Page 36

C ampbell was well acquainted with anger.

He had been angry when his grandfather first came to take Aiden.

He had hated his grandfather for being cruel and his father for being weak.

He had been enraged when the neighboring clans first started to encroach on his lands.

He had felt insulted that they thought him weak, simply because he was young.

He had become intimately familiar with that volatile emotion, but for the very first time, he understood rage, the type that enveloped his whole body and turned his vision red. It was that anger that led him to push his horse beyond its limits to take him to his dratted grandfather’s castle.

The journey would have taken two days ordinarily, but he made it there before sunset the next evening.

His rage gave him strength that was almost superhuman in its intensity.

Whenever he imagined the boys curled up somewhere dark and cold, shivering in terror, he grew even angrier.

The memory of Mabel’s loud sobs when they first learned that the twins were missing still tore at his heart, pushing him to find the cause of all that pain and stop it.

He barely waited for the horse to stop before dismounting, not waiting for Magnus and his warriors to arrive, even though they were hot on his heels. When he got to the gates, the guards there stopped him from entering.

“Who are ye?” one of them asked.

Campbell’s irritation flared at the questions. He had to remind himself that these guards were just doing their duty.

“Tell yer Laird that his grandson is here to see him,” he gritted out, holding onto the thin thread of his patience.

“Grandson?” The other guard let out a derisive laugh. “If ye are his grandson, then I am the King of Scotland.”

“The Laird had only one grandson, and he is dead. I dinnae ken who ye are, but I suggest ye return home.”

“Tell him that the Laird of Muir is here,” Campbell tried again.

“Muir,” the first guard echoed with a derisive chuckle. “I have never heard of the place. Are ye sure it exists at all? Perhaps ye are making it up.” He turned his back on him.

That last gesture, in combination with their mockery, was the last straw in Campbell’s thin patience.

In the blink of an eye, he pulled back his arm and drove his elbow into the man’s temple, sending him to the ground.

He advanced on the other guards, incapacitating anyone who stood in his way, until finally he and his men were standing in the courtyard in front of the castle.

He gestured for the soldiers to wait outside while he went into the hall.

The hall was busy, just like every castle was, but he spotted his grandfather at the head of the table, enjoying his meal as if he had no care in the world, as if he was not holding some little lads hostage to further his selfish purposes.

The years had not been kind to Laird McCormick. His once brown hair was now completely white, his mustache was the same, and he had deep grooves in his forehead and lines around his mouth that spoke of years of pressing his lips into a stern line.

All in all, even with age, the man still commanded attention like royalty, and it was that bearing of his that annoyed Campbell to no end. He could have used his authority to protect his family. Instead, he was happier tormenting them and separating them for his own purposes.

The man was pure evil, and Campbell was going to make sure that he put an end to his evil as soon as he retrieved the boys.

“Laird McCormick,” he boomed, enjoying the hush that fell over the table. “May I have a word?”

Darragh took his time studying him, squinting his eyes as if he could not quite make out his features, before his eyes widened in surprise.

“Campbell, what are ye doing here?” he asked, his lips thinning. “I warned ye never to come here. Who let ye in?” He looked around at the guards in the hall, fixing them with accusatory looks.

“It isnae the guards’ fault, dinnae blame them. I let meself in. The guards at the gate were… otherwise occupied,” Campbell drawled. “Nay need to replace them. I dinnae plan to stay long. I just came to retrieve something important. I will be on me way soon.”

“What could ye possibly have here?” Darragh asked, his lids lowering as he took a sip from his mug like they were having a tea party instead of an interrogation with an abundance of spectators.

“Darragh,” Campbell growled, bracing his arms on the table. Perhaps the menace in his voice caught his grandfather’s attention because he looked up. “I came for me sons. Release the lads to me.”

“Last I heard, Campbell, ye just got married—hardly enough time for ye to have bairns that are grown enough to be lads.”

“Aiden’s twins, release them to me now,” Campbell gritted out, the wooden table creaking beneath the pressure of his arms.

“I have nay use for Aiden’s bastards. There is nay reason why I would want to have them under me roof,” Darragh answered, doing his best to appear the innocent elderly man who was being accused of a preposterous crime.

Campbell might have believed him if he did not know him well and was not aware of what he was capable of.

“There is nay need to play dumb, Durragh,” he growled. “The game is up. Yer little spy Talia has already told me everything. I ken ye kidnapped the twins and ye are holding them captive.”

“Ye will believe the words of a flighty lass over that of a respected laird?” Durragh scoffed, trying to play the aggrieved party.

“Ye are nay respected laird, Darragh, and I would believe anyone over ye. I ken what ye are capable of.”

“That is why ye are a fool. One who can be easily deceived by a pretty face.

Just like yer braither and yer weakling of a faither.

Yer faither allowed his infatuation with his wife to distract him from his duties to his clan, which was why it was easy to intimidate him.

I had thought to protect Aiden from the same fate, but the fool didnae understand.

He ran away from home to marry that witch, who had nothing except a pretty face.

When I heard of his marriage, I was furious.

It was even more annoying when she gave birth to twins.

That vermin wasnae supposed to contaminate our pristine bloodline.

That was why I sent for her to come here with the bairns for me blessing.

“The lowborn wench had nay brains. She agreed to come, and I sent bandits to attack her. I did not anticipate that Aiden would join her, and the mercenaries I hired werenae thorough enough to check. Bunch of incompetent fellows.”

Campbell felt the color drain from his face as he listened to his grandfather spill his venom very casually, as if he was not confessing to killing his own grandson and his wife.

It was only his grip on the wooden table that prevented him from collapsing to the ground. He had known that his grandfather was a cruel man, but he had not thought him a murderer, one who could kill his own flesh and blood with no ounce of remorse.

He remained frozen in that position as he tried to come to terms with the reality that the man before him could put the devil to shame with his wickedness.

Perhaps it was his shock that alerted Darragh that he had disclosed secret information that Campbell was not previously aware of.

“I thought Talia told ye everything.”

“Ye killed Aiden and Layla,” Campbell said numbly.

“I didnae mean to kill him. I just wanted to save him from the clutches of that witch Layla. How was I supposed to ken that he would follow her?”

“She was his wife. Ye expected him to thank ye for killing the woman he loved?!”

“He would have understood, eventually, when he was nay longer under her influence.”

“Aiden would never have been the same. Ye would prefer an empty grandson to one who was happy?”

“Love makes a fool of most people. He would have thanked me, eventually.” Durragh shrugged, as if he had not just admitted to killing someone.

Not for the first time, Campbell felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps Aiden and his wife would not have felt the need to curry favor with his grandfather if they lived with him. They would not have had to make such a dangerous journey.

The guilt kept growing until he felt breathless.

At that moment, he remembered Mabel’s face—beautiful and trusting, assuring him that he was not at fault. Now that he thought about it, it was true. While he might have provided a home for his brother, he could have prevented his grandfather from trying to kill him.

Instead of guilt, now he felt determination to make sure that Mabel and the boys remain safe, and that could not happen while his grandfather still moved around freely with no consequences for his brutal crimes.