The words died in her throat. Struan slowed his pace, just a little, glancing over his shoulder at her, and their eyes locked. Clearing her throat, Una pressed on.
“I thought we were friends,” she said at last. “Something like that, anyway. I thought ye trusted me.”
Struan shook his head tightly. “Trust no one, lass. If ye listen to only one thing I’ve ever told ye, listen to that. Nobody can be trusted. Not mother, father, sister, or brother. Not the one ye think ye love. Trust only yerself, and even then, trust yerself only halfway. It’s not worth the risk to take the other half.”
Una was silent for a moment.
“Is that how ye live?” she asked at last. “Trusting no one? Not even trusting yerself?”
“Aye, I do. And it’s kept me alive so far.”
“Kyla is alive, too. And she’s learned to trust.”
He shrugged tightly. “Kyla has more to lose. More and more to lose every day, it seems.”
This made Una swallow thickly.
“What do ye mean?”
“I only mean that…” he trailed off, finally slowing to a stop. Passing a hand over his face, he turned to face Una, eyes heavy and tired. “I mean that everything I have has been taken from me. Kyla, however, has a good deal left to lose. Her husband, her friends, and now a bairn. That is a significant amount of leverage. A man like my father would work hard to exploit that.”
“But we can protect her,” Una urged. “Together, we can?—”
“Together?We?” He let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Una, lass, did ye forget which side I am on? I am yer enemy. Tell me this; supposing the Dickson clan is obliterated and the war iswon, my father faces justice, and then the call goes up for my head, too. Would ye stand by me, then?”
“I…”
“Imagine that my crimes are all listed in a court of law, every vile thing I’ve done—and more besides, because history is written by the winners—is read out for all to hear, and the world goes mad for my blood. Even my sister turns on me since she has a new Dickson heir on the way. Yer friends certainly would. Would ye still stand by me then, Una?”
She stared up at him, bewildered. Words wouldn’t come.
Aye,Una wanted to scream.Aye, of course I’d stand by you.
She couldn’t make her mouth move. She swallowed thickly and met his eye.
“My brother is my only blood,” she said at last, voice wobbling. “My friends are my family. I… I don’t know if I could turn my back on them.”
A muscle jumped in Struan’s jaw, and his throat worked. For an instant, just a split second, she saw hurt in his eyes.
Then it was gone, so quickly that she wasn’t sure she’d glimpsed the expression at all. Struan leaned back, straightening to his full height. He sneered.
“There ye are, ye see?” he said, his voice tight and angry. “Trust no one. Ye all might hate my father, but he’s right about many things, and this is one of them.”
“Struan, I didn’t mean…”
“Forget it,” he interrupted coldly. “I know what ye are, Una, just as clearly as ye know what I am. I have not changed, and nor will ye.”
“What on earth are ye saying? What do ye mean?”
Abruptly, he thrust his face close to hers, nose to nose. They were close enough for a kiss, but Una’s lips were so dry and her mouth so sour-tasting that she couldn’t have kissed if her life had depended upon it.
“I mean,” Struan hissed, “that I am a monster. Once a monster, always a monster. This is not something that ye and yers will ever change yer minds on. I can tell that lately ye have begun to think differently. Well, don’t. It’s a waste of time, and ye will only get hurt.”
She swallowed. “Struan, I thought?—”
“Ye thought what? Ye thought because I kissed ye, I care for ye? That because we were intimate, it’s a binding promise? Don’t be a fool, lass. I was manipulating ye. I thought at first that ye would surely see it, but perhaps I overestimated ye.”
He leaned back, seeming to tower above her all of a sudden. Una stared up at him, not quite able to believe what she had heard. Her heart thumped, and a burning lump tightened in her throat.
