Erica’s stomach churned. “Are ye saying that ye killed her?”
“I am saying her fate was decided the day he wed her.” His tone stayed gentle. “The window only made it quicker.”
“Let Katie go,” she said again. “We can talk without the knife.”
“We are talking fine.” His gaze roamed over her face with an intensity that made her skin crawl. “I have watched ye since the festival. I kent since then that ye would make a fine wife for any man who can protect ye from yerself.”
“I didnae ken ye were watching me so closely.”
“Aye.” He sounded pleased. “I have learned as much as I can about ye over the past few days. Ye are the kind who would drown quietly so others can breathe.”
Katie began to cry. A thin, shaky sound. Erica did not look at the blade. She held the girl’s eyes.
“Listen to me, Katie,” she said. “Keep yer hands where they are. Stay very still. Ye are doing well.”
“Save yer calm for yerself, Erica,” Calum said. “I am helping ye. Ye daenae see it yet. Alex will crush ye without ever lifting a hand. He will say he is protecting ye while he starves ye. He starved Isabella. He will starve ye too.”
“Ye speak as if love is a loaf,” Erica said. “As if it sits on a table and one slice ends a soul.”
He blinked at that, irritated. “Ye are clever. That is why I felt drawn to ye. I thought me initial plan would work, and ye would heed me warning.”
“Initial?” Her throat tightened. “Ye had a second plan?”
“Aye.” His eyes warmed with a calm that frightened her more than rage. “If I couldnae move ye, I would movehim.”
Erica’s breath thinned. “Ye would harm the girls.”
“I would never harm them.” His face twisted. “They are mine to keep safe from his hunger.”
“Release the child,” she said. “We will walk out together. I will hear ye. I will tell him ye wish to speak.”
“Ye will tell him nothing.” Calum eased the blade a hair. Katie gasped. “Because ye willnae be here. Nae for a while. Ye will rest somewhere quiet. Ye will think. Ye will see that he is incapable of love. Then ye will thank me.”
Erica knew then that words would not sway him. Reason would not reach him. He had built a church from his grievances. He would worship there to the end.
There was only another option: she had to take Katie’s place.
The hiss of a knife was the first thing Alex heard. Then Erica’s voice, low and steady, and Calum’s answer, too calm for a man wielding a blade.
He moved through the stables, every sense firing up. At the far end, Calum held Katie in the crook of his arm, steel bright at the child’s throat. Erica stood braced, hands up, body between them and the door.
“Enough,” Alex said.
Calum’s head snapped toward him. In the half light, his face was soft with something like pity. The knife lowered, and in that sliver of distraction, Erica reached for Katie.
Calum shifted fast. He let the girl slip and caught Erica instead, dragging her close, the edge of the blade kissing the line beneath her jaw.
“I willnae let ye force me children to endure another marriage,” he said, breath hot, eyes fixed on Alex.
Alex took a step closer. Then another. His hand stayed low and empty, his voice rough.“Do ye think I didnae ken, Calum?”
The knife pressed harder. A thread of red beaded beneath Erica’s chin.
“Ye ken nothing,” Calum hissed.
Alex laughed. “Isabella told me before she died. The twins are yers, nae mine.”
Silence settled between them, and in that brief moment, straw cracked beneath his boots.
