Breath of Yesterday (The Curse Series) (23 page)

“Ross, wait up!” I called after him, already out of breath. “Where are we going?”

Something rustled in the shrubs to my right, and it made me flinch. What kind of beasts might be waiting here for us? I thought of wolves who were perhaps trying to get at leftovers from the kitchens or slaughterhouse, or maybe rats drawn here by the stench of the wastewater ditch. That damn Scot just kept ignoring me.

“Ross!” I would not take another step unless he replied immediately. I stopped with my arms crossed across my chest.

“Come on! You don’t make Duncan wait,” he explained.

“Duncan? Why would I go and see him?”

I reached for my throat and suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“Samantha, don’t pretend like you’re stupid. You know what he wants. Answers. He has gathered his men, and they all want to know where their goddamn cows and sheep are.”

Why was he suddenly being so hostile? What was going on? We had exchanged only a couple of words since they had put me on his horse, and he had completely avoided any conversation with me. And now he wanted to hand me off to his brothers? I didn’t know anything; I couldn’t answer any of their questions.

“But I don’t know anything about your stupid cattle!” I screamed nervously. I had to bring him to believe me. I had to appeal to the kindness of his heart. “Ross, please, I don’t know what to do. Can’t you help me?”

He came closer, and I saw a flash of anger in his eyes.

“I don’t believe you! Tell them where the cattle are, and they will let you go. Tell them quickly, or they’re going to beat it out of you.”

“For God’s sake, Ross! I swear I’ve got nothing to do with it!”

I looked around for a chance to escape, but there was nowhere to go. In front of me were the village and the men; behind me were the castle with its guards; and beside me was Ross, who just had to yell for help.

He grabbed my upper arm and hissed into my face:

“I could have taken you away and protected you. But what did you do? You sold yourself to Payton! You womenfolk are all the same. You’re all dirty little whores! Would you open your legs for me if I promised to save you from Duncan? Would you?”

He forced his lips onto mine in a rough, hateful kiss. I reached for my skirt, trying to lift it just enough so I could grab my dagger, when he suddenly thrust his tongue deep into my throat.

In trying to push him away, I noticed something. I bit his tongue and snatched his own knife from his belt. Breathing heavily, I aimed that dagger right at him, forcing him to keep his distance. My hand was shaking, and images flickered into my mind—images I really didn’t need right now.

“Don’t you
ever
touch me again!” I screamed with tears streaming down my face. It wasn’t just the shock about his unexpected attack. I was also acutely aware that someone like me could not keep a warrior like Ross at arm’s length for long.

And I was proven right not a moment later. Ross grabbed me and pulled my arm behind my back, twisting my hand upward. I was sure he had every intention of breaking it. Screaming in pain, I let go of his dagger. Ross pushed me to the ground, kicking the knife away and planting himself dangerously close over me.

“You little bitch! I loved you once!”

I scrambled backward, but he kept coming at me.

“Loved me? Ha! When you love someone, you don’t treat them like that!”

“I said, I loved you
once.
I didn’t say that I still do!”

“Oh, whatever! How deep could your love have been? After all, you don’t seem to have a problem handing me off to your brothers!”

“I do! I do have a problem with it! Which is why I don’t want you to be late and be beaten to death because of it. And which is also why I’m giving you this word of advice: A
n
swer all of their questions and don’t give them any reason to get angry at you.”

“How many times do I have to tell you?
I don’t know anythin
g
!
”

“Then tell them what they want to hear! If you tell them in front of everyone that the cows are at Auld a´chruinn, then they have no reason to harm you!” Ross had finally taken pity on me.

Auld a´chruinn? My mind was working overtime. That place sounded so familiar. Now I remembered the City Limits sign. It was crooked, as if someone had hit it with their car. We had crossed the small town of Auld a´chruinn
on our way to the cemetery where Payton and Sean expected to find the portal of time. Payton had explained that the town was right at the center of Cameron land. So if the Camerons really were responsible for stealing the cattle, then it would make sense for them to drive them as far inland as possible—although Payton had doubted it. But how could Ross know where the cattle were hidden? I needed to find out more; I had to take this risk.

“The stone cottage. That’s why you punched me to the ground that time, right? Did you think I had something to do with the cattle thefts? Tell me, what exactly were you doing so far away from your clan borders?”

Ross flinched, straightened his back, and waved an angry finger in my face.

“None of your business! I’ve made a mistake trying to help you!”

He yanked me to my feet, grabbed me by the back of my neck, and in that same manner pushed and steered me toward the village. I kept trying to get at
my
dagger, but it was useless. My skirts were too long and in the way.

“You had no good reason to be there, right?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Yes, I did,” Ross replied listlessly, and I knew that whatever feelings he might still have for me didn’t matter now.

“Right! So y
o
u were there looking for approval from your brothers. Am I wrong? You allowed them to use you!” It was a shot in the dark, but considering everything I knew about him, this was the only possible explanation.

“Shut your mouth!”

My knees gave way under his iron grip.

“I don’t allow anyone to use me! But once Duncan is made the new clan chief, I won’t have to herd sheep or castrate bulls ever again. A life of comfort! No more going hungry and going without!”

“Why would Duncan be made clan chief? The Stuarts already have a laird: It’s Cathal,” I pointed out, just in case he had overlooked this minor detail.

Ross dismissed me with a contemptuous laugh, and his eyes narrowed to slits as he countered my argument. “And what a laird he is! A laird who allows almost half of his cattle herds to disappear in the space of only a few months. One who has proven himself incapable of stopping the attacks. I ask you, what kind of a clan chief is that? His men will turn their backs on him once Duncan brings back the missing herds and finds the Camerons guilty of cattle theft. Your testimony this morning is going to prove that.”

“But it wasn’t the Camerons, now, was it? We were just part of a bigger plan!”

“Who else would it be if not the Camerons?” he snapped.

“You! That’s what you were doing when I fell into your hands. You weren’t chasing cattle thieves. You
are
the cattle thieves!”

“Cathal would never believe it. We have spent many a night drinking together, only to learn about new raids the next morning. It couldn’t have been us,” he explained, very sure of himself, but I knew the truth because I had pulled it from Fingal’s bleeding chest.

“Mercenaries!” I cried.

The word floated like a lit fuse in the air between us. We both knew of the imminent blast, but neither one of us had the power to stop it. I saw in his eyes that I had gambled and lost.

Still half crouching under his iron grip, I lunged back with all of my strength, turned, landed on my palms and knees, and scrambled to my feet. I managed to take exactly one step before he caught up with me and grabbed me by the collar. But I got away with another quick spin. I was sprinting back toward the castle, but there was no other way. I ran as fast as I could, with Ross immediately behind me.

I don’t know if I ever stood a chance of outrunning him, or if it was my destiny all along to trip and stumble right in this spot. At any rate, my foot caught on a rock. It was a bad fall, and it squeezed all the air from my lungs. I thought my rib cage would burst under the impact. My hands were dirty and scraped, and I was bleeding from the elbow.

My eyes caught sight of something shiny in the grass in front of me. The early-morning light led the way: All I had to do was reach out.

When I was yanked up from the ground, I shut my eyes tightly in anticipation of a violent punch to my face.

“You? What are you doing here?” Ross asked angrily, obviously standing several yards behind me and talking to someone else. I turned around and froze.

“I will not allow any harm to come to Cathal.”

I heard the sound of rolling thunder.

“Go back to your bedchamber, woman, and leave me alone!” Ross bellowed, and his bitterness and resentment turned his skin the same bright red as his hair. Nathaira was not the least bit impressed. She looked me up and down, and I could see the contempt in her eyes.

“So I see it takes a Cameron to spot the enemy from within,” she stated matter-of-factly before turning her stony eyes back to Ross. The two circled each other, sizing each other up. I had seen that expression on Nathaira’s face before—in Delaware, when she had tried to kill me. And, even though her hatred was not aimed at me this time, I held on tighter to that dagger I had found in the grass.

“I will say this only one more time before I forget myself and raise my hand against a defenseless woman,” Ross warned her, coming closer. “Go! Away!”

The wind was picking up, and a flash of lightning tore across the sky.

Nathaira spat in his direction. “I have not given up everything in my life just to have my plans thwarted by the likes of you!”

“You can’t stop Duncan. He has already rounded up all the men he needs for taking power.”

Ross seemed confident and very sure of himself when he reached for my arm.

The wind tore at my clothes, and I shrunk back in panic, clutching the knife tighter.

“You dim-witted toad! You are messing with the wrong person.” Nathaira laughed, raising her arms. “I
know
what I’m doing. Traitooor!”

With all her strength, she pushed Ross toward me, and a blinding flash of lightning crashed into the ground.

I threw up my arms in horror, raising the dagger in the same instant that my vision caught up with me.

Everything went black, and I started screaming.

Pain spread like wildfire through my arm all the way to my fingertips, which were completely numb. I gasped for air. The smell of copper filled my nose and mouth, making me sick to my stomach. Then slowly, as feeling returned to my fingers, I opened my eyes and stared down at my hands. Blood, hot and slimy, gushed onto the dagger—and onto me. I clutched the knife in my hand. I had thrust it in so deep that my fist touched the man’s lifeless chest, and I could tell that the heart beneath my fingers had stopped beating. A single word flashed through my addled brain:
betrayal.

I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. A tear, hot like melting metal, burned its way down my cheek and fell, unhindered, onto the blood-soaked earth.

Slowly, as if guided by an invisible hand, I pulled the dagger from his chest, unable to take my eyes off his face. Why, Ross? Why? The blood on his lips was his silent response to my sorrowful cry.

“I loved you once!” His words still echoed through my mind.

“No! Ross!” I shrieked.

My entire body shook. I had caused his death. My terrifying vision had come true! But, even though there was blood on my hands, it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t my fault! It was hers! Nathaira had guided the
sgian dhu
with her mind! All I had done was respond, react, defend myself, protect myself! She had done exactly what Ross had told me in the forest: She had used the moment of surprise to her advantage.

I got up, holding the blood-smeared dagger as far away from me as possible. At that moment I noticed Nathaira calling for help.

I was completely rattled. It was impossible for Nathaira Stuart to be scared of me, so why would she…?

Slowly, I turned around and noticed the shocked faces of the guardsmen up by the battlements. I knew exactly what they were thinking.

The prisoner—a Cameron—had killed one of theirs!

“Run,” Nathaira whispered, and I stared at her in befuddlement.

“Run,” she repeated. “Today I am letting you go, but this is far from over!”

I shook my head because I knew what was about to happen. I knew about the avalanche of events that had just been set off—set off by me.

This wasn’t the end. This was the beginning of the end.

C
HAPTER
30

Cemetery by Auld a´chruinn, Present-Day November

T
he days of fall were colder and rainier than they had been in previous years, and the trees had already lost most of their leaves. As fast and unrelentingly as the leaves were losing color and floating to the ground, Payton’s strengths were also fading. Luckily, the days where he would throw up anything he ate were behind him. But only because he had stopped eating altogether. Instead, he would now bleed from the nose every time he sat up or moved in any other way. His skin was sallow, and his eyes were glassy with delirium.

Still, he smiled every time a new memory flooded into this mind. A memory of Sam. It didn’t surprise him how hard he had fallen for her from the first moment on—because she was his fate, his destiny.

Sean, on the other hand, seemed to only have very faint memories of Sam. He sincerely hoped that his weren’t just figments of his imagination, created in his mind only because he so desperately wanted to find her.

So many days had passed and she hadn’t returned yet. Was that even possible? Would she be able to come back? Roy hadn’t found a way to help Sam, either. The memorial stone wasn’t doing anything mysterious, nor was there any other hint as to Sam’s disappearance. Which was why Roy, the great scholar, had returned home to Aviemore empty-handed. But he gave his word to go through his records once more with a fine-toothed comb. He promised to be in touch should he think of anything else.

Payton didn’t take any of this in. He just leaned against the Five Sisters
stone and found his escape in his memories.

Nonetheless, he did know that time was running out in the same way that the leaves around him were falling mercilessly.