It was him.One of the ten bandits who had kept him captive for five years.The last one.
He was holding a woman by the arm, and he dragged her so quickly that her feet barely touched the ground. Her hair hung in knots, and tears streaked her face. Her whole body shook.
“Recognize her?” he called.
Neil didn’t need to look a second time before recognition dawned on him.
The nurse Kristen had assigned to the children saw it as well, the resemblance.She clapped a hand over her mouth. “It is her,” she choked out. “The bairns’ maither.”
A cold weight sank into Neil’s stomach. Beside him, Kristen’s hand flew to her chest.
“Dear God,” she whispered.
The bandit narrowed his eyes on Neil, and a bitter smile twisted his mouth. “The Pirate’s line,” he boomed. “I suppose it isnae impossible for it nae to ruin honest folks wherever it goes.”
Heads turned toward Neil, their attention tightening like a rope.
He stepped forward, keeping his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“This woman ran off with yer braither,” the bandit continued. He jerked the woman nearer, and she stumbled. “He played the gallant, claimed her, then left her to bear his children with nay name and nay home. When we caught him, he begged like a bairn. Begged to crawl back to ye,Wolf.”
Low murmurs rose in the air.
“Is that true?”
“They say his faither did the same.”
“Leaves a mess for other folks to clean up.”
Neil’s blood simmered. “Ye kidnapped and killed me braither,” he bit out. “How dare ye speak of honor while ye use the maither of his bairns as a shield?”
The bandit laughed, the sound ugly. “All this started with yer braither’s lust and this lass’s folly. I must give it to ye, LairdDrummond. Ye still manage to hold yer braither’s memory like a holy word.”
Kristen made a small sound, hurt and angry. Neil felt the air tilt toward doubt. Not fallen, but wavering.
She stepped forward before he could stop her, her voice clear despite the tremors. “Whatever ye think ye are owed,” she said, her eyes on the bandit’s knife, “it isnae owed by her. She is a maither. Let her go. If ye want vengeance, take it up with men who can meet ye fair.”
“Nay,” he snarled, wrenching the woman close. “It haseverythingto do with her. It started when she and her sister thought they could take what they pleased. The Laird’s kin killed mine. Why should our women rot while yers eat by warm fires?”
The woman sobbed. “Please, I never wanted this to happen. Ye must understand. Please, me children.”
Neil drew his blade a hand’s breadth. “Let her go.” The words were quiet. The edge in them was not. “Yer problem is with me, nae her.”
The bandit gave a malicious smile. “Ye still daenae get it, do ye?”
“Please,” Kristen called out, her voice shaky.
For a moment, nothing could be heard but silence. The bandit’s eyes quickly searched the crowd, and for that second, Kristen really believed she had gotten through to him.
“’Tis too late.” His voice reverberated in the night.
“No!” Kristen screamed, her eyes wide.
The bandit shot her a cold, hard look before driving his knife into the woman’s belly.
For one stunned heartbeat, there was no sound at all. Then, screams ripped the silence apart.
The woman fell to her knees and clutched at her belly with both hands, blood running warm over her fingers. Someone in the back wailed, and another cried. Torches hissed their distress. People reeled away and then crushed closer, not knowing which way to move.
