He was not cursed.
Catherine was not going to die.
“You are a depraved and soulless monster,” he said over his shoulder. “What I wouldn’t give to choke the life out of you right now. If it weren’t for the fact that…”
He stopped and fought to control his wrath.
“What?”she asked, rising to her feet. “What is it that you have not told me?”
“You don’t even deserve to know.” He swung around to face her again, taking some pleasure in this small moment of revenge, however briefly it would last. “She’s too good for you. If it were up to me, you would never get within a hundred miles of her. I would never let her near your vile, putrid soul.”
A shadow of fear swept across Raonaid’s face, and he relished it.
“What are you speaking of?”
“Your sister,” he said at last. “You have an identical twin, Raonaid, and she is waiting outside to meet you. And when she does, I hope she sees whatIsee, and never wants to lay eyes on you again.”
***
Catherine jumped when the coach began to move up the lane toward the house. Obviously they had been summoned.
Her heart thudded with nervous anticipation the entire distance, as they rolled up the tree-lined drive and finally stopped in front of the house. A ship’s wheel adorned the front door, and flower boxes, bursting with evergreens, underscored each window.
Something about the layout of the outbuildings and vegetable garden was oddly familiar to her. Had she been here before?
The coach door opened, and Alex stepped up to greet her. “Allow me, Lady Catherine.”
He, too, glanced all around, watching the fringes of the forest at the edge of the field, as if he half-expected an army of rebels to appear at any moment and whisk her away for ransom. He escorted her up the gravel walk to the flagstone steps, where Lachlan was waiting for her.
“Come in, Catherine,” he said, sounding formal, unlike any other time.
Her voice wavered with apprehension. “Is she here?”
“Aye,” Lachlan said.
“Did she know about me?”
“Nay, she did not know about you before,” he explained. “She’s waiting for you in the parlor, but there is something I must tell you, before you go in.”
Catherine was vaguely aware of Alex handing her over to Lachlan, who took her aside and waited briefly for Alex to reach the bottom of the stairs before he spoke.
“Raonaid said the curse was never real,” he told her.
Catherine shook her head in disbelief. “What do you mean,never real? Was it a trick, then? Some kind of joke?”
“I wouldn’t call it that, for I can see no humor in it. It was her way of taking vengeance upon me. It was twisted and heartless.” He took both Catherine’s hands in his and looked down at them while he rubbed his thumbs over her palms. “But it’s good news, nonetheless, that you are no longer in danger of that fiendish black magic. I would never have been able to live with myself if anything happened to you.” He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “But I can never forgive her for it, lass, and I feel no better about what we did. I’ve been living with that curse for three years, and I still cannot let go of it. I know what can happen to a woman on the birthing bed, and I still fear for you.” His eyes were dark with worry.
She reached up and touched his cheek and felt joyful inside. “You should behappy,Lachlan. This is what you have been wanting these past three years. You are free now. The curse is lifted.”
His dark brows pulled together with uncertainty. “Is it?”
She did not know what to say. All her emotions were reeling. She had just learned she was not sentenced to die in nine months—which was wonderful news of course—but she could not escape the frantic apprehension of meeting her identical twin, who was waiting just inside.…
“You must be careful when you go in there,” Lachlan said as if he could read her thoughts. “I know she is your sister by blood, but she is nothing like you. She has lived a very different life. She is not to be trusted, and I suspect she will try to poison your mind against me.”
“I appreciate the warning,” Catherine replied, “but I assure you I can think for myself. No one controls my opinions but me.”
He nodded reluctantly, then led her through the entrance hall and into a room cluttered with articles depicting a seafaring theme, which was strangely fitting under the circumstances—for she felt as if the floor beneath her were pitching and rolling up the steep side of a great ocean swell.
