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Chapter Thirty-One

Kirk’s hand tightened so hard around the blood-soaked dagger in his palm that his knuckles cracked.

“Logan. What are ye doing here?”

Logan eased to a halt. He held his dagger in a light grip, with his arm relaxed by his side.

Nevertheless, Kirk didn’t lower his blade. He was not too proud to admit that Logan was better with throwing daggers than he was. The man had been in the Order for five years, based on what he’d told Kirk beside Loch Inchmahome. He was fast—lethally so—and though Kirk trusted that Logan wasn’t evil, his position when it came to the Order still remained unclear.

“I ran into Roland on my way south after speaking with ye,” Logan said slowly.

“Aye, I ken.”

“He told me to come to this safe house to collect my portion of the bounty on the lass’s head from Roland’s clients.” Logan’s gaze flicked over Kirk’s shoulder, and it was all Kirk could to do keep from shifting more fully in front of Lillian .

“I told him I didnae need my share, since ye wouldnae let me relieve ye,” Logan went on. “But Roland insisted that I retrieve it—to keep up the animosity between fellow bounty hunters, I assume, or mayhap to have me check on ye once more.”

Logan took a casual sidestep, his flinty gaze landing on the abbey and the bodies inside.

“And now I find ye like this.”

“I can explain,” Kirk said, “but there isnae time.”

There was never enough time. Desperation clawed at Kirk’s throat. Roland was still too close. He’d ridden away from the abbey less than a quarter of an hour ago. If he chose to turn around, to check on Kirk himself, or to simply return to speak with his clients again, Kirk would be found out, and all would be lost. They would kill him, aye, but they’d take Lillian, too.

Kirk gripped his dagger even tighter. The thought sickened him, but he would kill Logan if he stood in the way of getting Lillian to safety.

“I think ye’d better make time, man,” Logan said lowly. “If Roland comes upon ye like this—”

“Aye,” Kirk snapped. “Then I’m a dead man. Which is why I need to get Lillian out of here—now.”

“Ye are a dead man already.” Logan’s gaze once again flicked to Lillian before returning to Kirk. He thought for a fleeting moment he saw Logan’s steely eyes soften with sadness. “Ye’ve crossed Roland. No one survives that.”

Nay, Kirk could not kill Logan. The man was a bounty hunter, aye, and it seemed all men in this line of work had darkness hanging over them. But over the grueling months of training at the Compound, the harsh conditions, and the isolation, Logan had become far more than a strategic asset—he’d become a friend.

And Logan wasn’t there by choice. His sister was being used to hold him in the service of the Order. Kirk saw himself reflected in Logan’s hard, sad stare. Neither one of them wanted a life within the Order. They were both bound by responsibility—and mayhap they both still had a chance to escape Roland Gervais’s web.

A thought pricked at the back of Kirk’s mind. It was risky. It was unlikely to succeed. But it was better than making Logan his enemy, then trying to free himself from Roland alone.

“I havenae told ye the truth,” Kirk said softly. He glanced over his shoulder at Lillian. “Either one of ye.” His stomach roiled with fear at what he was about to say, but it was the only play left available to him.

He turned his gaze back to Logan, who was now watching him closely. “Ye warned me before no’ to develop attachments, no’ to care.”

“Aye,” Logan replied carefully.

“Ye have suffered for love of yer sister,” Kirk went on. “The Order will use innocents—will use anyone —to force loyalty.”

Logan nodded silently, his eyes wary on Kirk.

“Do ye remember what I said to ye by Loch Inchmahome after ye told me about yer sister? ”

“Ye said that there were larger forces at work against the Order,” Logan replied, his brows lowering. “Ye said that ye couldnae say more without endangering me.”

Lillian inhaled sharply behind him. “You said the same to me,” she murmured. “Kirk…you said something about Roland coming for you…or the Bruce…”

He could practically hear the finely tuned gears inside her head working. “Aye,” he breathed. “Aye.”

She gasped again, and he knew she finally understood. But Logan still stood uneasily before them, his gaze hard and narrowed.

“What are ye saying, man?” he rasped.

“I…”

This was it. His last play to escape a grizzly end at Roland’s hands, or a traitor’s death at the Bruce’s for turning Lillian over. It meant betraying his greatest secret, but it also meant the slim chance of Lillian’s safety—and an even slimmer chance of staying alive.

“I was sent to join the Order by Robert the Bruce—to infiltrate it as a spy, so that it could be destroyed.”

Logan stiffened, and for one long, terrible heartbeat, Kirk thought it was all over. Logan would throw the dagger in his hand, aiming for the kill shot the Order so rarely allowed. For a traitor and a spy, it would be a fitting, justified end.

But the dagger remained in Logan’s hand. He still stood tensed as if ready to strike at any moment, though .

“What?”

The need to flee, to put as much distance between Lillian and Roland as he could, gnawed at Kirk’s gut, but if he wanted to get her out of this alive, he needed to take these precious seconds to explain.

“I served under the Bruce’s brother in Ireland, just as I said. And after the disastrous siege of Carrickfergus, I did indeed lose my faith in the cause—in the Bruce.”

He looked between Logan and Lillian. Lillian’s eyes were dark and wide in the low light. Logan remained rooted in place, a hard frown on his face.

“I began to cause trouble in Ireland—questioning orders and spreading my discontent to the men I was supposed to be leading. So the Bruce called me back to Scotland. I thought I was meant to die for my insolence, and I even contemplated deserting like a coward.”

Kirk swallowed the shame of those words, forcing himself to go on. “But I’d actually been called back for a special mission. The Bruce selected me to infiltrate the Order, which has thwarted several of his efforts to liberate Scotland and protect our people.”

He turned to Lillian. “There are others like ye, lass. Others who needed protection from the English. The Bruce created an elite group of warriors to serve as bodyguards.”

Her eyes widened even more. “The Bodyguard Corps. Will Sinclair told me.”

“Aye,” Kirk said. “The Bruce asked me to join, but with the purpose of seeing a specific mission done—to destroy the Order of the Shadow. It meant saving countless lives threatened by those who hire the Order’s services, those who would see Scotland under English rule once more and destroy any chance of peace or freedom.”

Kirk returned his gaze to Logan. “The Bruce kenned yer name, Logan—ye crossed paths with one of the members of the Bodyguard Corps last year.”

Logan flinched slightly. “I was sent to kidnap an English lass named Rosamond Beaumore. She was meant to form a marriage alliance with a Lowlander in the name of peace. Someone—I never ken who pays Roland—wanted the lass dead.” He hesitated. “I incapacitated a man protecting the lass. He was in yer Bodyguard Corps, then?”

“Aye,” Kirk replied. “That was how the Bruce kenned yer name. I havenae met the man, for the Bruce didnae want the others to be able to connect a face with a name in case my mission was compromised. But they gave me yer name and told me to seek ye out once I made my way into the Order’s ranks. I was to use ye for information, to make ye trust me over our shared Highland origins.”

Logan stiffened again, his eyes going hard. “And that is what ye did, apparently.”

“That was how it started, aye,” Kirk said. “And then it was more. Ye helped me survive in the Compound. Ye tried to warn me about taking an assignment. And ye told me of yer sister.”

His features still guarded, Logan shifted on his feet. Kirk drew in a breath to steel himself and take the leap of faith.

“I ken ye are a good man, Logan, an honorable man. Ye wouldnae be in the Order’s clutches if they werenae using yer sister against ye. What if…what if ye had a way out? If ye join me, mayhap we could take down the Order together. Then yer sister would be safe, and ye would be free from the Order’s threats.”

Tension once again crackled in the air. Kirk held his breath as he watched Logan’s brows knit even tighter together, pulling the scar on his left cheek taut.

But in the next heartbeat, Logan exhaled slowly, the rigidity draining from his body.

“Christ, MacLeod,” he murmured. “Are ye mad?”

“Nay,” Kirk replied with a sardonic quirk of his lips. “A fool to think we have a chance, mayhap, but no’ mad.”

“A chance for what?” Lillian asked behind him.

Sensing that Logan would not move to strike against them, Kirk sidestepped so that he could face both of them.

“Roland Gervais is no’ one to cross. He promised to hunt me down and give me a slow and painful death if I failed to deliver ye,” Kirk said. “The Bruce wants ye safe. That’s why he sent Will to protect ye. But I couldnae release ye, as much as I longed to, because Roland would have me killed. And even if I managed to evade him, my mission to learn enough to dismantle the Order wasnae complete yet.”

He reached gently for Lillian’s hand. “I couldnae let them hurt ye, but as soon as Roland realizes I’ve turned against him, he’ll find me.”

“And ye think a better alternative is to take out the entire Order of the Shadow with naught more than the two of us?” Logan interjected.

“I thought to run with Lillian, but as ye said, no one escapes Roland,” Kirk said. “I’d rather get her to safety and face the bastard on my own than be hunted down like a dog. Besides, if I could find and kill him, Roland couldnae hurt any more innocents.”

Lillian squeezed his hand, drawing his gaze back to her. As the weak moon broke through the scuttling clouds overhead, he saw the emotion shimmering in her eyes.

“I knew you had good in you,” she whispered, squeezing his hand again.

Kirk’s heart swelled with pride against his ribs. It felt foreign to act based on honor rather than simply following orders or playing the role of a soulless mercenary. He knew in the face of Lillian’s trusting gaze that he had done right—and that he would keep doing right. After feeling the radiant light of her love, he could never go back to the darkness again.

“And how will ye find Roland?” Logan asked, tugging Kirk’s attention back to the nigh-impossible task ahead .

“I dinnae ken. I assume he runs his business out of that cottage somewhere beyond the Compound, but the only time I’ve been there I was blindfolded on the journey.” He squared his shoulders to Logan, steeling his spine. “Help me find him. His headquarters are within an hour’s ride from the Compound. He’ll likely be there in two days. When I dinnae show up at the Compound by the day after that, no doubt he’ll start looking for me. We’ll have no more than a few days, then.”

Kirk faltered. Hearing himself speak the words made him realize just how unlikely this plan was to succeed. How many skilled, ruthless men did Roland Gervais have at his disposal? How many men had tried and failed to stand against him?

He let out a slow breath through clenched teeth. “If ye dinnae wish to take on Roland with me, I wouldnae hold it against ye. Mayhap ye were right—this is madness. But neither one of us—or the ones we love—will ever be free of the Order if I dinnae do something. Ye can walk away now, Logan, and I willnae—”

Logan held up a hand to silence Kirk. Quiet descended over the forest, broken only by the sound of Kirk’s heart hammering in his ears.

“I am no’ giving my allegiance to the Bruce,” Logan said carefully. “I willnae be trapped into some commitment to fight for yet another man’s cause.”

Kirk nodded, a deflated breath escaping him. Yet Logan continued.

“But I will join ye in taking down Roland, for he is the head of the snake that is the Order of the Shadow. Cut him off, and ye will have destroyed the entire organization.”

Hope surged through Kirk’s veins, hot and urgent. “Ye’ll help me, then?”

“Aye,” Logan replied. He flicked his wrist and the dagger in his hand disappeared up his sleeve. A rare smile curved one side of his mouth, lifting his scar.

Reality descended all too quickly, though. “I dinnae ken how we’ll track Roland down, for we only have a few days before he comes looking for me.”

“That part isnae so hard,” Logan said, his eyes bright with determination. “For I ken where his headquarters are.”

“We can go there now, then,” Lillian said, clutching Kirk’s hand. “He only has a half hour’s lead on us. Mayhap we could even catch him before he reaches his headquarters.”

Kirk locked gazes with Lillian. She wouldn’t like what he had to say next, but there was no room for argument when it came to her safety.

“Nay, Logan and I will be more than a day behind him, for I am taking ye someplace safe.”

“What?” She pulled her hand from his grasp, her delicate brows lowering.

“Where we are going is no place for ye,” Kirk said softly.

Lillian stared at him in disbelief. “You said you would never let me go again.”

“Aye, but I willnae drag ye into this vipers’ den, Lillian,” he replied. “I couldnae live with myself if I put ye in danger yet again.”

“You’ll lose precious time taking me somewhere else,” she shot back. “If Roland makes it all the way back to his headquarters, he’ll be in a far better position to defend against an attack than he is if you manage to catch up with him on his journey.”

Kirk’s heart expanded almost painfully. Despite Lillian’s softness, her gentleness, her loving, trusting heart, there was a fierce warrior contained in her small frame. Love surged through him so strongly that he wanted to fall to his knees before her and never rise, only bask in her light and warmth.

But he could not bend to her on this matter. It was already ridiculous to hope that both he and Logan would come out of this alive. He could not selfishly hold Lillian close if it meant risking her life as well. And if he had to sacrifice himself to ensure Lillian’s safety, then so be it.

“Nay, love,” he murmured, softening the rejection by brushing a thumb along her milky-white cheek.

“Wh-where will you take me?” she asked, her voice tight with emotion.

“The safest place in all of Scotland at the moment,” he replied, letting himself indulge in gazing at her beautiful features for a moment longer. At last he turned to Logan.

“Let us be off,” he said, hardening himself for what lay head. “We ride for Lochmaben.”

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