He sat and waited, feeling his hunger grow. A rabbit limped slowly closer across the grass. It was clearly injured and struggling to walk. He watched it impassively, his mind on other things.
Kill Morag. Kill Cam. Get the necklace from Rachel. Get to her time and take over. Simple enough. Maybe make her his bride for a while. She was pretty enough to look at and she looked like she’d be easily cowed. He’d probably only have to threaten her a bit before she did what he said. He might hit her just for fun but he wouldn’t need to be too violent. She was cowed already.
He knew the type. Rough childhood. It made for a nice easy to manipulate adult. Maybe he could get her to bring a son into the world. Was the world ready for that? Father and son in charge. The thought made him laugh out loud.
The rabbit looked up at the sound. He leaned down, tearing a hunk of grass and waving it gently toward the rabbit. “Come on, come and get it. I won’t hurt you, little one.”
The rabbit hopped closer, unsure, sniffing the air, limping as it moved.
“Come on,” he said again. “That’s it.”
The rabbit took another couple of uneasy steps, sniffing at the grass in his hand. With a scoop of his hand, he lifted the tiny bunny upward before breaking its neck and swallowing it whole.
He laughed again.
Capturing her would be just as easy. He might have had hurdles put in his way but that only made the challenge that bit more interesting. He licked his lips. He could almost taste her. Soon enough she would be in his grasp and all would be right with the world.
He’d swept the Highlands in search of her and he’d finally found her. Taking the castles and destroying the clans had been fun but now he had a new goal. Burning the land, salting the earth, that was just a warm up for the real task. Getting her.
He was so close to the future, he could almost picture it. What would the world be like when he got there?
He had seen many changes in his time. Lost for so long after his last failure but now so close to success he could taste it. He would make the MacGregors pay for what their ancestors did to him. He would swallow their future like he had the rabbit.
Whatever it was like, it would soon bend to his will just like the snack he’d just enjoyed. Bend to his will or be destroyed.
Who said he never gave anyone a choice?
Chapter Seventeen
Rachel walked a few feet behind the other two as they talked. Cam had a lot of questions about the barefoot man and Morag, as she called herself, had answers for all of them.
Rachel was happy to be ignored for the time being. It gave her time to think. She fingered the necklace in her pocket, thinking again how easily she could go home if she wanted to. She could be away from all this danger, get warm and dry.
They walked for an hour through a fine morning before the wind began to grow. Passing through a gully between two mountains, it whistled through them, sending a chill deep into her.
She wrapped her coat around her, watching as Cam continued to walk as if the wind wasn’t even there. He was a machine more than a person, designed for these kind of conditions. Unlike her.
She glanced across at Morag just in time to see her hood slip back, revealing her face. She only caught a glimpse but she could have sworn she knew that face from somewhere. But where? Had it maybe been in one of her history books? Had she seen a portrait somewhere?
They passed out of the gully and into the open. A burned village lay to their left, the fire long turned to ashes, the remains of the houses little more than stumps. Even the strips of crops had been burned. Nothing remained at all.
“Did he do that?” Morag asked Cam.
“Aye,” he replied. “He has torched much of the land between here and MacGregor territory. We must be cautious. His spies are everywhere.”
“Things have changed much since he arrived and none of it for the better.”
“Where did he come from?” Rachel asked, catching up with the two of them. “I haven’t read about him in any of my books.”
“You know how to read?”
“Of course I do.”
“I see. And what books have you read about this?”
“Plenty. I’ve read all about the history of Scotland.”
“What good is learning history when the things we discuss are happening right now?”
