Page 96 of The Highlander's Virgin Widow
“M’Lady!”
Keira froze and turned in the direction of the voice.
Stella was running toward her at a speed that seemed to signify urgency and danger itself. Keira furrowed her brow as she watched her approach.
“M’Lady,” Stella panted once she got close enough.
“Stella,” Keira returned, her voice firm. “Can ye tell me what’s going on?”
“They’re coming, M’Lady. They’re coming to take ye,” Stella gasped.
Keira’s frown deepened. “Who is coming?”
“They think it was ye who did it. They think it was ye who killed the Laird.”
Keira staggered backward, the shock hitting her like a fallen tree in a forest. Chills ripped through her body as she stood there, her mouth gaping open, Stella’s words ringing in his ears over and over again.
“They think it was ye who killed the Laird.”
“What?!” she finally managed to say, despite the trembling in her knees.
“The news has been spreading around the castle for a while now, M’Lady. Everyone kens that the Laird had some kind of heart failure while he was in bed with ye last night,” Stella explained, her voice meek.
Nay.
Of course, that explained the looks Keira had gotten from the maids today. They knew. They all knew.
“How did it even get out? I thought?—”
“That doesnae matter. I ken ye didnae do anything, but others dinnae think so. Everyone in the Great Hall is angry. The people who attended the cèilidh think ye tried to kill their Laird for power. Like ye…” Stella trailed off.
“Like I what?” Keira prompted, her heart pumping.
Stella swallowed noisily. “Like ye killed the former Laird.”
“There she is!” another voice suddenly rang out in the corridor, interrupting their conversation.
Keira’s eyes snapped up, and she caught Shona walking toward her. Beside her, a tense look on his face, was Hudson.
“Hudson?” she called out, disbelief thick in her voice.
“They’re coming for ye, M’Lady,” Stella whispered one last time, before stepping to the side.
Shona and Hudson stopped right in front of her.
“I kenned ye werenae exactly happy about this wedding. But what I didnae ken was that ye were mad enough to kill him,” Shona snarled, venom spouting from her lips.
“Shona, ye have to believe me,” Keira started, her eyes darting urgently between her and Hudson, who still had a tense look on his face.
“Ye ken what ye have, though? Guts, Keira. Alotof them. Ye should have escaped during the night after ye tried to kill him. Somehow ye’re still here. Are ye trying to see if yer work is done, ye power-hungry witch?”
Keira gasped. Her world was crashing down around her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She gaped at Shona, who continued to rant about how she would do anything to keep the castle, even going so far as to kill any men who tried to take it from her, including her own husband.
“Shona, ye have to understand. I didnae do this. I would never hurt Evander.”
Shona bared her teeth, her eyes flashing with fury. “Was that nae what everyone thought before ye killed the former Laird as well?”
