She’d never dreamed of killing any of her prior masters, no matter how poorly they had treated her. She’d added their wrongdoing to the Camerons’ souls—and hated them only.
“I willna go against what Logan wishes, lass. I will only take ye from here if he tells me again to do it.”
Coward! She wanted to scream at him. She hated Ewen, but she pretended to smile and be forgiving around him, especially since he fed her and kept wild animals away from eating them where they slept in the woods.
They had spoken of things like what happened to her after his clan had killed her family, but he wouldn’t tell her which of the Camerons or MacDonalds had killed her family…. claiming none of them had done it, and she did understand, did she not, that when he did kill, he was following orders from the king to kill Protestants after they had killed so many Royalists?
Of course she understood! That was one reason why she decided to kill him first and had already gathered plants to concoct something deadly. That, and he’d killed Gilchrist. But after meeting the infamous Logan Cameron, Ewen was pushed back to being the second person she wanted to kill.
“I dinna care what he decides,” she let him know with a shaky voice. Aye, she knew these Highlanders could kill her and probably would if she defied their leader—and Logan definitely made her think of a leader.
“I will decide my fate,” she warned. “I will end his life if I remain here. And then how will ye feel fer not taking me from his presence?”
He stared at her, looking as if there were a dozen things he wanted to say, but refrained.
“Are ye so eager to die, then?”
She nodded. “If ’tis the only way out of here.”
He said something indistinguishable and continued on.
He led her to the thick wood and iron door of the smaller house, the house in which Logan had entered. She hesitated, not wanting to go inside, but Ewen pulled her.
The interior was surprisingly warm and spacious, though unpleasantly untidy. She wondered where all the servants were. The cold stone walls were softened by small tapestries and furs. The smell of peat smoke and leather filled her nostrils.
“There is good food in the Main Hall,” a Highlander with a halo of golden curls told them merrily.
Elspeth remembered him from that fateful day in the dungeon. He still carried a pistol, but now it was tucked under a belt at his waist.
“Logan cooked it,” the innocent looking Highlander let them know.
Logan cooked it? Elspeth thought curiously. “Is there no cook here?” she finally asked.
“Aye, Logan is the cook,” the Highlander said with a chuckle.
“Jamie,” Ewen interrupted, leading her to the Main Hall. “How has he been?”
“The same,” Jamie let him know.
The Main Hall was large with a central hearth and a long table with benches on either side and a carved chair at the head. Fruit and vegetables hung from the rafters, and brown bags of grain and other fruit sat propped against the walls. There were a variety of marked herbs in jars on another long, narrow table and a large pot dangling over embers above the hearth.
She looked over everything while listening to the two Highlanders discussing their cousin.
“He stays here mostly. Me and Steafan come every day, but I think he prefers bein’ alone.”
Ewen said nothing. Elspeth was tempted to look over her shoulder at him. From the time she spent traveling here with him, it was clear to her that Ewen adored the clan chief Cameron’s son. She had already guessed it when she’d watched him rush into the dungeon six years ago, take one look at his cousin, then kill Gilchrist.
She had no idea what it was about Logan Cameron that was so lovable. He was arrogant and angry, when he had nothing to be arrogant or angry about.
“If he wants to be alone,” Ewen said, “then let him be alone. What the hell are ye both doin’ here so early anyway?”
Jamie frowned. “He told us to be here at sunup fer breakfast!”
“So,” Ewen immediately concluded, “Ye begged him to feed ye.”
Jamie’s jaw tightened with words he held at bay, but all too soon his hard expression dropped away and was replaced by a pout. “Cook’s food leaves me hungry.”
Ewen shook his head but smiled at his repentant kin.
