Page 143 of Blood & Claw

Ailsa simply stared. The world seemed to tilt beneath her.

“She called herself Isleen,” Kayla plowed on. “She’d seduced a druid … a powerful enforcer.” She paused then, letting her words settle. “They lay together in the moonlight … and as he spilled inside her, she tore his throat open and killed him.” Kayla halted then, her face suddenly seeming older and wearier than her forty-five winters. “Imagine her surprise, when her womb quickened.”

Ailsa remained silent. It was hard to take this in. How could this be the truth?

However, it was too awful to be anything else.

“She laid you down on the ground between us and bid me to take you … she said that her home was too dangerous for a mortal child.” Kayla paused then. “I refused, yet she simply left you there and melted back into the shadows.”

The truth hung there, naked and raw, between them.

“You didn’t take me by choice?” Ailsa said, finally finding her voice. The numbness was sloughing away now, and an ache started to pulse in her chest.

Kayla’s eyes glittered once more. “No … but Isleen knew that I wouldn’t leave a tiny bairn to be taken by wild animals. I’m willful and selfish … but not a heartless bitch. At dawn, when I went on my way, I took you with me.” Her lips curved then. “You were so quiet … so good. You hardly cried, all the way south. Along the way, I bought a goat in milk so I could feed you properly. And by the time I reached the gates of Braewall, I’d fallen in love.”

“With the goat?”

Kayla snorted despite herself, and the tension between them eased just a little. “No. With you.”

Their gazes fused then.

“I should have told you, I know,” Kayla admitted, her voice catching. “I kept you too close over the years, telling myself I was protecting you … telling myself you couldn’t handle the truth. It’s partly why I was reluctant to let you use earth magic … I was worried that it might react badly to the bavaan part of you.” She broke off. “But look at you now. When I left Braewall, you were a quiet lass who deferred to me even though you hated it … yet you’ve crossed mountains and faced warriors to find me … somewhere along the way, you became your own woman.”

Ailsa reached up and rubbed her aching breastbone with her knuckles. “No … I’ve turned into a monster.”

Kayla leaned forward, her hands grasping Ailsa’s. “Monsters are made, not born.”

“And my mother?”

“Even she has some goodness in her, Ailsa. She let you live, didn’t she? She gave you to me to protect you.” She broke off then. “Remember that you’re Marav too … and that part of you is just as strong.”

Ailsa’s breathing grew shallow.

Kayla sounded so certain of these things, yet she wasn’t.

“I might be a half-blood … but I’m a risk to others,” she said finally. “For most of the journey north, I fought the urge to slash my nails across Darach’s throat and drink from him.” She didn’t add that she’d had the same urge when they’d lain together; there were some things she’d keep to herself. “And you’ve seen me fight. I’m savage.”

Kayla’s grip on her hands tightened.

Her expression grew fierce then, with that strength Ailsa loved so much about her. The woman had a warrior’s heart. “I have seen you fight, Ailsa … and you are a wild thing … but you didn’t kill anyone who didn’t have it coming.” She squeezed her hands then. “Aye, you go for the throat, but that’s good.”

Ailsa swallowed hard. “Good?”

“Aye.” Kayla’s gaze never wavered. “We won’t get out of this fort without spilling some blood.”

37: NEVER IS A LONG TIME

SITTING CROUCHED IN the pit, Darach listened to the sound of dripping water.

It was a constant in here, a rhythmic tempo that was stretching his nerves tight.

Outside, night had fallen. As the light had faded, the aroma of bread from the nearby bakehouse had tormented him.

The pit, a bottle dungeon, lay in the yard outside the broch—a crude hole cut out of the rock with an iron grate above. He was alone down here, save for creeping insects and the odd scrabbling rat.

Head resting on the cold, wet rock, Darach closed his eyes.

He’d made a mess of things. He was finished.