"What of it?"
"What quarrel doyou have with me? Surely, you don't want to hurt an innocent."
"Innocent?Ha. Ye think just because ye see ghosts that I'd spare ye? I may have done it once before, but now, ye've just become a nuisance."
Izzy's heartstopped as her ears rang. The world came crashing down around her as Caiden's words seeped into the darkest crevasses of her mind. It was in that place she had tucked away the memory of her brother. The pain of the moment, the backlash from everyone including her parents, it stung just as badly as the day she blocked from her mind.
Yet,she needed something in that desolate place that would shed light on her situation. What exactly she was looking for, she wasn't certain, but it was clear she'd find it there in the one place she didn't want to tread.
"Let her go, Caiden,"Aaron warned. "I've got archers on ye right now."
"Daenae lie to me, boy,"Caiden snapped as pain singed Izzy's arm. "If they were here, I'd already be a dead man. But ye came alone. How noble. Now, I can take ye both out in one go and step into the role I was born to live."
"Caiden,let Izzy be, and I'll spare ye. This will be yer last warnin'," Aaron hissed.
Caiden's armtightened around Izzy as she felt the ground give way. She was dangling over a ledge. There was no telling just how far down the chasm went; all that she knew was one slip, and she'd fall.
"Ye'rein nay position to negotiate. In fact, I'm the one with all the chips now," Cohen growled as he rattled Izzy as if she were a sack of flour. "Why is it only when ye back people into a corner do they show ye who they really are? Well if I'm nae mistaken, I believe ye might have backed me into the darkest corner there is."
"Nay one has corneredye into anythin'," Aaron argued.
"Aye,ye have. But the King —how kind of him to put ye two together. I had thought I'd be rid of ye once ye toasted to a marriage of convenience. But the whiskey wasnae touched for days."
Izzy's body tensed.She hadn't been aware of the threats to Aaron's life, and the fact that he hid such things from her irked her. If she managed to get out of this situation alive, she was going to have a word with him about that.
"Is this about nae marryin'yer daughter?" Aaron asked. "Melina would never be happy with me, and she could never fulfill me needs."
"Ye cannae tellme ye have fallen in love with an Englishwoman? They're less than dogs," Caiden hissed. The venom seeped out of every word Caiden spoke. The malice andsinister plans brewing within Caiden stole the very breath of Izzy.
Revenge.That was what this was all about. There was no other reason that crossed Izzy's mind other than revenge fueling Caiden's rage. It was the only emotion that lacked a logical reason and was so dangerous. But Izzy's head was too muddled to put the pieces together.
Caiden clearly hada purpose of taking her that went beyond just hurting Aaron. But as the loose bits of earth slipped out from under her toes, Izzy couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever get the chance to say such things.
"Aaron,"Izzy gasped as Caiden's grip around her loosened. She slipped inches, but it was enough to send her heart plummeting into the abyss of her stomach before launching back up to her throat.
"Leave her be in peace,"Aaron pleaded. "I'll do what ye say. Just leave her be."
"How the tablesturn when the shoe is on the other foot. Now I have yer undivided attention, but it's too late."
"Surely there issome sort of arrangement we can come to," Aaron said. "Somethin' I have that ye want? Pull Izzy back from the cliff, leave her be, and I'll do whatever ye want."
"Did ye hear that?Laird McNeil does bend the knee to just anyone after all," Caiden said, the glee in his tone evident. "Too bad it's too little, too late."
