The Scot's Pursuit - Keira Montclair Page 0,81
Those are all lies.” Branwen moved forward until she had the arrow at the exact angle she wanted it. She knew exactly where she’d shoot him because she didn’t want him to die instantly. “Must I remind you that Alick and I married at the kirk on Thane land? We did it before you kidnapped me. The marriage you tried to force on me was null because I was already married.”
“That no longer matters,” he snapped, his mask falling. “You will do as I tell you. I need that coin to get your brothers away from here. This is all a mess thanks to you. I’ll kill the Grant and make you a widow.”
“Except I don’t think you’re in a position to do that right now, Papa dearest.” She dragged out the word papa to indicate she had no respect for him. “There are three of us and one of you.”
She hoped Dyna or Alick would distract the man to give her an opening. That was all she needed. One chance.
Then Alick asked, “Dyna, do you have a better shot lined up?”
She could have kissed her husband because the comment was enough to distract her father. He shifted his attention to Dyna, and Branwen didn’t think. She fired.
Her father screamed, dropping the dagger he held at Kyla’s throat, the arrow in his shoulder dripping blood as he reached for it with his other hand, cursing. Alick ran forward to carry his mother out of the way, and Branwen fired again, this time hitting Denton in his leg.
The man roared, his fury at her never clearer. He started to move toward her but stopped, yanking the arrow out of his leg and tossing it aside. Ignoring the blood that gushed from the wound. “I’ll kill you, you wee bitch. You think you’ll best me? Hellfire, nay.”
He ran at her, his movements slow and dull, and she fired again, this arrow impaling him in his belly. That stopped his forward movement, and this time he was close enough she could see the pain and the fear in his eyes after he collapsed on the ground.
“How does it feel to be powerless against your assailant, Arnald?”
He turned onto his back, panting. The arrow to his midsection must have done more damage than she thought. He muttered something, but she couldn’t hear, so she moved closer.
Jaw clenched, he said, “I should have killed you, sent you careening off a horse just like your mother. After I found her with that bastard and nearly killed him, I snapped her neck. Should have done the same to you. And to him. If I hadn’t been living with her suspicious brother, I would have killed all three of you. But he guessed why the stablemaster was beaten so badly and warned me off. He knew about Jep and never told me, the devil.”
His words registered slowly. Had he just admitted to killing her mother?
“You killed her? The only person who truly loved me? You? And my uncle knew about it?”
“Aye, I did. I couldn’t stand looking at the whore. Your uncle suspected but I had information to use against him. We came to an agreement…arghhh.”
She’d stepped on the arrow in his shoulder, pushing it in deeper. “You killed my mother.” That act deserved so much more in retaliation, but she had a limit to her cruelty. She wasn’t like her sire. Striding away from him, she made it almost all the way back to Alick when she heard Denton behind her. He’d pushed himself up and tried to go after her, but he didn’t get far.
Alick threw his dagger and caught the bastard in the neck, killing him instantly.
She flew into her husband’s arms and sobbed into his shoulder, his mother hugging her from behind.
Dyna said, “Nice shooting, Branwen. He deserved worse.”
She stepped back, swiped at her tears and looked at her husband, at Kyla, and then at Dyna. “Is it over?”
Alick tucked her against his side. “Finally. Aye, ’tis over.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Alick couldn’t be happier. His mother was safe and his wife was in his arms. “Mama, are you hale? You don’t look well. What did they do to you?”
Branwen stepped back to take a look at his mother.
“Alick, I’ll be fine. I’m exhausted from lack of sleep, but I’m hale and that’s the important thing. My thanks to the three of you for finding me. But I didn’t expect to see so few Grants. I’m surprised my father and Finlay didn’t bring an army.”
Dyna grinned at