She shook off the binds and reached for the ties at her ankles. Through the crackling of the burning wood, another blast resounded through the night. A pistol exploded nearby. Pain pierced his injured arm, and he cried out, falling onto Camilla.
She screamed.
He grabbed his wound and spun around. Kat walked away from a tree, pointing the still-smoking weapon his way. Her brown hair framed her head in an untamable silhouette.
“Katherine, no,” Camilla cried.
Malcolm winced as the pain made his arm useless. “How did you get free?”
Kat laughed, and the eerie lift of her voice drifted through the air like a whistle. “You forgot about my maid, Beth.”
He tightened his hand around his bloody arm. “She’ll not be working for me much longer.”
She shook her head. “Once again, I must prove you wrong. She will continue to be my maid. After all, the Widow Worthington will need all the support she can get when her husband dies.”
Camilla sobbed beside him. He blocked her with his body, keeping himself in front of Kat’s pistol.
“Kat?” His wife sniffed. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I don’t want to behiswife.”
“But you’re not. I’m his wife.” A sob made Camilla’s voice tight.
Kat shrugged. “I will be once you are out of the way, and I step back into my role as Mrs. Worthington. Besides, I need his wealth in my fight for power.”
Malcolm scowled. “What are you planning to do with Camilla?”
A smile slowly crossed her face. “Don’t you mean Kat, my poor, insane sister? I will send her back to the asylum from where she escaped, of course.”
“You have no heart, Kat.” He glowered.
She shrugged. “Yes, in a sense.” She neared, still pointing the weapon at him.
“You’ll have to reload if you plan to shoot me again.” He dropped his focus to the pistol.
She shook her head, and then brought around her other arm from behind her, displaying a saber. “Not if I kill you another way.”
Kat lifted the rod of sharp steel. Her eyes blazed dark and evil as she tightened her hands on the handle. Narrowing her gaze, she focused on him.
Without a doubt, she would kill him. He brought up his arm to block her attack.
*
Camilla screamed andpressed her body firmly to her husband, closing her eyes. She said a silent prayer that his life would be spared.
Off in the distance, a man’s shout rent the air, and seconds later, another pistol fired. And then something thumped heavily on the ground.
Camilla snapped her head up. No longer was Kat standing over them holding a pistol. Instead, she lay on the ground as blood covered her chest.
Malcolm’s gasp alerted Camilla to someone walking their way… holding a smoking pistol. Broderick frowned, and his gaze stayed on Kat’s lifeless body.
Camilla scrambled to stand, pushing Malcolm away. She ran and fell to her sister’s side. With a shaky hand, she touched Kat’s cold, colorless face. Her lips were turning blue.
“Oh, Katherine,” Camilla sobbed. She took her sister’s hand, lifted it to her cheek, and kissed the palm. Kat’s chest gradually stopped moving.
Camilla’s heart ached with sorrow, and as she sobbed, her cries echoed in the night. Malcolm knelt beside her and slipped his arm around her shoulders. Across from her, Broderick knelt next to Kat’s body.
He placed the weapon on the ground. Tears glistened in his eyes. “Please forgive me, Camilla, but I couldn’t have your sister killing my friend.”
