Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 32223 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32223 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
I sigh, giving her a look. “I’m sorry my family is so terrible.”
She just smiles. “Family can be who you choose, you know.”
I bite my lip as I give her hand a squeeze. “Well, I chose this one as mine a long time ago.”
She laughs. “Well, and tomorrow it’ll be official!”
Cat turns away to reach of her wine, and when I glance across the table, I catch Rhona’s eye. She arches her brow, nodding quietly at Cat, and I take a deep breath.
It’s time.
“Hey, Cat, I…”
My friend turns back, her brow raised innocently, waiting for me to continue.
“I have to tell you something.”
Her brow furrows slightly. “Anything. You know you can tell me anything, Iona. What is it?”
I look down, my hands twisting in my lap. “I… um. It’s about the wedding. Well, about your dad. And I just… I mean—”
My horrible stammered words are suddenly cut off with the sharp, loud thunking sound of a piece of metal clanging to the floor of the terrace. All four of us gasp, whirling at the sound. I stare at the metal hook, and when it suddenly jerks back across the ground and clanks against the stone railing overlooking the garden, I suddenly notice the rope attached to it.
Una stands, frowning.
“What in the devil is—”
A man suddenly lunges over the railing, and four of us scream, lunging to our feet and sending wine splashing across the table. My chair falls back as the four of us rush for the doors, but there are more and more men hurdling the railing onto the terrace, and three of them get to the doors that lead back into the castle first.
I scream—or at least, I’m about to scream, when suddenly strong hands grab me, yanking me around as a cloth is shoved across my mouth. I scream anyways, mutely, into the cotton, shuddering, my eyes wide in terror as they dart over the hand clamped over my mouth to see my friends being held by other men in the same way, all of us squirming and trying to break free, but without a prayer of hope. My pulse races as another grappling hook clanks over the side of the terrace, and when this final man pulls himself over the edge, my eyes go wide as he grins wickedly at me.
“Hello granddaughter.”
Chapter 12
Lachlan
She smiles at me, and like every single time I’ve ever seen that smile, it brings a sense of foreboding, and dread. Not joy. Not happiness. No, when Darcy Campbell smiles, it’s the smile of a spider about to ensnare its prey. It’s the smile of creature, plotting its attack.
…She’s up to something, and it’s more than just trying to be the storm cloud on tomorrow’s sunny day, when I marry Iona.
“Wait here,” I growl at my three friends at the doorway to the sitting room where my guards have escorted Darcy. Her entourage of a few guards I’ve made stay outside, because I don’t trust them in the slightest not to try something foolish.
“Lachlan,” Callum says lowly, narrowing his eyes past me at Darcy. “I don’t trust this.”
“Nor do I,” Hamish mutters.
I shake my head. “Let me handle her. Trust me,” I say thinly. “I’ve had practice. She’s up to something. Now it’s time to find out what.”
Tor growls under his breath. “Let me alone with her for five minutes,” he mutters, loud enough for Darcy to hear. She scowls at him, sitting up a little higher in her chair at the table.
“Lovely company you keep these days, Lachlan,” she says icily. “Fraternizing with savages now, are we?”
“Oy, woman!” Tor barks, so sharply that Darcy goes a little white as she sits bolt up-right in her chair.
“I’ll show you savage if you don’t spit out what devilry you’re up to!”
I suppress my smile as Darcy swallows thickly. She turns her gaze to me, narrowing her eyes. “Are we going to speak or not, Lachlan?”
“Aye, Darcy,” I mutter. “Believe me, we’re going to talk.”
I turn back to my friends. “Stay out here. I’ve got this.”
“You sure?” Tor grumbles. “I’m betting I can scare her into pissing herself.”
I chuckle under my breath. “A bet I won’t take, because I’m sure you can.”
“Come now, Lachlan,” Tor says especially loudly. “It’s been far too long since I’ve drank human blood!”
I hear the gasped peep from Darcy behind me, and Hamish and Callum turn away to hide their snorted laughs.
“You’re an arse,” Callum chuckles under his breath.
Tor grins. “Aye, but this is fun.”
“Enough for now,” I chuckle, glancing over my shoulder at the paled, nervous looking Darcy. “Let me find out what she’s after so I can send her on her damn way, and we can get back to dinner.”
Callum nods. “We’ll be out here. Call if you need us.”
I nod, turning and stepping into the room. Darcy’s color seems to come back as I close the door on Tor’s scowling face.