Kayden stepped forward again, careful now, as if he were approaching a stag ready to bolt. “Sorcha, come with me. We will go back. We will?—”
Her eyes hardened again, the vulnerability vanishing.
“Back?” she scoffed bitterly. “To sit beneath yer roof while she sits in me place? While the clan smiles at the Englishwoman and forgets the sister who bled for them?”
Kayden’s voice hardened. “Nay one forgot ye.”
Sorcha’s laugh was sharp. “Yeforgot me.”
Lilliana’s breath came unevenly, and the thin line of blood trickling down her throat drove him mad with anger. Kayden felt it like a pressure in the air. He kept his body between them without thinking.
“Look at ye,” Sorcha said, gaze fixed on Lilliana. “Hiding her behind yer back as though she is precious.”
Kayden’s hand drifted again towards his dirk, not wanting it, hating that he might need it. “I am warning ye,” he grunted.
Sorcha’s mouth curved. It was not a smile. “Ye will protect her,” she murmured. “Aye, that is the point.”
Kayden’s blood ran cold.
“Sorcha,” he said, voice tightening, “what have ye done?”
Her gaze flicked to the stream and back. “Only what was necessary.” Then she moved, fast as a striking snake. “I havenae been able to get into the castle and poison that well, but that’ll happen in time. But I can cause ye pain in another way.”
She looked from him to Lilliana.
“Ye care for this lass, do ye nae? Thissassenach.” She laughed bitterly. “I bet ye’d be devastated if I slit her throat.” Her eyes shone with malice.
Kayden took a step forward.
“Ah, ah!” Sorcha held up a hand to keep him back, while her other hand pressed the knife against Lilliana’s throat. “Stay back.”
Kayden fisted his hands to try to regain some control. His entire body trembled with the need to throw himself between Lilliana and that knife.
“Ye killed Nigel,” he said coldly.
Sorcha laughed. “Aye. Stupid lad. He almost caught me. It serves him right.”
Kayden ground his teeth. “What have ye become, Sorcha? Ye’re nae the sister I remember.”
“Who said I wanted to be?” she spat. “Ye’re nothing to me now, Kayden. Just a piece of me past I’ll bury in the ground. Clan McGill shall be nay more.”
Kayden just glared at her as he tried to figure out a way to disarm her and get Lilliana out of harm’s way. He could see that she meant every word she said.
She would kill Lilliana, given the chance, and she wants me to watch.
“Why nae kill me instead?” he asked. “It’s what ye want, after all.”
“No!” Lilliana screamed.
“Why give death whensufferingis owed, eh?” Sorcha hissed.
Kayden shook his head in sad realization. “Ye’ve gone mad, Sorcha.”
“And ye married asassenachwench, so who among us can judge?”
“Daenae call me wife names, Sorcha. And if what ye say is true, ye were already poisoning the water before she came here. So, she has nothing to do with this.”
“She haseverythingto do with this. Her dear faither and all those redcoats will be hurt by her death. It isnae just ye I want to hurt.”
