Never Love a Highlander (McCabe Trilogy #3)(74)

But he turned instead and waved an arrogant hand to one of his men. “Bring Caelen McCabe up from the dungeon. His wife seeks a reunion.”

The knot in her belly grew and fear nearly paralyzed her. She would have to act quick in order to convince Cameron and her father that all she’d said was true. It hurt her to do what she must. It would be the hardest thing she’d ever do, but she had to convince Caelen that she loathed the very sight of him and wanted his death.

All the while she waited, she steeled herself for the sight of her husband. She knew he was injured. He might be near death even now. She couldn’t react, not as a horrified wife.

Rionna wanted to weep. She was beyond exhausted and she was more afraid than she’d ever been in her life.

When they shoved Caelen into the hall, he fell to his knees and she could see his hands were secured behind his back. Before he could look up, she was on her feet. She stalked across the room but just as she reached him, he lifted his gaze to her.

Shock registered in his eyes and he parted his mouth as if about to speak. So she did the only thing she knew to silence him.

She reared back and slapped him as hard as she could across one cheek.

CHAPTER 31

Caelen’s neck snapped back and he barely managed to stay on his knees. He whipped his head back around to stare at his wife. His wife. She stood before him, her eyes spitting fury, while Cameron and Gregor stood behind her looking faintly amused.

“Are you mad?” he demanded. “What are you doing?”

“I’m here to see you die,” she hissed. “If God is willing and with Laird Cameron’s permission, I aim to do the killing myself. ’Twould give me great pleasure to rid myself of you, Caelen McCabe.”

He heard her words. He saw the very real anger in her eyes. But he couldn’t make sense of any of it. Dread crept into his chest until it pained him more than the arrow wound in his back.

It couldn’t be happening again. He couldn’t countenance history repeating itself in such a bizarre manner.

Duncan Cameron came up behind Rionna and slid a hand over her shoulder. “Your wife is here to see you, Caelen. Isn’t that thoughtful of her? She says she wants to be your executioner. What think you of that?”

Before Caelen could muster a response—what could he possibly say to that?—Cameron turned Rionna, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her savagely.

Cold rage seared over Caelen’s body. He could no longer feel the pain of his wound. All he felt was overwhelming fury. His mind was muddled enough that he still couldn’t comprehend the whole of it, but what stared him in the face was betrayal.

Again.

Rionna yanked away from Cameron, slapped him soundly across the face as she’d done to Caelen, and then went for her sword. Cameron grabbed her arm and hauled her up close.

“I’ve already been abused by one man. I’ll not suffer it at the hands of another,” Rionna spat.

Caelen’s brows went up. “Abuse? Is that what you call it, wife?”

Rionna glanced at Caelen, her beautiful, deceitful eyes flashing scornfully. She looked back to Cameron and pulled at her arm. Then she stilled and stared intently into Cameron’s eyes. “You doubt me. ’Twas a test. You doubt that I’m here because I seek the death of the McCabe warrior.”

She wrested her arms from his grip and reached into the folds of her cloak to draw out a scroll. Even from where he knelt, Caelen could see two seals. One was his brother’s. The other belonged to the king.

“I brought this. Know you what this is, Laird Cameron? ’Tis a call to arms from Ewan McCabe. In it are likely detailed battle plans. All you need to know of the coming war. Would I give this to you if ’twas all a trick?”

“Nay!” Caelen roared.

He lunged forward but was restrained on both sides by two of Cameron’s men. He twisted and fought against their strength, but with his hands bound, he could do nothing.

Cameron took the scroll from her hand and turned it over, examining the seals. Without a word, he broke the wax and unrolled the parchment. It took him several minutes to read the contents and when he was done, he carefully rolled it back and then leveled a stare at Caelen.

“It would seem that your wife and clan no longer want you, McCabe.”

Caelen’s nostrils flared and his lip curled as he stared coldly at the woman standing before him. “I have no wife or clan save the McCabes.”

“I have no desire to look upon him any longer. Return him from whatever hole you dragged him from,” Rionna said in an equally cold voice.

“Well ’tis the matter of his death we need to speak on,” Cameron drawled. “ ’Twould seem war is imminent if this message from Ewan McCabe and the king is to be believed. I did hope they’d be more original in their planning, but ’twould appear they favor the straightforward method. I’ll give you a day, my lady. He dies in the morn, and then I must make my own plans in accordance with Ewan McCabe’s.”

Rionna drew her sword and walked slowly toward Caelen. He refused to meet her gaze, refused to acknowledge her at all. His mind was such a mass of rage and confusion that he couldn’t even process what played out before him.

When she reached him, she pressed the point of her blade to his neck, forcing him to look up or have his neck severed.

“I could kill you now,” she said in a voice devoid of emotion. She wore no expression, no indication of what she was thinking. She could be discussing something as mundane as the weather. Her demeanor chilled him to the bone, for ’twas a side of his wife he’d never seen. “But ’twould be too quick.”