“Thank you, Milady,” he said humbly, his voice breaking on the words. “Thank you for my life. I am forever in your debt.”
“And I thank you too.” Robina struggled to her feet. “On behalf of my baby and me. If there is ever anything we can do for you, you only have to ask and if it is in our power, we will give it to you.”
“You can start by not calling me ‘Milady,’” Lorna said grimly. “I have always hated it. Call me Lorna—it is my name.”
Robina and Alex laughed.
“Thank you for your kindness.” Lorna smiled at them, a wide, happy smile. “I have made preparations to go back to castle Wishart.” Then suddenly, as though she had put on a mask, her face became hard and grim. “But first, we need to confront Lockie, because there are many more things I have to tell you. May I write to you and make arrangements?”
“Of course,” Robina replied. “There is so much more I want to ask you, and I can hardly wait to see Lockie and tell him exactly what I think of him!”
“And after we have heard his side of the story,” Alex growled, his face like thunder, “which will of course be a pack of lies, I will take great pleasure in slicing him in two with my claymore!” His fists were clenched and his eyes were dark with rage.
“No M'laird,” Lorna said, smiling. “Do not sully your sword.”
There was still one thing that Lorna did not tell them. And that was on purpose. She knew that if she had told them all the truth, Alex would have indeed sliced Lockie in two that very day.
Lorna was afraid to go home, never knowing if a blow would fall and seal her doom. Unbeknownst to Lockie she kept a dagger under her pillow, ready to use it at the slightest provocation. Not only was she afraid for her own life, but she was afraid for Alex’s too. Lockie might not stop at one attempt on his life.
And she was afraid for two other people as well. Most of all for them...
She fell asleep at last only to plunge straight into a nightmare.
She was cantering out of the castle on her favorite gray horse Ashy, when two of Lockie’s guards rode up and stopped right in front of her. Unable to stop in time, Ashy reared and skittered sideways, throwing her off and onto the hard earth. Then Lockie was leaning over her with an evil smile on his face and a dagger in his hand.
He was just about to plunge it into her when she screamed and woke up, gulping in great lungfuls of air.
She looked anxiously at Lockie, but he was snoring and had not heard a thing. However, the dream had been a warning. It was not a matter ofifLockie would kill her, but when. She could not live in fear any longer. She needed to act quickly.
She sent a note to Robina the next day to ask her to come to see her that afternoon. However, she had given Lockie no warning, so when the Lindsays walked into his study that Monday morning, his mouth fell open in amazement, then he scowled with anger and went to ring the bell for a guard to escort them out.
Alex’s dagger seemed to jump into his hands, and he crossed the floor between them in three strides, his face contorted with rage. “Do not even consider summoning your soldiers, M'laird!” he growled, “or I will slit your throat from ear to ear—and lest you think I am making idle threats, I slew six men that way when fighting the English and three more with my claymore! So what is a little more blood on my hands?” He shrugged. “You fought me in a duel and lost. I will give you a claymore and we can fight again.”
Lockie looked terrified as he sat down heavily in his chair and stared at Lorna, mystified. “Did you know they would be arriving, my love?” he asked, his voice trembling.
“Yes, M'laird. I invited them,” she answered, her eyes, dark with fury, were locked on his. To Lockie’s fevered eyes, they looked as black as the gateway to hell. “I invited them here because there are some things we need to discuss. I am not your love, and you are certainly not mine!”
Lockie was incredulous. This could not be the woman with whom he shared his bed, who told him she loved him and said she would do anything for him.
“I do not understand!” He spread his hands in a gesture of disbelief. “What have I done? What have I done to you, Lorna?”
“You do not know? For your information, M'laird, I do not love you. I hate you with every tiny fiber of my being, and since I have already told Laird and Lady Lindsay some of your story, I will now tell them the rest.”
Lockie gaped at her as she went on ruthlessly. “They know that it was you who sent the band of men to kill Laird Lindsay, but they also know that my friends and I saved them. Yes, M'laird...my friends and I!” She stopped to let this sink in.
Shocked was not enough to describe Lockie. He was as if he saw a ghost.
“We chopped your men to pieces. There was not a head left on any of them. And those friends that you despise so much? They are all my sisters. I needed my sisters with me so that I could bear to live with you!
“You told me off for seeing too much of my friends, but did you not see the resemblance between us? One of them is my twin, Nan, and you never saw that.”
Lockie shook his head, then covered his face with his hands. He sighed, but said nothing. He was deeply embarrassed, ashamed, and absolutely furious. His whole body was trembling with rage.
“So you sent a bunch of cutthroats to kill an innocent man, because he embarrassed you!” Her voice was loud with disbelief. “Was stealing his sheep not enough?”
Lockie was silent. He looked at Lorna.
She swallowed hard and Lockie tried to go towards her but Alex threatened him with his sword.
