“Wake! Wake, slut.” Hard fingers clamp onto my arm and yank. I gasp, my stomach bottoming out as I crash to the dirt-packed floor.
“What happened to our truce?” I shout, scrambling back.
She steps toward me, hand raised, and I leap to my feet. “Touch me, and I’ll?—”
“You’ll what?” Her cheeks blotch with fury. “I knew nae to trust you. I kent better. And now ’tis as it was with Gregor. Trust misspent is trust betrayed. The daughter delivers the same curse as the mother.”
Donag pants two hysterical breaths. Then shatters into teary, hair-pulling shrieks.
Mother. Of course.
I stand slowly, putting my hands up to calm her. “Please, Donag. I didn’t do anything. I’m not my mother. You know that. Please, just tell me what happened.”
Her eyes glitter with fury as they meet mine. Her next words punch the air from my chest. “The Campbells took Callum.”
“Took—?”
My heart stops.
“What? No. No, that can’t be right.”
“He’s accused of thieving.” Her expression is all angry astonishment. “Apples. My Callum hasnae the taste for apples. And now they’re to send him to Tom a Chrodhaidh hill.”
“I don’t understand.” She’s speaking too quickly. My muddled brain isn’t processing any of this. “I thought Hamish was just trying to act tough. I told him the apples were for me.”
“So itisyour fault,” she says with malicious satisfaction.
My fault.
She’s right. Why didn’t I take this more seriously?
My knees buckle and I sway into the table. Callum is suffering because of me. Again.
“They’re punishing him because I ate some stupid apples?”
I thought Hamish was just trying to scare me, but of course he’d take advantage of any opportunity to hurt Callum. This isn’t some zany adventure I’m having. It’s life or death.
“Aye,” she says with ominous quiet, “’tis because of you.”
“Well it’s your fault too.” My fear flips into fury. I jab an outraged finger at her. “You’re the reason I’m here. You had a chance to fix your mistake. If you’d helped me, none of this would’ve happened. I begged you to send me back.”
“And I told you to stay away from Callum. But you cannae help it,” she adds in a trilling voice, going dark again as she growls, “Janet’s borne you, and blood will out.”
“I have Gregor’s blood too—remember?” I set my jaw over a long exhale. “I’ll fix this.”
I grab my clothes and turn my back to hide my body. And Janet’s ring.
Ne Obliviscaris. Forget Not. The Campbell motto. My mother’s motto.
And mine.
I’d long ago switched out the chain for some twine, but it still hangs hidden between my breasts. Donag doesn’t know about it, and I’m relieved I never trusted her enough to show her. Maybe it’ll help me now.
“I’ll stop this. I swear it.” Tiny seams pop as I tug on my dress as fast as I can, my clumsy fingers fumbling with the bodice. “I will not let him be put in that pit.”
“You’re nae listening. The pit would be a blessing,” she whispers.
My hands still over my laces. “What do you mean, a blessing?”
