Page 62 of Leila’s Legacy

20

There was nothing more Niall could say. Not with Alban following closely behind. That scant moment out of earshot had not been enough to tell her that he and Lady Davina had worked out a plan, and how desperately he hoped it would work. It wasn’t enough to tell her he had a backup plan in mind as well, one that carried the risk of losing her forever.

It hadn’t even been enough time to tell her he loved her. And yet he’d said what mattered most.

Mo chridhe. My heart.

For surely, she was. And that heart was about to be cut from his chest.

Her wide blue gaze slipped purposefully from his own and lingered on where Bonnie stood beneath the guard of a clansman. When her stare returned back to Niall, she gave a single nod.

In that one nod, Niall knew she understood it all. About Bonnie, that he had no choice. It didn’t abate the excruciating pain squeezing him from all angles. Nothing would. Not now, not ever.

“To the river,” Alban snarled. “Take yer prisoner, Lion.” He drawled Niall’s moniker like a sneering slur.

Niall didn’t care. His name didn’t matter, the way it was said didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but her.

Leila.

Agony blazed a new hollowness in his chest. Together, they were forced to turn to the swiftly flowing river. It was swollen with the heavy rains they’d recently had and moved more quickly than Niall had accounted for.

He forced his gaze steadily ahead, so he did not glance back at Lady Davina. She would try to cause a distraction so that Niall might manage an escape with Leila, and while his departure drew the attention of everyone else back to him, Lady Davina would free Bonnie and Brodie. It was a risky plan. The alternative, however, was far riskier.

Snow crunched underfoot as he made his way to the riverbank. His heart ached with every thrum and finally he turned his attention to Leila.

Her chest rose and fell quickly as she looked out on the river. She had seen this fate many times. And she had always known it would be him.

He gritted his teeth to quell the scream welling in the back of his throat. How could he do this? How could he kill Leila?

The river rushed past the bank, snagging bits of twigs and leaves along with it. It moved too damn fast.

If Lady Davina couldn’t distract everyone… Nay, he wouldn’t think of it. He couldn’t.

“Now,” Alban growled. “Grab her and go in the water.”

Niall reached out and took Leila’s slender arm in his. She wore only her red leather trews and the white linen shirt. Her body trembled. He wanted to sweep the cloak from his back and throw it over her shoulders. Not that it would do any good when they were in the water.

He pulled the cloak off and handed it to a nearby guard.

She stiffened at Niall’s touch, looked at him, then relaxed with a nod. “This is how it must be,” she whispered.

He wanted to tell her of the plan with Davina, that she would be saved. But Alban was too damn close. A creak sounded behind Niall.

He glanced over his shoulder to find Alban with an arrow nocked. “I’ll be watching ye the whole time. If ye canna do it, I’ll kill ye and the witch with ye.”

Niall tensed, but not with fear of Alban. Fear that the first plan was no longer an option. Lady Davina would never take the risk with Alban’s aim and gaze locked on Niall.

Which meant it had to be the second plan, where the spectacle of Leila’s drowning would distract the people enough that Lady Davina could help Brodie and Bonnie flee. Then when they were well hidden in the forest, Niall would grab Leila’s body and take her to the horse strapped to the trees nearby, hidden from view. There was a cottage set up deep in the woods with everything he needed to care for her once he brought her back to life.

Even as Lady Davina had suggested it the prior evening, her words were hesitant, as though she herself did not believe it to be possible.

Niall stepped off the bank and into the frigid water. It sucked at his ankles, tugging greedily at him, as though it wanted to tear his feet out from under him and sweep him away with the bits of ice and debris. Panic welled in Niall, a wild, frenzied sensation unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. It was too fast, the currents too strong. Leila’s body would be swept away.

The plan would not work.

He looked to Leila whose already fast breath had quickened further still. “I love ye,” he said aloud. It mattered not who heard him. The villagers. The reivers standing by. Alban.

Leila bit her lip as her eyes filled with tears. “And I love you. Always.”