Page 192 of Historical Hotties
But Julia would not budge; her gaze was fixed on Creed “I am sorry if I am speaking out of turn, but I meant what I said,” she said. “The Scots did not kill Ryton.”
Creed’s brow furrowed as he gazed at the pale young woman. “How would you know this?”
Julia took a few timid steps toward him. “Jory told me.”
Creed’s confusion deepened. “What did he tell you?”
Julia seemed quite composed; but suddenly, she erupted into a very odd cry and began to tremble. Her hands flew to her head as if to keep her head on, for she grasped at it and clawed her hair dramatically. By this time, Sian and Richard were on their feet, looking at the young woman as if she were losing her mind. In fact, it very much appeared so; arrogant, surly, proud and plain Julia appeared to be crumbling right before their eyes.
“He made me do it,” she suddenly hissed. “He made me do it and I cannot keep silent any longer. Not when… you must not believe that the Scots killed your brother. They did nothing of the kind. Jory killed him.”
Creed’s expression turned to one of horror. He went to Julia, putting his enormous hands on her arms to trap her. His dusky blue gaze burned into her.
“If you have ever thought to lie to me to get my attention, now would not be the time,” he growled. “I will not believe your attempts to gain my trust or my compassion.”
She was shaking horribly, her voice littered with spikes and quivers. “The time has long since passed that I would try to gain your attention,” she warbled. “Your wife has your attention completely and I am not a fool. But I must ease my conscience on this matter because the knowledge of it is driving me mad.”
Creed shook her but Carington was there, her hand on her husband’s massive arm. “Nay, Creed,” she begged softly. “Dunna be rough with her. Let her speak.”
Julia looked at Carington with a wild look to her eye. “You,” she murmured. “I hated you. I hated you for what you took from me and Jory offered to help me gain my vengeance. But it was really his own vengeance he was seeking.”
“Jory’s vengeance?” Creed repeated. “Make sense, woman. What do you know?”
Julia began to cry and laugh at the same time. “The night you were married he came to me and offered to help me exact my revenge upon you for spurning my feelings,” she said. “I asked him why he would help me do such a thing and he told me that he was, in fact, determined to get even against you. He said it had already started when he took a fallen morning star and smashed it into your brother’s skull. His next step was defiling your wife. He made me help him or he told me he would kill me.”
Creed’s eyes widened and his grip on her tightened. Carington saw the woman flinch with pain and she put both hands on Creed’s arm, trying to pull him away from her.
“English,” she said firmly. “Let her go; do ye hear me? Let her go.”
But Creed was not listening. He continued to squeeze, unable to voice the sheer horror that was filling his veins. Carington passed a panicked look at Richard, who rushed over to Creed and took hold of the other arm that was preparing to crush Julia. Sian followed on his heels and aided his daughter in removing Creed’s hands from the very fragile young woman. When his grip was released, Carington pressed herself against her husband and threw her arms around his tight midsection.
“Creed, calm yerself,” she said softly, urgently. “Listen to what she has to say. Ye canna turn yer anger against her for being truthful.”
Julia watched, eyes wide with fright and madness, as Creed wrapped his arms around his wife. He seemed to draw a great deal of calm from that gesture. But his dusky blue gaze was still deadly.
“Continue,” he said through clenched teeth.
Julia was shaking so badly that it was difficult for her to stand. “He made me tell him when you left the chamber the morning after your wedding,” she said hoarsely. “He knew when you had left because I told him. Then he attacked her.”
Creed remembered that morning well. He had always wondered how Jory had known Carington was alone. Now he knew.
“It was you,” his jaw was flexing dangerously. “You enabled the attack against my wife.”
“I had no choice,” Julia insisted pathetically. “He told me he would kill me if I did not.”
“And so you told him,” Creed had no compassion for her. “And my brother? Do you swear he told you that he had killed him?”
She nodded fervently. “With God as my witness, he told me that he had picked up a morning star and came up behind yourbrother when his attention was elsewhere. Sir Ryton never saw it coming.”
Creed could not believe what he was hearing. He stood with Carington in his arms, gazing at the pale young woman with a great degree of shock. He was, literally, speechless. Carington, however, was not; she twisted in her husband’s embrace so that she could look at Julia.
“Why did ye not tell us this before?” she asked quietly. “Why wait?”
Julia seemed to falter. “Perhaps there was a part of me that wanted Creed to suffer the death of his brother,” she could not look the woman in the eye. “Perhaps there was a part of me that wanted you both to suffer. If I could not have Creed, then I wanted you both to be punished. But the more time passed, the more I realized that you were deeply in love with each other and your marriage had not been one of convenience or lust. And you, my lady… you are kind and vivacious and humorous. I would sit and watch you with Kristina and grow jealous that I was not a part of your games. Creed seemed so happy with you and I began to feel guilty that I hated you. But as the days and weeks went by, the more difficult it became for me to tell you what I knew. I waited for a proper time but none seemed to come and I became terrified of what you would do. But now… with what is being discussed I can no longer hold back. You both must know the truth.”
Carington was trying to keep her composure, made worse when she could feel Creed trembling against her. She put a soft hand to his cheek to comfort him, watching him kiss her hand with quivering lips. She turned back to Julia.
“I thank ye for telling us the truth, then,” she said. “I understand ye feared for yer life from Jory and I dunna blame ye for what happened. Had you not helped him, he still would have found a way to harm me. ’Twas not yer fault for what he did.”
