Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

A nnabella closed the door to her chamber. It was dark, and she kept her back to the room, when suddenly, there were lips on her neck. She hissed in the pleasure, for he bit into her neck as well, his hands splaying across her waist.

"Ye're here," she whispered. The hands flung her around quickly and she was plastered to the door as Dylan, her husband, stood before her. He smiled, that mischievous smile one of the things she loved about him so much. His fair hair was coiffed back across his head and she threaded her fingers through it, toying with the strands to loosen them.

"Is it all sorted?" he asked, moving to kiss her. She deepened the kiss, trying to make it last for as long as possible, but Dylan pulled back first. "I'm waiting…" he said leadingly.

"It's all sorted," she whispered. "I made sure the laced mead was left in their room. In an hour, they'll be fast asleep."

"Good." He smiled, kissing her again.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to keep him as close as possible, but again he pulled back.

"And it's her?" he said. "It's definitely Laird Cassian's sister?"

"Aye, it's Elara. She is what we need," Annabella said excitedly. "Using her, we can lure Cassian here too. Then both Kaden and Cassian are here. They will both be dead."

"Aye, and the plan that went wrong before will be a thing of the past." Dylan released her and smiled as he walked back across the chamber. Feeling giddy without his touch, she hurried after him, releasing her dark hair from its updo, hoping it made her look more tempting when it was free about her shoulders. "I couldnae believe they werenae in that inn. Nae after all we had done."

"It's a thing of the past now, Dylan," she said comfortingly, laying a hand on his arm as he looked out of the lead-lined window, surveying their clan in the moonlight. "The wrongs will be corrected."

"Ye and I have settled with this land alone fer long enough. Soon, the Lamonts and the Stuarts will be ours too." A greedy sort of smile lifted Dylan's cheeks and Annabella couldn't help smiling back.

The thought of all that wealth, all that land, all those people, made her lightheaded. As masters of three clans, they would be the most powerful laird and lady in Scotland. She moved to Dylan's side, trying to find his lips again. He kissed her, though he didn't linger on that touch, much to her frustration.

"Dylan, please," she begged him.

"Soon," he promised, then chuckled. "elittle dark wife. The night I killed yer faither, ye still made love tae me in this chamber."

"It was the only way, ye made me see that. If we were tae ever get what we wanted, the land we needed, it had tae be done."

"I'm glad ye realized." He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer into his side. "He never would have let us marry. Ye ken that."

"I dae." Annabella nodded eagerly.

She had witnessed it time and time again in her life, how being a woman never got her what she wanted. She always had to bow down to her father's requests, and when she was supposed to marry Kaden, she couldn't even have that either. It was taken away by Kaden.

When she had met Dylan and they had fallen in love, his suggestion of taking other clans for themselves had led her to suggest Kaden's clans as one of their victims. The land adjoined the MacNaughton's clan, so it made sense, but it would also be a chance to revenge herself on the man that had refused her.

I am me own lady of the clan now. I have the power I craved.

The problem was that power was like a good glass of wine. She kept longing for more.

"Kaden will be out cold then?" Dylan asked, clearly wishing to be certain, even as she attempted to draw him back to the bed.

"Aye, he and Elara both."

"Then we have him."

"And soon, we can use Elara tae draw Cassian here too," she said again, drawing Dylan closer and closer to the bed. When they were stood beside it, she reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss. He kissed her, with more passion this time, his fingers digging almost painfully into her hips, though she didn't mind a little pain.

"We'll send a message tae Cassian," Dylan said as he pulled back from the kiss, but she wasn't going to give up now. She pulled him down again.

"But we have tae wait an hour fer the spiced mead tae dae its work first. What can we dae tae pass the time, I wonder?" she asked leadingly, moving back until she was knelt on the bed. When she reached fr the ties of her gown, Dylan beat her to it. He always pulled the laces sharply away from her as they tumbled down to the bed together.

"Soon, ye willnae just be the Lady of the MacNaughton's," he whispered in her ear, kissing and nibbling his way down her neck. She gasped with excitement at his touch and his words. "Ye'll be the Lady of the Lamonts, and the Lady of the Stuarts too."

Elara woke with a start in the bed.

Was that a sound?

It took a minute to orientate herself. She looked around, but the room was so dark, she couldn't make out much at all.

Beside her laid Kaden, his breathing deep and soft in his peaceful slumber. Slowly, she moved her hand to the middle of his bare chest, tapping it softly.

"Kaden, did ye hear that?"

Yet he didn't stir. She poked him, still, he didn't move.

What is going on?

She sat up in bed, her eyes starting to adjust to the darkness. In the slim moonlight that shone through the window, she saw the table of food. She had barely eaten anything, just nibbling a little of the bread and satisfying herself with a cup of water after they had made love. Kaden though had drunk two glasses of mead and eaten much more. The remnants of their food were strewn across the table.

"Kaden?" she whispered, nudging him again, but he still didn't move.

Something's wrong.

After they had made love, they'd eaten, washed and gone to sleep in the bed, tangled in one another's arms. Kaden had pulled on his trews but nothing more, and she wore only a chemise. As Elara tiptoed off the bed, she suddenly felt self-conscious of her state of undress, as if someone else lingered in the corners, watching her.

She brushed off the feeling, reaching for the pewter jug of mead that Kaden had drunk from. She gave it a good sniff, but found the overpowering scent was of the spiced honey liquor. If there had been anything in that jug to put him to sleep, the mead would have masked it perfectly.

She returned to the bed in a rush, kneeling beside him and taking hold of his good shoulder, shaking him.

"Kaden!" she hissed. "Ye have tae wake up now." She even pulled on his arm, forcing his body to kink and sit up ungainly, but he was dead to the world. No amount of manhandling him, clapping in front of his face, or even slapping his chest in alarm could rouse him.

I kenned we couldnae trust her.

Elara's mind darkened as she remembered the way that Annabella had been eager to remind them that there were food and drink was for them to dine on.

Then the sounds which had woken Elara came again. She looked to the door to see the handle move. Elara slipped off the bed. She scrambled around on the floor, searching madly for Kaden's weapon's belt, but in the pile of clothes they had built up, it was impossible to find. She merely reached for the empty pewter which had held the water, holding it high in her hands as the door opened.

A shadowy figure stood in the doorway, so cloaked in blackness she could not see his face.

"Leave," she demanded. "I willnae let ye hurt him." She put herself between the figure and the bed where Kaden laid unconscious.

The dark figure cocked his head to the side, clearly considering her words, then advanced forward.

He produced a dirk, the blade just visible in the moonlight.

"Nay!" Elara yelled as he used the dagger to knock the jug out of her hands. It clattered to the floor loudly. "Kaden?" she shouted for him again, trying to dart around the bed to avoid being hurt, but the figure was too quick.

His hand came up and took hold of her neck. Elara tried to scream, but she could not gasp to do it. Pressed against one of the posts of the bed, her fingers scratched repeatedly at his hand, scoring deep marks into the skin as she tried to beg for release, only croaks escaping her lips.

That shadowy figure tiled his head again, and this time, a slither of moonlight fell across his face. There was a shock of dark blond hair and a face that was scraggy with a trimmed beard. What was most shocking was his size, tall, overbearing and heavily muscular, he was a bear of a man.

"Dinnae kill her," a voice warned form the doorway.

Annabella?

Elara tried to turn her head to look at the doorway, but she couldn't against the vice-like grip on her neck.

"We'll need her alive tae draw Cassian here."

Cassian!?

Elara scrambled even more desperately to be free. Not only were she and Kaden in danger, but now her brother was too.

Abruptly, the hand loosened from her throat. She scampered back along the bed, reaching toward Kaden as she gasped, trying to gulp fresh air, then something sharp hit the back of her head.

"There, she's nae dead, but at least she will be nay bother fer us now," a deep voice said.

Elara tried to keep the shadowy figure in focus, but it was no good. The blow to her head was so shocking, the pain emanated down her neck and into her spine. She crumpled to her knees, doing her best to keep her head up, but it felt like a leaden weight. In the end, she lost that battle, her head slipping to the floor as her mind fell into blackness.