Page 58 of Saved By the Cruel Highlander
“Aye, a beast with a beastly scar,” Felix continued.
Laird McKinnon stepped forward, and Elias stuck out his arm to hold him back.
“Aye, dinnae bother,” Felix said, still crouched on the mattress. “He wants to kill me himself.”
“Aye, and that is what I’m tryin’ to save ye from,” Ruben said. “The way ye’re talkin’ is only goin’ to make it worse for ye. He has every right to kill ye, Grant. I’m only tryin’ to save him thetrouble of torturin’ ye, which ye fully deserve. Yet, ye dinnae warrant the time or energy it would take.”
“Curse ye both and yer families,” Felix spat. “Curse yer clans and yer castles. Curse the ground ye walk on, and curse the dreams in yer sleep. And curse ye, Elias McAllister. Curse ye for takin’ what was mine.”
“She wasnae yers,” Elias told him. “She was never yers. That’s what made it so easy for ye, is it nae? I cannae imagine that a man could kill somethin’ that was his. Dinnae claim Holly was yers when ye meant to kill her.”
Felix looked down again, his eyes boring a hole in the floor.
“At least be a man and admit what ye meant to do,” Elias told him. “Ye were goin’ to wed her, and then ye were goin’ to poison her, were ye nae?”
“What is it to ye?” Felix grumbled.
“She’s to bemewife, so it is everythin’ to me,” Elias replied. The muscles in his back tightened. “If ye come after me clan, ye come after me. If ye attack me betrothed, it’s personal. Ye mean nothin’ to me, but she does. Be a man and admit that ye wanted to kill her and take her money.”
Felix chuckled. “She’s gone now, so what does it matter?”
“She was always gone,” Elias pointed out.
“Nae Holly, ye rat,” Felix replied. “Do ye ken what it is to love someone?”
Elias had loved his brother once until he’d learned the truth and had been forced to kill him. He couldn’t reply to the question.
“If ye kenned, ye would have answered the question by now,” Felix told him. He looked up again, his eyes even darker than before. “Aye, I would have poisoned her. I would have done it slowly and nursed her through it until she died, and they all would have looked at me as a hero. Then, I would finally be with the one I loved. But that willnae happen now, will it?”
“And if I let ye go?” Elias asked.
“If ye let me go?” Felix chuckled darkly, the sound catching in his throat. “Ye’ll nae, but let’s play yer game. If ye let me go, I will find a way to kill her, and then to kill ye, and I’ll kill anyone else who gets in me way.”
Laird McKinnon sighed and shook his head.
“That is how it’s goin’ to be?” Elias asked.
Felix suddenly pushed himself to his feet, the back of his ragged brown shirt scraping against the stone. Ruben took half a step backward, but Elias did not. He stared into the man’s eyes and saw his fate in them.
Felix nodded. His demeanor changed in an instant. Although darkness remained around and in his eyes, his body straightened in one last burst of energy. He kicked forward with one foot, then the other, and lunged at Elias.
Elias’s movements were lightning quick as Felix charged at him. In one fluid motion, he pulled his dirk from its sheath and held it out, pointing it at Felix’s heart. Felix did the rest, reaching out for Elias as the blade cut through skin and ribs. Elias raised his other hand to buffer Felix’s momentum, stepping back slightly before he dove forward and drove his dirk into him, slamming him into the back wall.
Felix was already dead.
Elias held him against the wall as a memory surged in his mind. He saw himself standing over his brother, blood everywhere. Felix had the same look in his eyes right before he lunged. It was the look of a man on a murderous rampage, convinced that he was right and just in what he did.
Elias felt a hand on his shoulder, and he pulled the dirk from Felix’s chest, wiping it on the man’s shirt before he dropped to the ground.
Elias sheathed his dirk and turned to look at Ruben.
“Good,” Laird McKinnon said. “He deserved it, and we didnae need to hear any more of his ramblin’.”
“Aye,” Elias agreed. “He deserved to die for what he could have done. His heart was blackened by his greed.”
And his love of another.
“Now,” Laird McKinnon said. “I shallnae waste me trip to the castle on only this nasty business. I would very much like to meet the fine woman who not only drove that insane ruffian to murderous thoughts but also drove one of the most hardened lairds in the country to such valor.”
