“Och, Roddy, why would I not smile? We were close.”
He didn’t say anything about it. It made her feel uneasy.
“Ellie,” he finally said, “Ye still havena thanked me.”
There were many things to thank him for. Even when she told him she wanted to help their father’s prisoner, ’twas him who directed her how to do it.
Little sister, ye will need to put the guards to sleep…
She felt beads of sweat clinging to her temples. What terrible thoughts were forming in her head. “Thanked ye fer…?”
His expression darkened into a scowl. For the passing of a breath, he looked as if he could kill her.
“Fer saving ye from our enemy,” he practically spit out. “Did I not save ye, Elspeth?”
She felt as if saying the wrong thing could be disastrous. “Of course, ye came fer me, even after six years. Thank ye, Brother.”
He smiled, mollified.
“But the Camerons were no danger to me.”
“What did ye say?”
“The Camerons didna’ treat me poorly. Roddy, I would have ye know the truth before ye pass yer judgement.”
He looked too stunned to speak—but it didn’t last long before his expression changed yet again. “The truth?” he asked, aiming his darkest smile on her. “Fine. I will go first.”
Why did it feel as if her world was about to change?
“The night our parents and Padrig were killed, I was behind it all.”
Elspeth didn’t move. She couldn’t. Did she just hear him right? What? Nae! What was he saying? She brought her hands to her belly and twisted them together. He must have meant that he felt guilt over their deaths.
“Poor Roddy,” she cooed as a mother would. “’Tis not yer fault.”
He laughed, stilling Elspeth’s breath in her nose. “Tell me, are ye always so moved by a man’s smile?”
“Only certain men,” she let him know coolly. She didn’t like this game he was playing. It was not amusing.
“The rogue “prince” of Lochaber?” he ventured.
She blushed and looked away.
“Yer eyes speak fer ye, Ellie,” he drawled, then let out an exhausted sigh. “Nae matter, I will remedy that just as I remedied the other obstacles in my life.”
“What is that supposed to mean, Roderick?” she demanded. What would she do if he hurt or even killed Logan? “The Camerons will—”
“Ellie,” he interrupted, “ye were wrong to say all that happened that night wasna my fault. It was. I hated being their son. ’Twas hell fer me. I often dreamed of a life free of his rule.”
“That doesna make ye a murderer.”
“Mayhap not,” he said, allowing his smile to deepen, “but planning their execution and then carrying it out does.”
Elspeth’s gaze was blurred with tears on the verge of falling. What in blazes was he saying? He planned their execution and then carried it out?
“Roddy, I would suggest not speaking like ye actually killed them.”
There was no humor in his smile, only madness. “Sister, but I did actually kill them.”
