Chapter Seven

Anger was oftentimes a mask for deep hurt.

Delilah knew the fit of it well. She’d experienced such rage herself when she first left London and joined the other women in Scotland. She’d given up her life for the mistake of one night with a man who had suffered no consequences.

But Kaid’s aching went deeper than a lover scorned.

It stole his thoughts and colored every decision he made.

Including abducting her.

He sat across from her in the bouncing coach, his gaze focused on the smear of blood on the sleeve of his leine. It was a scant thing, really. Little more than the tip of her pinky and long since faded from brilliant crimson to a dull and flaking maroon, but it seemed to be enough to capture his thoughts.

Leasa stared at the empty seat beside Kaid, fixed on her own demons.

The silence of the coach was stifling.

Leasa cupped something in her lap.

The little blue bottle.

Delilah’s heartbeat quickened.

She’d been so sure when she’d handed it to Leasa. But now…

The ache in Delilah’s chest was poignant, indicative of her empathy for the unknown horror Kaid had faced, what had so obviously shattered him. Now was not the time to poison him.

Perhaps later.

She tried to catch Leasa’s eye, but the maid continued to look forward.

In an attempt to break Leasa’s plaintive gaze at nothing, Delilah shifted in her seat and gave a delicate cough.

But it was Kaid who looked up. “Are ye well, lass?”

Perhaps Delilah could have lied, easily passed off her own comfort with a dismissive wave of her hand. But she wasn’t fine. She had to speak to Leasa to keep her from poisoning the men. Kaid needed his heart to be well before they so altered the state of his health.

“I need to get out of this coach,” Delilah conceded. She longed for one of the fans from court, or perhaps even the shaded coolness of a garden. To be out of the awfulness of the fashionable corset and into something more serviceable.

“I wouldna mind a pause myself.” He rapped on the top of the coach three times, and they drew to a slow stop. Rocks ground against one another beneath the wheels in gritty pops and snaps.

Delilah waited until Kaid was climbing from the coach before she grabbed Leasa’s hand and shook her head. Leasa nodded slowly in reply, and Delilah’s anxiety eased into relief.

Leasa understood.

Delilah accepted Kaid’s ready assistance and climbed from the coach into scenery so lovely it gave her pause. Sunlight danced atop a loch in flecks of gold, and the world around it was green and alive with lush trees and hills. The sky stretched endless and high overhead, leaving her feeling small in the most humbling of ways.

She tilted her head back and took it all in, the chill of a breeze on her face, the fresh air in her chest, the liberation from the tight, stale box.

“It’s beautiful,” Delilah breathed.

“They dinna have this in London.” A slight smile touched the corner of Kaid’s mouth. It was closer to a smile than she anticipated seeing on him anytime soon, and it lightened her heart.

Donnan hopped down from the driver’s seat with the food bag in his hand and a wide grin on his face. “I could go for an early midday meal.”

She caught the faint scent of spiced meat and freshly baked bread. Her mouth watered in anticipation.

The food, the entire reason they’d stopped when they did, had been unwanted after the attack. Now she felt as though she could devour the entire sack on her own and said as much.

Donnan laughed and swung the food behind his back. “Then ye’ll no’ get any at all.” He peered playfully toward the coach. “Where’s Leasa?”

Her head poked tentatively from the door.

“Come join us, Leasa. It’s lovely,” Delilah said.

Leasa tucked her lower lip into her mouth and shrank back inside slightly. “I thought you—”

Donnan swept into the coach and emerged with Leasa in his arms along with the bag of food. “I’ve the finest seat for ye.”

She gave a shrill cry, but the smile on her face showed it was all in good fun. Delilah couldn’t help the laugh bubbling up from her throat. A quick glance at Kaid showed a true, genuine smile on his lips.

Donnan set Leasa on the grass by the water’s edge, far enough away to ensure she would not get wet, and then plopped down beside her. “See? The finest seat in the land.” He winked. “By me.”

Kaid appeared at Delilah’s side and held out the crook of his arm to her like a courtier. “My lady,” he offered with a formal bow.

“How could a lady refuse?” Delilah asked and slipped her hand to his arm. His sleeves were pulled up, and her fingertips brushed his naked forearm. The sprinkling of dark hair was far less coarse than it appeared, and it was all she could do to keep from giving into the temptation to stroke his skin.

Kaid formally showed her to her place on the ground then sank down beside her. They supped on their midday meal in a bubble of light and happiness, the morning a shoved-aside memory for the moment.

It was as perfect a day as Delilah had ever had.

All until she rose from where she sat and someone gripped her hard around the wrist.

“My lady,” Leasa hissed, her eyes wide with horror.

Delilah’s heart skipped a beat. She scanned the area and found nothing amiss. Kaid had gone to the coach to tuck away the rest of the food, and Donnan had disappeared for a moment into the forest.

“What is it?” Delilah asked.

Leasa’s face crumpled. “I don’t remember which flask I put the drops in.”

Delilah’s blood went cold. “The drops?”

“The poison you told me to use.” Leasa looked genuinely confused and held up the blue bottle.

It was empty.

Delilah shook her head. “No, I told you in the coach not to use it.”

Leasa’s mouth fell open. “I thought…” The color bled from her face. “I thought you’d wanted me to stay in the coach.”

Suddenly it made sense, the reason why Leasa had not been as eager to leave the enclosed compartment. Frustration clambered through Delilah, but she quickly held it back.

It had been an honest mistake.

“Think on which flask you used,” Delilah said.

Tears shone bright in Leasa’s eyes. “They both look the same. I don’t know, and we all shared them.”

“What are you saying?” Delilah asked, knowing full well what was being said.

Leasa’s head dropped forward. “I think we’ve all been poisoned.”

• • •

The day had been better than any Kaid had experienced since the massacre.

He’d even laughed.

It was hard not to when Donnan flirted with Leasa like a consummate courtier and Elizabeth kept staring at him with that quiet smile on her face.

He felt a grin touch his lips at the very thought. Happiness made a light come to life in her expression, and her laugh had been throaty and genuine.

Today, she was not a spoiled nobleman’s daughter—she was a woman like any other, sitting on the ground and sharing food and drink with friends.

Kaid settled the bag of food against the packs of clothing and other goods Elizabeth had brought with her for her new life with MacKenzie.

His good humor wilted away.

Much as he did not want to think on it at the moment, she was an English nobleman’s daughter. She was to marry MacKenzie, and she was the only leverage Kaid had against him.

Kaid would do well to keep such thoughts forefront in his mind.

Agony knifed through his gut. Kaid leaned into the sudden ache with a stifled grunt.

He waited for a moment until it passed before straightening, only to have it happen again. This cramp was far more vicious and made his mouth water with the need to be sick.

A cry came from where he’d left the women. He shoved himself upright and ran toward the shoreline. Both women were doubled over with their arms folded against their stomachs.

Donnan staggered out of the trees with one hand pressed to his stomach, the other holding his blade. His eyes lit on Kaid, and he let his sword dip to the ground where the tip dragged as he continued to march forward.

“All of us?” Donnan asked in a ragged voice. His face was pale and sweat gleamed on his brow.

Kaid nodded.

Leasa gave a squeal of discomfort and toppled to the ground. Elizabeth stepped toward her, but it was Donnan who straightened and lifted her into his arms. “I knew I shouldna have trusted that venison merchant.” He carried Leasa toward the carriage with a limping gait.

Elizabeth looked just as wan as her maid. Still, she remained upright, though the waves around her face were now plastered against her brow and cheeks.

Kaid moved to her side and took her arm. She faltered. “I can…” Breath wheezed from her. “I’m fine.” She shook her head.

She looked anything but fine.

A fresh blade of anguish lanced through Kaid, but he was able to resist giving in to it this time. Elizabeth might be playing at being strong, but she seemed about to collapse.

She gave a choked gasp and tugged at the front of her bodice. “So tight.”

She took another step, stumbled, and started to tilt.

Kaid caught her before any part of her had a chance to touch the grassy bank of the loch. His body clenched around another cramp, but he did not let his grip on her loosen. “I’ve got ye, lass.”

She pursed her lips, and she turned her face into his chest. She was suffering from another attack as well, and took it better than he had assumed any noblewoman ever could.

“Not the coach.” Her breath came fast and short between her words. “Please.”

Truth be told, he didn’t know if he could have lifted her into the coach even if she wanted to be there. He set her as gently as he could in the shade of the coach. Leasa and Donnan were already there, both still, both unnervingly pale.

Kaid knew he should stay awake, perhaps go get a healer, make his way to the village for help.

Everything screamed in agony. His guts, his bones, his head, even his flesh.

He lay on his stomach, where the pressure of the ground against his body eased the cramping and the moist, cool earth pressed to his hot skin.

His eyes closed, though he willed them not to. Awake was pain, but it was necessary. Sleep was comfortable, a reprieve.

He lifted his brows in an effort to also drag his eyelids upward. The world blurred against his squinted vision, greens and golds and blues, all shooting into his brain like splinters of cathedral glass, and he clamped his eyes shut against it.

He should stay awake.

It was his last thought before the bliss of sleep slipped him away from his discomfort.

He did not stay asleep though, and woke in snatches of time.

The groan of someone nearby.

Then sleep.

The fading of the warm sun against his face.

Darkness.

Then sleep.

A rasping voice calling for water.

Water.

He swallowed at the thought and found his mouth so dry, his throat near stuck against itself. His tongue was thick, and the burn of thirst was almost as great as the spasms left behind by the bad venison.

The voice called for water again and again until finally he dragged himself from the welcoming clutches of slumber.

The sky was lit with the glow of a thousand stars. He crawled toward the flask. He wasn’t aware he was doing it until he noticed the rocks scraping and rolling beneath his abdomen.

Elizabeth pushed a clumsy hand toward him and knocked the flask from his grasp. It tumbled from his loose hold and landed with a splat. The ale glugged out from it in great, jerking gushes.

Elizabeth stammered out an apology, then licked her lips.

Though she didn’t say it, she was thirsty. They all were.

Kaid staggered to his feet and stumbled over slanted earth to where the loch licked the shore. He all but fell into it in his clumsy attempt to fill the flask. The water undulated like a pool of ink with bits of moonlight shattered over its surface.

He let it wash over his lips, bathing them in the cool wetness, and then he drank. Gulp after greedy gulp of icy water slaked the thirst burning in his throat.

His eyes closed a moment.

Just a moment.

Comfortable darkness beckoned him and then a severe jag of hurt sliced through him, pulling him from the threat of sleep and launching him toward his goal. He shuffled those several feet back to camp with his back hunched and the flask of water cradled to his clenching stomach as if it were treasure.

For surely it was.

Elizabeth’s face was relaxed in her slumber. She looked so peaceful, angelic almost. He didn’t want to wake her.

Droplets of water dribbled from the top of the flask and fell toward her like loosed diamonds.

She blinked. “Water.” Her voice cracked in a dry whisper.

He passed her the flask, and she drank with a savage thirst like a warrior just off the battlefield.

Were he not so damn sick, he might crack a smile at it.

But it was not only Elizabeth who needed water. Leasa and Donnan echoed her pleas. As soon as Elizabeth had drunk her fill, he brought the flask to Leasa and then to Donnan, knowing he would want the lass to drink before him.

The horses whinnied in the distance, but Kaid took comfort in knowing they’d been tethered with stays long enough to reach both loch and grass.

At long last, with a body cowed beneath the knifing agony, Kaid settled on the ground near Elizabeth so he could be near enough to protect her.

He pulled the vial from the pouch at his waist. How it had not become lost in the laborious task of procuring water, he did not know, but was grateful.

His fingers shook.

This would be the last dose until they could return to Ardvreck Castle.

The last.

The words echoed ominously in his mind, reminding him again and again of the horror he would soon face without its aid.

He unstoppered the bottle and tossed the remaining contents into his mouth.

It was bitter and beautiful at all once.

His eyes fluttered closed and he waited for relief.

And it came, for a while, before he woke with such illness as he had never experienced. Agony knifed through his insides and everything whirled around him, too fast and too chaotic for him to hold on. His body shivered and clenched. Sweat blanketed his skin and did nothing but set the chill even deeper into his aching bones.

He shut out everything and kept his face pressed into the cold, wet ground, waiting for the pain to stop.