Page 60 of Confessions of a Highland Assassin

“But it isnae his fault!” Rory yelled angrily again. “It’s naebody’s fault besides the two people who were involved in the affair!”

“That’s enough!” Tavish spat angrily. “How would ye or anyone else ken what I had tae endure!” He turned to Ava. “Do it already!” he screeched at her in his grating voice.

“Think about what ye are about tae do, Ava!” Rory’s angry voice tore the air.

Grunting from the pain in his hand where the blood still flowed from his wound, Boyd looked up at Ava with a tumultuous, cross expression written on his ruggedly handsome face. His slurred words and slow movements were an indication that the potion was still having an effect on his body. “Ava… are ye really going tae do this? After everything we’ve been through?”

Ava stood frozen to the spot as he spoke to her. She tried her best to focus on what needed to be done while fighting the urge to save his life.

“I thought ye loved me as much as I love ye, Ava…” Boyd’s words trailed off as he saw her head turn toward her brother before he could even finish his sentence. “I thought we felt the same…” he whispered.

“Enough sentiment!” Tavish growled. His arms tightened around Neil as his anger and impatience grew.

Neil’s eyes pleaded with Ava again. His face tugged at her heart as his chest rose and fell with increasing effort. A coughing fit was not far off when he breathed like that. Time was running out.

Ava shut her eyes and gritted her teeth as thoughts of the past few weeks raced through her mind. She was interrupted by her brother’s coughing and Rory begging her to see reason. Skye was nowhere to be seen, hidden by the crowd. The moment had come to make her final decision. Turning slightly to the left, Ava raised her dagger high in the air. She knew what had to be done.

“Ava, nae! Dinnae dae it!” Rory’s voice was frantic with panic as he yelled over the onlookers’ heads. The crowd gasped in shock as women and men began to scream and shout. But no one dared to make even a step.

The tears flowed freely down her porcelain cheeks as Ava spun around and plunged the blade of the dagger into hot flesh all the way down to the hilt until a bone cracked. Blood spurted down her hands and onto her dark cloak. The sickening smell of fresh blood came nowhere near the sheer amount of tears spilling over her cheeks. The gurgling sounds of a man dying at her hand pierced her thoughts like the dagger had penetrated the man’s flesh.

“I never wanted tae do this…” she whispered through her tears; her voice was thick with emotion.

The crowd grew silent as Ava twisted the dagger one last time to ensure that the job had been executed correctly. Taking a step back, Ava could no longer control herself and sank to her knees, sobbing at what she had just done.

The clouds erupted with fine rain, which fell over the lifeless body lying in the street as she cried aloud and hugged her middle. Villagers were shocked. Some people covered their mouths, while others stood motionless, unable to believe or accept what they had just witnessed.

It took a moment for Ava to gain her composure before she crawled over to Boyd and threw her arms around his body, sobbing uncontrollably.

The crowd was silent as the men let go of Rory. He walked forward and placed his index finger below the ear searching frantically for a pulse. “He’s dead…” He finally looked up.

He was dead.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Ava cried even harder as she reached down and used her hands to untie the nodes she had made to fasten Boyd’s hands. His arms came up around her as he hugged her close to him. “It’s all right, Ava. It’s finished now. Ye did the right thing.”

“Boyd…” she continued to sob into his chest. “I was so scared I was going tae lose ye. That something would go wrong in our plan.”

“Shhh,” he tried to soothe her. “It worked. I’m here now. Everything is fine. Everything worked out just as it should.”

Skye came forward and took Neil away as Rory gave orders for some of the men to carry the lifeless body of Tavish to the castle.

The crowd began to depart as Ava clung to Boyd and sobbed all her fears away.

* * *

Earlier that same day…

Boyd stared at Ava in confusion as all blood drained from her face. Her mouth was hanging open as she stood frozen in time.

“Boyd nae! Spit it out! Spit it out!” she yelled frantically as she rushed toward him.

He quicky spat some of the ale back into the mug before she snatched it away from him in a hurry, spilling some over the mug.

“Oh, Lord. Ye swallowed half,” she said in a panicked tone before throwing the contents of the mug on the fire, causing the dying embers to hiss as they faded away.

“What’s going on?” Boyd demanded angrily as he watched Ava panic.