric back several steps. “Why?” he shouted. “Why do you want me dead?”
Rosstan and Dugan started toward them, but Quinn held up a hand to stay them. “No! This is my fight.” He advanced on Kendric. “Answer me. Why do ye want me dead?”
“Because ye took her from me,” Kendric spewed, hatred rolling off him. “Ye killed her and my child.”
Quinn’s furious scowl melted into one of confusion. “What the devil are ye saying? I took no woman from ye.”
“Aye, ye did.” Kendric sidled closer to Evie and the door, moving slow and deadly as the rising tide.
Evie searched again for a weapon in case he made it to her. Finding nothing, she widened her stance and prayed.
“She loved me.” Kendric thumped his chest, then flung a hand at Quinn as though dismissing him. “But her father wouldna let her marry a simple guard.” His sneer hardened even more. “Nay, he wanted a chieftain for his daughter. An alliance to protect his clan.”
“Ye were Annag’s lover?” Quinn backed up a step, his fisted hands relaxing as they dropped to his sides.
“Aye.” Kendric shook with the simmering rage he had kept contained for so long. “I loved her from the first time I laid eyes on her. Our verra first visit to Clan Munro’s keep. Remember it? Ye said ye wanted to see the woman they had offered ye?” His knuckles popped as he flexed his uninjured hand. “She fell in love with me, too. Said she couldna stomach the sight of ye but had no choice but to marry ye. Her bastard of a father threatened to slit her mother’s throat if she didna go through with whatever he wished.”
Evie noticed the veins pounding in Kendrick’s temple. His red face. The sweaty sheen to his skin. At this rate, the man risked a heart attack or stroke at any moment. If they didn’t stop him, his body would.
“I had no idea,” Quinn admitted quietly. “Why did ye not tell me? We couldha remedied the situation. Somehow.”
“How?” Kendrick spat at him and took another step. “With her mother’s life at risk, Annag would do nothing to force her father’s hand.” Again, he thumped a fist to his chest. “That child was mine,” he said with a sobbing growl. “She told me the day before she wed ye.”
“I didna kill her, Kendrick,” Quinn reasoned quietly. “’Twas God’s will. Ye know the dangers of bringing new life into this world.”
“I know the dangers of drinking a witch’s brew to keep the bairn inside ye long enough to make it look like it belongs to the man ye married.” He shook his head. “She did it all to save her mother. My poor lass wouldna believe the woman was already dead. Her father killed her mother the day she left, but she wouldna believe the hard truth of it because of the letters he forged and sent to her.”
Poor Annag had died because of her father, not Quinn. She had taken some sort of medieval concoction to stop or delay labor. Evie pondered the herb and the level of its dangerous toxicity. Apparently, quite high if it had caused Annag’s death. “Who gave her that poison?” That person needed to be dealt with as well.
“Merdrid,” Kendric said, his eyes filled with hatred. “I killed that witch when she finally confessed to helping Annag die.” A heart-wrenching sob tore free of him as he pounded his chest yet again, then jabbed a shaking finger at Quinn. “My child. My love. Killed because of that bastard who didna care if my sweet Annag lived or died.”
“Annag’s father killed her. Not Quinn.” She couldn’t keep quiet any longer. While she sympathized with Kendric, the man’s hatred was misplaced.
“Oh, I took care of him,” Kendric said, then gave a chilling laugh. “Sent him to hell to pay for his sins.” He pointed at Quinn again. “And now it’s time for ye to pay. But first a taste of the pain ye gifted to me.”
Before Evie realized what he intended, Kendric dove, grabbed hold of her, and yanked her back against his chest. With an arm locked around her waist, he clamped his gloved hand around her throat and squeezed. “But I will do ye the honor of letting ye watch the terror in her eyes as she dies.”
“If ye harm her—”
“Ye’ll what?” Kendric taunted, bumping his back against the door and squeezing harder. “There’s not a damn thing ye can do but watch her die, just like I watched Annag.”
All the self-defense talks she had ever heard raced through her mind as she struggled for air. She mustn’t panic. Arms and legs were free. She could do something. Lights flashing through her blurring vision warned her to get on with it.
Ink pen. She snatched it off her neckline and thrust backward, driving it deep into Kendric’s eye, as deep as its steel barrel would go.
He roared in pain, freeing her to clutch his face. Blood streamed through his fingers.
Quinn charged forward with his dagger drawn. He buried the blade in Kendric’s gut and shoved it up beneath his ribcage. “I am sorry, old friend,” he rasped as he drove the man back against the wall and held fast. “May God help ye find the peace ye never found here.” As Kendric sagged in his hold, he slowly lowered him to the floor.
For the first time in her life, the bloodletting sickened her. Still coughing and wheezing for air, she struggled not to heave. She needed to breathe, not vomit—such a tortured mess of pain and misunderstanding all because of greed. So much blood covered her hand. To think a mere ink pen had saved her life.
