Page 62 of In Bed with a Highland Liar

“Why?” he cried out. “Why would ye dae all this? What could possibly be worth this?”

“It was necessary,” Ruadh said with laborious patience, as though he was trying to explain something incomprehensible to a child. “It is fer the greater good, Evander. Once ye’re the laird o’ our clan, ye’ll understand that some things are necessary.”

“Necessary?” Evander scoffed, shaking his head in disappointment. “How could any o’ this be necessary? If ye think that I would imprison me wife, the maither o’ me child, then ye’re mistaken, Faither. I cannae understand how even ye could dae such a thing.”

Evander’s words enraged Ruadh and the angrier he got, the more he pressed his blade against Lilith’s throat. Aaden looked around him, trying to find some sort of opening that he could exploit to pull her to safety, but Ruadh was holding her close to him, giving her no leeway, and his men stood close, armed to the teeth. They would need a coordinated attack if they were going to fight them without putting Lilith in danger, but Aaden couldn’t see a way to achieve such a thing silently.

Perhaps he had to wait for Laird Stewart’s men, who had trained with each other and knew how each other operated. Cameron was a capable man. As their leader, maybe he would find a way.

He couldn’t see a different way out of this. They refused to lower their weapons and Ruadh refused to let go of Lilith, so this could only end in bloodshed.

“Ye dinnae ken what it means tae be betrayed by the people who are meant tae be the closest tae ye,” said Ruadh, his gaze pinned on his wife.

“Dinnae I?” asked Evander. “What is it that ye’re doin’ now?”

“Ye call this betrayal?” Ruadh roared, jostling Lilith roughly as he took a step forward. The blade nicked her skin, a drop of blood dripping down her pale skin, and a whimper escaped her as her eyes closed once more. Aaden took a step forward, too, on instinct, but then stopped himself. What was he going to do? He could hardly get to Ruadh before he could slice Lilith’s throat. “I was the one who was betrayed! I was betrayed by me wife, I was betrayed by me braither, an’ now I’m betrayed by me own son! I gave ye everythin’… everythin’! How dare ye act like she is the victim here?”

Even Evander was rendered speechless then by his father’s audacity. For a few moments, no one spoke. There was nothing around them but the sound of the rustling leaves and the birds that tittered nearby as they flew from branch to branch.

It was Lilith who broke that silence, swallowing nervously before speaking. “If ye wished fer revenge, why did ye plan tae give Aaden such a good life?”

It was a question Aaden had asked himself many times. The only answer he had ever managed to come up with was that Ruadh was planning something else, too, something that would take everything from him once again, once the time would be right.

“Ye could have had Evander ask fer me hand,” Lilith pointed out. “Or ye could have found some other way. Why give Aaden me hand? Why give him the clan an’ the land an’ the gold?”

“Ye shut yer mouth, too,” Ruadh growled, glaring down at Lilith. “Or ye will end up in the ground.”

“Lilith, please,” said Laird Stewart, shaking his head. “Please, dinnae antagonize him. It isnae worth it.”

“I’d listen tae yer faither if I were ye,” said Ruadh. “He is a wise man.”

“Answer the question, Faither.” There was no stopping Evander now that he had begun demanding explanations. His desire for the truth would not be satiated until everything was revealed. “What were ye plannin’? Were ye goin’ tae kill Aaden?”

With a sigh, Ruadh turned his gaze to the sky in exasperation, taking a moment to close his eyes. When he looked at his son once more, the mask had slipped entirely off his face, revealing the real man underneath.

“O’ course I was goin’ tae kill him,” he said. “I was goin’ tae kill him an’ I was goin’ tae kill this wench, too. What use would they be tae us, Evander? Think fer once in yer life. Imagine the power ye would have had with the two o’ them gone. Like I said, everythin’ I dae is fer ye. It’s all fer the legacy, it’s all so our family can finally have the power it deserves.”

Evander’s features twisted in disgust. Any love he had once held for his father, any hope that he wasn’t the man everyone claimed he was had now been drained from him, leaving behind nothing but hatred and contempt. Aaden knew that look well—he had borne it too, many times in the past. It seemed easy for Ruadh to inspire revulsion in others.

“Ye’re a monster,” Lilith said through gritted teeth, her eyes rolling to the side of their sockets as she tried to glare at him.

“Another word from ye an’ I will kill ye,” Ruadh warned. “I dinnae wish tae hear ye speak again.”

“Give up, uncle,” Aaden said. “Ye’re outnumbered. Laird Stewart’s men have ye surrounded. What will ye dae?”

“If any o’ ye approaches, I will slit Lilith’s throat an’ ye will watch her bleed like a pig,” Ruadh said. Then, his gaze snapped to Evander. “Evander! Come here. Yer place is by me side.”

Evander didn’t move. He only stared coldly at his father, and Aaden placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding.

“Ye’re doin’ the right thing,” he said. “Remember this. This is how it is supposed tae be.”

Instantly, Ruadh’s anger painted his face a deep crimson, the blood rushing to his head upon realizing that Evander was not going to join his side. Soon, though, he turned his ire to Aaden instead, though Aaden didn’t know if it was simply out of habit or if he truly thought he had poisoned his son’s mind with his ideals.

“Ye’re a good fer naething bastard!” he said, pointing at him with his knife. “Had I kent she was pregnant with ye, I would have slaughtered ye in her belly. I should have killed ye both a long time ago!”

Aaden hardly heard anything Ruadh said then. All his focus was on that knife and on the fact that it wasn’t pressed against Lilith’s throat anymore. In his fury, Ruadh had been so distracted that he seemed to have forgotten all about her and his threats.

Just as he took a step forward to attack, though, Lilith stomped hard on Ruadh’s foot, tearing a scream out of the man. For a moment, he lost his focus and his grip on her, but a moment was all Lilith needed to dash away from him and his men and reach the safety of Aaden’s arms.