Page 81 of Sinbound to the Highlander
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When they arrived at the castle, Freya felt the overcast sky was a horrible omen that not all that they had planned was going to go right. Mounds of snow were shoveled from the doorway, and the dark stone walls had a permanent wet look from the constant snowfall, but the relief Freya thought she would feel at seeing it, was absent—all she felt was fear. What they were about to do would rip her apart, and she knew it.
Evan’s right, though, Elspeth needs to feel the pain she’s wreaking on others.
The carriage stopped, but she did not move until Evan opened the door and stepped out. She followed with a conflicted heart, as he took her inside the castle’s front room and up the stairs to the room she once had.
Kissing her, Evan said, “I’ll come for ye when yer parents arrive. Dinnae fash yerself, Love, it will be all right.”
“I trust ye,” Freya whispered to him with a tiny smile.
When the door closed behind her, she went to the window to look out. She was not prepared for this, nor did she think she would ever be, but they had to cut this out at the root. Her window faced the backlands so that she couldn’t see the approaching carriage, but she prayed—probably pointlessly—for time to stretch out.
But the knock on the door—sooner than wanted—had Freya sucking in a deep breath to steady her nerves. Evan looked at her and sighed. He enveloped her in a warm, comforting, embrace.
“Naythin’ bad will happen to ye,” he whispered.
She shook her head, “I still fear how she will retaliate.”
“If all goes well, she will nay have any way to do so,” Evan said, taking her hand and leading her out the door.
Following him, Freya found herself in a corridor she had never been to, and toward a room, she didn’t know. Halfway to where Evan was leading her to, he stopped and told a maid to take “Freya” to his meeting room, and then, they were off again.
When she approached, she heard her parent’s voices, and when Evan pushed the door in, they stopped. Lady Grace was on her feet, about to rush and hug her, but stopped short.
Her eyes, mired with confusion, darted between Freya and Evan before she uttered. “Freya? I daenae understand.”
“Ye will,” Evan said, “soon.”
As he helped Freya to sit, the door was pushed open, and Elspeth’s bubbly exclamation of, “About time ye showed me yer…Maither!”
Freya tensed when her parent’s eyes flew to her and then to Elspeth, disguised as her. Laird Aidan’s face darkened, “What the bloody hell is going on here?”
Elspeth turned to run, but Evan blocked the door. She spun, face bloodless, and fingers grabbed at her chest. Her eyes landed on Freya, and blood flew back to her face, rendering it scarlet. “Ye!”
Freya flinched as Elspeth spat, “Ye couldnae stay dead, could ye? Ye just had to come back to ruin me life—again. After ye humiliated me and ripped me life away from me.”
“Elspeth!” Lady Grace cried in horror. “That’s ye?”
But Elspeth did not mind her mother; instead, she advanced to Freya, “Couldnae ye just leave well alone! Couldnae ye just understand that ye were not fit to marry Laird Ruthven? Couldnae ye have stayed dead when me driver flung ye over the cliff!”
Lady Grace collapsed where she stood, and Laird Aidan reacted quickly, he kneeled to hold her and cradle her to his chest. In a fit of rage, Elspeth swiped her face, rendering her cheeks streaked with the red dye. “Why did ye have to come back!Why?”
“Did ye throw Freya into the loch?” Laird Lobhdain pressed.
“Aye,” Elspeth scowled. “I should have had me driver throw her on the rocks instead.”
The Laird's eyes were wet with tears, “How could ye…ye’re nay the daughter I ken. Ye cannae be so wicked.”
“Sadly, she is,” Evan interjected. “How long did ye ken ye would carry this charade on and nay ken it would be found out?”
Elspeth did not seem to be listening; her body was vibrating like a plucked fiddle’s string. Her face went from rosy to bloodless, and Freya felt that she was going to explode. Lady Grace was sobbing in a corner, and Freya kept her eyes down on her lap, with her shoulders hunched.
I ken this would go wrong.
Laird Aiden stood, his face thunderous. “Elspeth, ye have shamed me, ye have disgrace yer Maither, and ye degraded yerself. Ye have committed a crime against ye own sister. How could ye try to kill her! We just gained her back after twenty years of believing she was dead, and now ye have conspired to take her away from us again! How could ye?”
Elspeth had the presence of mind to hang her head, at her father’s tirade and castigation, but Freya hardly thought she was sorry. As with all Elspeth ever did, it was just a show.
