Page 61 of In Bed with a Highland Liar

“He was,” his mother said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and tried to stand, only to collapse. Aaden barely managed to hold her upright, bringing her to sit back onto the bed as she steadied herself, cursing under her breath. “I’ve been on this bed fer too long. I can hardly stand.”

“It’s alright,” Aaden reassured her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and stood, pulling her along with him. “I’ll help ye. Come.”

With Aaden’s help, the two of them walked down the hallway and then reached the ground floor, where Laird Stewart, Cameron, and Evander had already congregated after their searches had proven futile. The moment Evander’s gaze fell on his mother, he rushed to them and Aaden let go of her so the two of them could hug, Evander holding onto her tightly.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Evander repeated the words over and over, a quiet mantra that had his mother stroking his hair soothingly as she hushed him. Still, he seemed inconsolable. Aaden may have been used to Ruadh’s cruelty, fully aware of it for years, but all this was new to Evander, who had never thought his father could ever do such a thing.

“It’s alright. It’s alright, a chuilein,” his mother said, but Aaden didn’t miss the way she glanced at him, concern clouding her gaze. Perhaps she was wondering if Evander knew, but there was no easy way for her to ask. “Come now. We must leave.”

As she spoke, she pulled back from Evander, but he grabbed her arm to stop her. “Wait,” he said. “Is it all true, then? Is it true that faither has been keepin’ ye here?”

For a moment, his mother hesitated, but then she nodded, a fresh wave of tears streaming down her cheeks. “Aye, it is. I dinnae ken why he would dae such a thing, but he’s been keepin’ me here fer weeks now.”

Any last bit of hope Evander was holding onto that none of this was true suddenly crumbled right in front of Aaden’s eyes. He could see it in the way his expression fell right open and raw, lips trembling with the effort it took him to keep himself together.

When his mother spoke again, she did so in a careful, gentle tone. “Dae ye ken why?”

Evander nodded silently, his gaze falling to the ground. When he didn’t respond, his mother cupped his cheek with her hand, prompting him to meet her eyes and silently urging him to tell her the truth.

“Faither was usin’ ye tae force Aaden tae dae as he was told,” said Evander, swallowing drily around the words. “He wanted him tae trick Laird Stewart’s daughter intae marryin’ him, but the only way he would go along with his plan was if he had a way tae force him.”

Their mother made no sound. She hardly reacted to the news, and had it not been for the way her hands trembled and her gaze turned vacant for a moment, Aaden would have thought she hadn’t even heard Evander. When she turned that gaze to him, it was full of sorrow and regret, and Aaden wanted nothing more than to comfort her, to tell her it was all fine now and that she didn’t have to worry about him, but the words were stuck in his throat, along with his breath. Simply seeing her after all these years had rendered him speechless.

“We shall notify the men,” said Laird Stewart, breaking the silence. He gestured at Cameron to follow him, and the man turned on his heel, ready to leave. “Dinnae take too long.”

Aaden watched them as they left, heading out into the courtyard, before he turned his gaze to his mother once more. She seemed to have regained some of her strength, as she was now holding herself upright with little help from Evander. As they stood side by side like this, Aaden was struck by how much Evander looked like her, and he couldn’t help but wonder if the same was true for him; if all this time, he had been carrying all these parts of her with him, his lineage showing clearly on his features.

“We will talk about this later,” his mother said with a newfound determination. Perhaps she had managed to gather her strength now, convinced that as their mother, she had to take care of the two of them before it was too late. “Evander, yer faither will return soon. He always does. He was here this morn an’ he will be back.”

“Where is he?” Aaden asked. He hardly managed to get out the words before a scream echoed right outside the estate, anguished and desperate—a man’s voice, one that had the hairs on the back of Aaden’s neck standing up straight.

He and Evander both rushed out of the cottage to find Laird Stewart standing still, all the color drained from his face. Across from him stood Ruadh and three of his men, all of them prepared for battle.

And there, held firmly by Ruadh with a knife pressed to her throat, was Lilith, her eyes screwed shut in terror, her flesh dimpling under the weight of Ruadh’s blade.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“Dae ye think ye can defeat us with three men?” Aaden asked, his hand curled tightly around his blade. “We outnumber ye by far.”

“The moment ye give an order is the moment our dear Lilith dies,” Ruadh said as he pressed the blade even more firmly against her throat. “Dae ye think ye can get tae me ‘afore I kill her? Dae ye wish tae risk it?”

Ruadh knew, of course, that none of them would risk Lilith’s life like this. It didn’t matter that there were ten of them and only four of the other party. Even if they outnumbered Ruadh and his men, he still had the upper hand as long as he had Lilith under threat.

“Husband, please.” Aaden’s mother took a few steps forward before Evander stopped her, grabbing her arm to pull her back. He stood next to her like a sentinel, watching his father and his men like a hawk. “See reason. That is an innocent lass. What has she ever done tae deserve this?”

“Ye shut yer mouth, wife,” Ruadh said, spitting out the last word with malice. Aaden couldn’t help but wonder if this was how he had always spoken to his mother after finding out the truth about her or if he had simply had enough of hiding his true self now and was letting everyone see him for the monster he was. “I kent ye would find this place sooner or later. We were lucky tae find Lilith when we did. She was just about tae reveal herself tae ye. Tell me, did Evander lead ye here?”

“Aye, I did,” said Evander without a moment’s hesitation. “O’ course I did. Did ye think I would let ye torture Maither like this?”

Ruadh rolled his eyes with a scoff. “Always yer maither’s son. I’ve done everythin’ fer ye an’ this is how ye repay me?”

“What does any o’ it matter when ye’ve been keepin’ Maither a prisoner?” Evander asked. “What if I went against yer orders? Would ye imprison me, too?”

For a few moments, Ruadh didn’t speak. When he finally did, he tried a gentler approach, his tone turning into a soothing one. “We can discuss all this once these people surrender. Lay down yer weapons.”

“Let Lilith go first,” said Aaden, though he knew there was little chance Ruadh would agree to this compromise. Even if they laid down their weapons, they would still have a chance to pick them back up or even fight without them, since there were so many of them. Predictably, Ruadh only laughed as though he found the mere suggestion hilarious.

Evander, though, was far from done, it seemed.