Page 14 of Bewitching her Highland Savior

CHAPTERSEVEN

Muriel lay in bed in her nightshift, staring at the ceiling above her. As much as she loathed to admit it, Liam had made her feel a little better. She'd never met anyone else who was also an illegitimate child of a powerful man. They both carried their father’s names, but that wasn’t enough to make them the same as a legitimate heir.

A part of Muriel thought that she should be happy to have what she had. If her stepmother had given her father a child, especially a boy, then her situation would be much different. She didn’t doubt that for a moment. As much as she tried to feel grateful for everything her father had done for her – she simply couldn’t. Sure, he'd given her everything she could ever want, and he seemed to like spending time with her when they were together. He had taught her how to read and he had encouraged almost every activity she wanted to pursue, even if it wasn’t deemed particularly ladylike. She was always aware of the small injustices he committed against her, though, like allowing her stepmother to treat her so terribly. She was also aware of the pain he had caused to her mother. There had always been a spark of rage inside her, waiting for the right fuel to ignite it into a raging fire. She despised her stepmother's treatment of her, despised her for forcing her father to send her away when she could have spent these past years by her mother's side instead. A part of her despised her father for allowing any of this to happen.

He must have kent, at least some of it. He could have done somethin’ to stop her. But he didnae.

Muriel was so used to burying her emotions deep within her, where she didn't have to think about them, that this sudden explosion was overwhelming. And now she knew that Liam understood. He had probably gone through the same thing that she had — perhaps even worse, since Muriel knew for a fact that Laird McAlpine had other children, too. It made her want to talk about it more, just to have something to do with the rage and sadness that had crept up inside of her.

But she would have time for that. When Liam left, he had seemed tired and she figured he was probably sleeping already. She was on the verge of sleep, too, and it was easier to give in than to think about everything that had gone wrong in her life.

It wasn’t until much later that something woke Muriel up, though she didn’t know what it was. At first, she blamed the old structure; its floorboards creaking even under the weight of a mere feather. But the sound became louder, and she forced herself to open her eyes, scanning the room in the dim light provided by a few still-lit candles.

That was when she saw him.

There was a man looming over her, tall and broad-shouldered. Half of his face was illuminated; a face whose skin was marred with scars; one over his eye and two on his cheek. His face was contorted as he looked at her, lips pulled back in a snarl and, for a moment, she was frozen under his murderous gaze.

Her heart drummed in her chest, lips parting to scream before she even knew it. “Help!” she yelled, but before she could respond, the man grabbed her pillow and shoved it over her face, his strong hands holding her down. Muriel kicked her legs out, bucking and thrashing beneath him in an attempt to fight him off, but her efforts were futile. The man was twice her size, and Muriel doubted it was his first attempt at murdering someone.

She tried to claw at him; nails digging deep into the meat of his arms but the man was relentless. He pushed the pillow closer to her face, and Muriel found herself completely out of breath, her lungs burning from a lack of air, her chest heaving helplessly as her body tried to keep her alive.

There was no escape. She was powerless against him and that frustrated her more than anything. If she could just fight him off, if she could just hurt him enough for him to let go and give her a window of escape…

Her body, however, began to fail her before she could do any actual damage to him. Her head spun, and the darkness that had engulfed her when he had pressed the pillow against her face had only thickened, becoming more tangible as she began to lose consciousness.

She could only hope that Liam had heard her first plea for help.

* * *

Liam woke to the sound of a scream for the second night in a row; his eyes flying open when he realized it was Muriel’s voice shouting for help.

How does she keep getting’ in trouble? Liam burst through the door within moments; blinking as his eyes tried to adjust to the dim light in the room. The shadow of a man was standing over a struggling Muriel; forcing a pillow over her face as he tried to suffocate her.

The man noticed him quickly, just as Liam had hoped, and he let go of Muriel when Liam lunged at him, his fist aiming for his nose. He missed, as the man pulled away from him at the last moment, but at least Liam had diverted his attention away from Muriel. He glanced at her for a split second, just to make sure that she was still alive, and let out a sigh of relief when he saw her moving; throwing the pillow away from her face and gasping for air.

Good. That’s all that matters.

He had made a promise to keep her safe, no matter what.

Knowing that she was safe, When Liam returned his gaze to the man, he noticed that he had drawn a knife. The attacker lunged at Liam, grazing his shirt as he jumped out of the way. Liam would have had the man’s blade deep into his guts; bleeding out on the floor, had he been a split second slower.

Liam grabbed his own knife out of its scabbard; holding the hilt tightly in his hand. It was clear to him that his opponent was well trained; his movements precise and calculated, but so was he. He had spent his entire life learning how to fight and he had never lost before. And he wouldn’t lose now.

“Come on, then,” he told the man; the two of them circling each other. From the corner of his eye, he could see Muriel right where the man had left her, staring at them with wide, fearful eyes.

He wished she didn’t have to see any of this.

The man attacked once more; rushing toward Liam with his knife ready to strike. Liam sidestepped him, kicking one of the man's knees hard in the process. It not only caused him to lose his balance and scream in pain, but surprised him also, which was all the distraction Liam needed. He brought the knife down and into the man's back, pushing it through thick muscle right where his heart should be.

The man fell on the floor with a dull thud – lifeless.

Liam leaned against the small dresser by the wall; catching his breath. When he looked at Muriel; he found her staring at the dead body on the floor – mouth hanging slightly open.

“Dinnae look at him, lass,” he told her but she didn’t listen to him. He didn’t even know if she had heard him at all.

Liam walked over to her with a sigh and sat down on the edge of the mattress; hiding the body from her. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and it was only then that Muriel met his gaze.

“It’s alright,” he said. “Ye’re safe noo.”