It was almost too quiet. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. The dark feeling of foreboding weighed heavier with each step.
Though his heart urged him to race back to Bella as quickly as he could, he forced himself to proceed cautiously and be on the watch for any signs of danger. He couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. He wouldn’t let his emotions distract him—not this time.
Please, let her be safe. Lachlan repeated the prayer over and over in his mind. Though after so many years of disuse, he didn’t expect anyone to be listening.
He kept to the shadows, darting through the trees and shrubs, pausing occasionally to listen and scout for any signs of a trap.
Nothing. Winter had deadened even the sounds of nature.
When at last the clearing and the old forester’s cottage came into view, he could barely breathe. It seemed as if he’d been holding his breath for hours.
He scanned the moonlit landscape. Water on the right; horses tied to a tree exactly where he’d left them; wooden cottage a little farther away in the distance, slightly obscured by the trees, and dark but for the faint flicker of the oil lamp streaming through the cracks in the shutters.
He moved slower now, every nerve ending set on edge. Though his senses told him nothing was wrong, his instincts urged otherwise.
Suddenly, he froze at a cracking sound from above. A few moments later, he heard the sound of leaves rustling and realized it was an animal moving along the branches.
With a long exhale, he continued. Finally, he stood a few feet away from the lodge. Lifting his hand to his mouth, he hooted like an owl to let her know he approached and waited—heart hammering and blood pounding—for her response.
It came. The melodious call of the nightingale. The sweetest damned sound he’d ever heard. Thank God. All was well.
He bounded up the last few feet and pushed open the door, half-expecting her to be there to greet him.
He was surprised instead to see her seated on a stool before the fire with her back to him.
But it was she, and his heart sighed with relief to see her sitting there. “Bella?”
She turned only enough for him to see her profile, as if she couldn’t bear to meet his eyes. Her face was as still and as pale as carved alabaster, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
A chill slid down his back. He lurched forward, taking her hand. It was as cold as ice. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Before the words were out of his mouth, he had his answer. His head jerked around at the sounds coming from outside as a swarm of soldiers descended around them like vultures.
No. His mind warred with his heart. He raced back to the open door, not wanting to believe what was happening.
But when he saw Despenser and Comyn emerge from the trees, he knew the inescapable truth: Bella had led him right into a trap.
Shock permeated every fiber of his being. But the pain of betrayal that followed cut like a knife through his heart.
Not again. He couldn’t have made the same mistake again. She loved him; she would never betray him. There had to be an explanation.
As the men came forward to take him, he turned to look at her. “Why?”
If he hoped for a denial, he was to be disappointed.
“I’m sorry,” she cried, her face crumpling in despair. “Oh God, Lachlan, I’m so sorry.” The men grabbed him from behind. He let them drag him away.It was true. “They have Joan. They have my daughter!”
Twenty-one
They’d lied to her.
Bella thought the moment they dragged Lachlan away, seeing the shock of betrayal written on his face, was the worst moment of this hideous nightmare. But being brought back to Berwick Castle, tossed in the guard room, and told she would not be reunited with her daughter after all—that her daughter didn’t even know she was here, and that it had all been a lie to trick her into betraying Lachlan—made it so much worse.
Her daughter had never been in danger. According to William, she rejected any connection with her mother and enjoyed her position in England. Bella was relieved to know her daughter was safe but refused to believe the rest.
She was ashamed by how easily she’d been duped. How once again they’d used her fear for her daughter to control her, this time inducing her to betray the man she loved.
The look on his face when he’d realized what was happening would haunt her for the rest of her life. She sank back against the stone wall. However short that life might be.
