Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Works for me,” Hugh says smiling happily. “I told you weeks ago we should’ve taken him out. My plan would’ve worked if you were smart enough to help.”
“Watch your mouth,” Cormac growls. “It’s your fault we’re resorting to this desperation. If you hadn’t tried such a stupid attempt on his life, we’d have more subtle options.”
“Subtle, how? Like your poisoning plan?”
“The poison works, boy. You know it does and you should be thanking me for making it happen. Goldie’s given you absolutely everything and Orin was stupid enough to go along with it because he was too damn myopic to imagine his own brother would be the one slowly driving his wife insane.”
“At least until this gardening bitch ruined all our fun.” Hugh turns to me and winks. “Isn’t that right?”
I stare at him and feel my stomach twist into knots. It’s like I’m seeing him from a distance at the bottom of a deep well and he’s a tiny dot up above. I try to move my mouth, but I can’t. I think it’s swollen shut.
“Speak up, girl,” Cormac snaps. “Answer my son or he’ll start hitting you again and I know you don’t want that.”
“I don’t—” I start and stop. “I don’t know—” I clear my throat. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Hugh laughs. “Listen to her, Dad. I don’t know what you mean.” He rolls his eyes. “We all know what you did to Orin, gardener girl. Honestly, it was relief when it finally happened and I was glad when you did it, but really, you could’ve at least tried not to make such a mess.”
“Wasn’t clean,” Cormac agreed, glaring at me.
I’m spinning. Falling, dropping down below. “I don’t know—”
Hugh hits me hard. Once, twice, three times. I groan, head lolling, seeing stars. My vision clears a few moments later as he pulls my hair and stares into my eyes, smiling the whole time like we’re discussing the weather.
“You know what I’m talking about,” he whispers in my face. “Admit it.”
“I can’t.”
“Hugh,” Cormac warns.
Hugh chuckles and releases my hair. “Then we’ll just have to wait for Kellen. Maybe he’ll get you talking.”
He hits me again then sits back to wait.
Chapter 24
Kellen
I crouch down in the darkness of the bushes with Finn and Angus. Both men are armed and quiet, and the tension of the minutes before gunfire lingers in the air between us, electrifying everything. Ahead, Tara’s cottage is quiet, but the lights are on—and they shouldn’t be.
“How many?” I whisper, staring at the door like it might gracefully open and Tara might walk out as a free and happy woman.
But I know better. I know how these things end.
With blood, only with blood.
I don’t know any other way.
“Seven at last count,” Finn whispers back. “We’re double-checking, but I’m fairly positive.”
“Only seven?” I frown, shaking my head. “That makes no sense. They know we have twice that and they’re trapped inside.”
“They’ve got Tara,” Angus says and grunts. “Hostage.”
My fingers dig into the dirt and I take a breath. Rory should be in there too, but there’s been no sign of him so far. At this point, I have to assume he’s dead, which leaves a raw and rotten wound in my soul like a burn through my flesh. Rory was a good man, a loyal soldier, and a friend. And now he’s gone.
“I’ll go in.” I start to stand but Finn pulls me back down.
“That’s what they want,” he says, shaking his head. “We have to hit the place hard all at once. Front and back. Shoot to kill, no hesitating. We can smoke it out—”
“Too dangerous,” I say and shrug him off. “Tara’s in there and she’s alive. I won’t risk it. The smoke will cause chaos, and you know how bad things happen in chaos.”
“Hugh’s in there too. We can end this now if we go in.”
“No,” I say sharply. “I’d rather let Hugh escape than risk Tara dying.”
“That’s what he’s banking on.” Finn grabs my shoulder and squeezes it. “You’re not thinking straight. I know how you feel about her—”
“You don’t,” I say, glaring at him.
“You love her.”
I drag in a breath and feel it like a knife in my guts. If thinking of Rory is like death in my mouth then thinking of Tara is life. She’s the reason I can keep going through all this, and without her, there’s no fucking point to any of it. Before, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her—I was angry, I hated her, I missed my sister—but now I see Tara’s so much more like me than anyone else ever has been. She fits, she fills in my cracks, she makes me whole. If that’s love—then I’m in love.
“I can’t let her die.” I stare at my hands, at my worthless murdering hands, and know this is the right decision. Deep in my soul, it’s right—because letting her die for the sake of my selfish mission would be like cutting off a piece of my own flesh.