Chapter 29

"Dae ye think ye can defeat us with three men?" Aaden asked, his hand curled tightly around his blade. "We outnumber ye by far."

"The moment ye give an order is the moment our dear Lilith dies," Ruadh said as he pressed the blade even more firmly against her throat. "Dae ye think ye can get tae me ‘afore I kill her? Dae ye wish tae risk it?"

Ruadh knew, of course, that none of them would risk Lilith's life like this. It didn't matter that there were ten of them and only four of the other party. Even if they outnumbered Ruadh and his men, he still had the upper hand as long as he had Lilith under threat.

"Husband, please." Aaden's mother took a few steps forward before Evander stopped her, grabbing her arm to pull her back. He stood next to her like a sentinel, watching his father and his men like a hawk. "See reason. That is an innocent lass. What has she ever done tae deserve this?"

"Ye shut yer mouth, wife," Ruadh said, spitting out the last word with malice. Aaden couldn't help but wonder if this was how he had always spoken to his mother after finding out the truth about her or if he had simply had enough of hiding his true self now and was letting everyone see him for the monster he was. "I kent ye would find this place sooner or later. We were lucky tae find Lilith when we did. She was just about tae reveal herself tae ye. Tell me, did Evander lead ye here?"

"Aye, I did," said Evander without a moment's hesitation. "O' course I did. Did ye think I would let ye torture Maither like this?"

Ruadh rolled his eyes with a scoff. "Always yer maither's son. I've done everythin' fer ye an' this is how ye repay me?"

"What does any o' it matter when ye've been keepin' Maither a prisoner?" Evander asked. "What if I went against yer orders? Would ye imprison me, too?"

For a few moments, Ruadh didn't speak. When he finally did, he tried a gentler approach, his tone turning into a soothing one. "We can discuss all this once these people surrender. Lay down yer weapons."

"Let Lilith go first," said Aaden, though he knew there was little chance Ruadh would agree to this compromise. Even if they laid down their weapons, they would still have a chance to pick them back up or even fight without them, since there were so many of them. Predictably, Ruadh only laughed as though he found the mere suggestion hilarious.

Evander, though, was far from done, it seemed.

"Why?" he cried out. "Why would ye dae all this? What could possibly be worth this?"

"It was necessary," Ruadh said with laborious patience, as though he was trying to explain something incomprehensible to a child. "It is fer the greater good, Evander. Once ye're the laird o' our clan, ye'll understand that some things are necessary."

"Necessary?" Evander scoffed, shaking his head in disappointment. "How could any o' this be necessary? If ye think that I would imprison me wife, the maither o' me child, then ye're mistaken, Faither. I cannae understand how even ye could dae such a thing."

Evander's words enraged Ruadh and the angrier he got, the more he pressed his blade against Lilith's throat. Aaden looked around him, trying to find some sort of opening that he could exploit to pull her to safety, but Ruadh was holding her close to him, giving her no leeway, and his men stood close, armed to the teeth. They would need a coordinated attack if they were going to fight them without putting Lilith in danger, but Aaden couldn't see a way to achieve such a thing silently.

Perhaps he had to wait for Laird Stewart's men, who had trained with each other and knew how each other operated. Cameron was a capable man. As their leader, maybe he would find a way.

He couldn't see a different way out of this. They refused to lower their weapons and Ruadh refused to let go of Lilith, so this could only end in bloodshed.

"Ye dinnae ken what it means tae be betrayed by the people who are meant tae be the closest tae ye," said Ruadh, his gaze pinned on his wife.

"Dinnae I?" asked Evander. "What is it that ye're doin' now?"

"Ye call this betrayal?" Ruadh roared, jostling Lilith roughly as he took a step forward. The blade nicked her skin, a drop of blood dripping down her pale skin, and a whimper escaped her as her eyes closed once more. Aaden took a step forward, too, on instinct, but then stopped himself. What was he going to do? He could hardly get to Ruadh before he could slice Lilith's throat. "I was the one who was betrayed! I was betrayed by me wife, I was betrayed by me braither, an' now I'm betrayed by me own son! I gave ye everythin'… everythin'! How dare ye act like she is the victim here?"

Even Evander was rendered speechless then by his father's audacity. For a few moments, no one spoke. There was nothing around them but the sound of the rustling leaves and the birds that tittered nearby as they flew from branch to branch.

It was Lilith who broke that silence, swallowing nervously before speaking. "If ye wished fer revenge, why did ye plan tae give Aaden such a good life?"

It was a question Aaden had asked himself many times. The only answer he had ever managed to come up with was that Ruadh was planning something else, too, something that would take everything from him once again, once the time would be right.

"Ye could have had Evander ask fer me hand," Lilith pointed out. "Or ye could have found some other way. Why give Aaden me hand? Why give him the clan an' the land an' the gold?"

"Ye shut yer mouth, too," Ruadh growled, glaring down at Lilith. "Or ye will end up in the ground."

"Lilith, please," said Laird Stewart, shaking his head. "Please, dinnae antagonize him. It isnae worth it."

"I'd listen tae yer faither if I were ye," said Ruadh. "He is a wise man."

"Answer the question, Faither." There was no stopping Evander now that he had begun demanding explanations. His desire for the truth would not be satiated until everything was revealed. "What were ye plannin'? Were ye goin' tae kill Aaden?"

With a sigh, Ruadh turned his gaze to the sky in exasperation, taking a moment to close his eyes. When he looked at his son once more, the mask had slipped entirely off his face, revealing the real man underneath.

"O' course I was goin' tae kill him," he said. "I was goin' tae kill him an' I was goin' tae kill this wench, too. What use would they be tae us, Evander? Think fer once in yer life. Imagine the power ye would have had with the two o' them gone. Like I said, everythin' I dae is fer ye. It's all fer the legacy, it's all so our family can finally have the power it deserves."

Evander's features twisted in disgust. Any love he had once held for his father, any hope that he wasn't the man everyone claimed he was had now been drained from him, leaving behind nothing but hatred and contempt. Aaden knew that look well—he had borne it too, many times in the past. It seemed easy for Ruadh to inspire revulsion in others.

"Ye're a monster," Lilith said through gritted teeth, her eyes rolling to the side of their sockets as she tried to glare at him.

"Another word from ye an' I will kill ye," Ruadh warned. "I dinnae wish tae hear ye speak again."

"Give up, uncle," Aaden said. "Ye're outnumbered. Laird Stewart's men have ye surrounded. What will ye dae?"

"If any o' ye approaches, I will slit Lilith's throat an' ye will watch her bleed like a pig," Ruadh said. Then, his gaze snapped to Evander. "Evander! Come here. Yer place is by me side."

Evander didn't move. He only stared coldly at his father, and Aaden placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding.

"Ye're doin' the right thing," he said. "Remember this. This is how it is supposed tae be."

Instantly, Ruadh's anger painted his face a deep crimson, the blood rushing to his head upon realizing that Evander was not going to join his side. Soon, though, he turned his ire to Aaden instead, though Aaden didn't know if it was simply out of habit or if he truly thought he had poisoned his son's mind with his ideals.

"Ye're a good fer naething bastard!" he said, pointing at him with his knife. "Had I kent she was pregnant with ye, I would have slaughtered ye in her belly. I should have killed ye both a long time ago!"

Aaden hardly heard anything Ruadh said then. All his focus was on that knife and on the fact that it wasn't pressed against Lilith's throat anymore. In his fury, Ruadh had been so distracted that he seemed to have forgotten all about her and his threats.

Just as he took a step forward to attack, though, Lilith stomped hard on Ruadh's foot, tearing a scream out of the man. For a moment, he lost his focus and his grip on her, but a moment was all Lilith needed to dash away from him and his men and reach the safety of Aaden's arms.

None of Ruadh's men followed, knowing they couldn't easily reach Lilith without falling dead on an enemy's sword. Ruadh, though, was not as cautious in his rage. He ran after Lilith, raising his blade as if to strike her in the back and Aaden tightened his grip on her, twisting around so that he would be the one to receive the blow.

At the same time, he saw a flash of beige from the corner of his eye and looked over his shoulder to see his mother, her dress fluttering in the wind, putting herself between himself and Ruadh to shield him and Lilith.

"Maither!" he shouted. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to save her. Ruadh was so close that all he needed to do was swing his blade and it would lodge itself in her heart, taking her life.

Suddenly, though, Ruadh came to a halt, a gasp escaping his lips. Then, blood trickled out of his mouth and Aaden lowered his gaze to see Evander's blade in his chest, pushed in deep.

It was a killing blow. There was no way for Ruadh to survive such a wound. Evander must have pierced him straight to the lung.

As Ruadh collapsed to the ground, taking his last shuddering breaths, Evander collapsed along with him, holding his father in his arms. His hand pressed tightly over the wound, even though he must have known any effort to save him would be in vain, and he looked at the blood that fountained out of Ruadh's chest with wide eyes, the horror of what he had done descending upon him like a harpy.

No one spoke. What was there to say? What could ever comfort him after he had taken his own father's life—even if his father was a cruel man?

"F-faither," Evander said, giving the man a gentle shake. Ruadh's eyes were already glazed over by then, glassy with death, and his chest had stopped moving. Still, Evander held onto him, his hands and his clothes drenched in blood, the crimson a startling contrast to his now pallid skin.

It was his mother who approached him first. She didn't care about the blood as she took hold of Evander and pulled him away from his father's corpse, forcing him to look the other way. Aaden could see that she was speaking to him, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. Something just for his own ears, perhaps, or even nothing more than empty reassurances.

It didn't take long for Ruadh's men to drop their weapons, knowing they had no real reason to fight anymore. Their laird was dead and the man who would inherit the title had killed him and was currently in no state to give orders. If they fought, they would surely die, and they were smarter than to throw their lives away like that.

Some of Laird Stewart's men did quick work of apprehending them—an easy task, since they weren't fighting back. It was more out of formality than anything else, Aaden knew. Eventually, they would be released.

In his arms, Lilith was still shaking, though Aaden supposed it would be stranger if she were calm. He pulled back just enough to look at her, placing a hand on each side of her face, his thumbs tracing small circles on the tops of her cheekbones.

"Are ye alright?" he asked. "Are ye hurt?"

"I'm fine," Lilith assured him, giving him a small, shaky smile. Though the ordeal had left her rattled, her blue eyes were dry and clear, showing no signs of distress. "Ye should go tae yer Maither. She needs ye now."

"But ye?—"

"I must speak with me faither, too," Lilith said, leaning in to press a quick kiss to the corner of his lips. "Go. I willnae be far."

Aaden couldn't help but be reluctant as he slowly let go of Lilith. After seeing her with that knife pressed against her throat, he never wanted to let her out of his sight again. Lilith was right, though; he did need to speak to his mother, to see that she, too, was alright.

She stood with Evander a little way away from the rest of the group, the two of them silent, only holding onto each other. When Aaden approached, he saw that Evander had stopped trembling, but he wasn't in much of a better shape than before.

It had been necessary, but Aaden still wished it could have been done by someone else. It would have been preferable if he or one of Laird Stewart's men had killed Ruadh, just to spare Evander the trauma. No matter what Evander had done in his life, he didn't deserve the pain that came with killing his own blood. Aaden had never thought much of Evander, thinking that he would always choose personal gain over anything else, but when it truly mattered, he had stepped up. He had done the right thing, going against his father's wishes.

"Are ye alright?" Aaden asked them both. Evander stood there, speechless, but his mother let go of him for a moment to hug Aaden once more.

It was a silly question. Neither of them was fine, and Aaden could see it in the bruises and the cuts on his mother's arms, in the vacant expression Evander wore. He hoped that with time, though, all their wounds would fade.

"We will be," his mother assured him. "Dinnae fash. Everythin' is over now."

"Aye," said Aaden. "We can all go home."

"Will ye come home, too?" his mother asked, brushing a stray strand of hair out of his face with a gentle hand.

Aaden nodded. "All o' us."

The relief on his mother's face was palpable. She grabbed him and pulled him into another hug with one arm while doing the same with Evander, as if they were still boys, though now she could only reach that far around their torsos. Still, she squeezed them both fiercely, with a strength that surprised Aaden. When they broke apart, the three of them walked back to the rest of the group, so they could all leave the estate. By then, Laird Stewart's men had already gathered Ruadh's body, though the grass was still stained with his blood.

"It's difficult tae see ye're nae me wee lassie anymore," Laird Stewart told Lilith, and Aaden could have sworn he saw a tear trickle down the corner of his eye before he quickly looked away. "But ye're right, it's time fer ye tae grow up. Or rather, it's time fer me tae accept it."

"Ach, Faither," Lilith said, rolling her eyes fondly at him. "I'll always be yer wee lassie. An' I'll always need ye."

Laird Stewart gave her a smile filled with warmth and pressed a kiss to her forehead, before turning to face Aaden and Evander.

"Thank ye," he said. "Ye saved me daughter's life."

"I would dae anythin' fer Lilith, me laird," Aaden said, taking the opportunity to try his luck with the man. "I ken that I deceived ye an' I came tae ye under false pretenses, but I truly love yer daughter. I dae. An' I still wish tae wed her if ye would allow it."

Everyone seemed to hold their breath in that moment, waiting for Laird Stewart's response. After a few moments, the man nodded and relief washed over Aaden, a relief so powerful it was almost overwhelming.

"If me daughter still wishes tae wed ye, then I will give ye me blessin'," said Laird Stewart.

"I dae," Lilith rushed to say, a wide smile spreading over her lips. "Ach, I dae, Faither. Thank ye."

As Aaden's mother walked over to Lilith, hugging her and welcoming her to the family, Aaden turned to his cousin instead—or, he supposed, his half-brother. Though he had long known of their relationship, he had always thought of Evander as his cousin, but now that the truth was out, he would have to get used to calling him what he truly was.

"I hope ye'll decide tae be a better laird, a better man than yer faither," he told him.

"I will be," said Evander, with such conviction that Aaden had no choice but to believe him. "Trust me, I willnae end up like him. I swear it."

With a pat on Evander's back, Aaden pulled him towards the rest of the group. Evander had grown much in only a few hours, the circumstances requiring him to take control of his life, and by now, he must have felt exhausted, Aaden thought.

They would all have time to rest. Once they were back at Castle Stewart, everything would fall into place.