Page 46 of A Highlander Bound by Oath
Charlotte shut her eyes. So this was the cause of her mother's death. Even after her death, an obsessed man who couldn't get over her and had ended her life continued to punish the last memory of her. She ran her fingers through her short hair. That was the real reason he'd cut her hair and, with it, her relationship with her mother.
"I did not mean to push her. It was not my intention to go this far. I knew if my brother found out what I did, I'd be in big trouble, so I tried to flee, but then you came in and I had to hide. When I saw you about to fall out of the window, I knew I had to come out of my hiding place to save you, but I'm not sure why. I wish I had let you follow her, but keeping you alive ensured my safety. Your father would be too preoccupied with ensuring that you were not overly affected by your mother's death, which means he would be so distracted byyou that he would never question how your mother died. That was an obsession he couldn't afford because it would have ruined whatever relationship you two had, which he didn't want."
It all made sense to Charlotte now. She had often wondered how this man who clearly never cared for her had stopped her from plummeting to her death.
"I had been biding my time, thinking of when I would have the opportunity to kill your father, but lucky for me, I did not have to do anything at all. Fate handled that for me." Charlotte bunched the sheets in her hands when he laughed. She knew it would be silly of her to attack him. So no matter how much it hurt to hear him speak of her family like this and confess to ruining her life, she knew she had to stay put for now and bide her time.
"Now I was left with you." He pointed dramatically at Charlotte. "You were a bit more complicated. I could have killed you the night of the fire and claimed you died as a result of the burn injuries you suffered, but I let you live. The feelings I had for your mother were not the same as the feelings I had for you. It is true that I saw her in you, but she was not the only one I saw in you. No. I saw a piece of my brother and a bit of myself."
"This was the perfect punishment for your happy little family, to be completely destroyed. Your father, destroyed by his enemies, your mother, by my own hands and you, by the very man your father had come to save you from."
Charlotte remained silent, but she could not help thinking that her father had not come to save her from those men. In fact, he had never known what had happened to her. He had been trying to save her from the fire that she surrounded her. It was her fault that her father had died. By the time he arrived to save her, the men were no longer near her, although they had still ended up caught by the flames. And William Dodd had run away. With no one except her, Owen, and her uncle, whom she had told what had happened, knowing that he was there.
Charlotte was numb. She had been blaming Owen for what he had done, but all Owen did was try to save her. Owen was much better than her own kin. Her uncle was proving, as he had been doing for years, that sometimes it was better to have no family than to have any at all. She had almost forgotten what it was like to have a real family until she watched the Elliotts. They have love for each other. They have companionship.
She did not need anyone to tell her for Charlotte to know that they cared for each other and would do anything for each other, no questions asked. She had witnessed them go into battle to protect Owen and her, a total stranger and yet, what was her uncle doing? Hurting and killing his own flesh and blood.
Charlotte watched him as he paced the room, telling her his evil plans for her and how he would enjoy it.
At the end of the day, it had not really been Owen's fault. Tears welled up in Charlotte's eyes as she thought of him. It was her fault. If she had never left the house that day, she never would have been cornered by those men who sought to assault her, and she would never have been trapped in the fire. Her father would not have needed to save her, and she would still have him in her life. That is, if her uncle had not found some other way to end his life and get what he wanted, anyway.
Charlotte had experienced sorrow from an early age and became used to it. If this was what her life would become, married to the man who had tried to rape her on one of the worst days of her life, then she bided her time until she found a way to escape. She would not give her uncle the satisfaction of seeing her weak and beaten down until she lost her resolve. She had never let her uncle win, no matter what he had done to her, and she would not let him win now.
Charlotte was broken like he had expected her to be when he told her all this, but amid her pain and rage, she had finally found comfort in the memories of her family. But that comfort was short-lived when her uncle's words followed next.
"Now, enough memories, and get up, dear niece. It's time for your wedding."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Owen was terrified. It had been a while since he had been informed of everything that was going on, and there had been no word from the soldiers who had been sent after Charlotte to ensure her safety. What could be keeping them? Had they lost track of Charlotte and thus failed to return?
He wished he knew what was happening. He groaned and clutched his side, but he kept pacing. The medicine had worn off an hour ago, but he had been so preoccupied with his worries that he hadn't noticed. However,the ache was becoming too much for him to bear. He knew he needed another dose of his medication, but the last time he agreed to take it, it lulled him to sleep, and the last thing heneeded right now was slumber. He didn't want to be passed out on a bed when the news came.
Owen refused to think about all the things that could have gone wrong. He knew more about her than anyone else. He was well aware of her uncle's danger and the type of man William Dodd was. They had eyes everywhere, and it wouldn't take much to catch her.
He went to the shelf in the far corner of the room and poured himself a drink from a canister. Owen's face crunched up as he swallowed it in one gulp, his throat burning. He poured himself another and drank it all at once. He closed his eyes, reflecting on how all of this could have been avoided if he had simply told her the truth.
This was all his fault. He should not have set that damned fire in the first place, and he most certainly should not have hidden anything from her after all they had been through together. Sure, there was no guarantee that telling her would have done anything to help him or to make her stay, but at least he would have had an advantage. Maybe he could have even convinced her to stay, but now, none of it was possible because he had messed it all up with his lies. The warning Sweeney had given him continued to sound in his head. Unfortunately, he had not been given the chance to make his confession because of the battle.
Owen looked up when he heard footsteps coming into the room. Evie and Hamish came in, eyeing him cautiously. Owen sighed. He had been irritated when he found out that the men who were sent after Charlotte had not returned. But surely that did not mean that his own family had to be cautious around him, especially after what they had all been through, just to make sure that William Dodd's men did not kill him. He sniffled before standing up straight. Owen could see the instant the look in his sister's eyes changed from caution to concern. He knew he looked worse for fear. He needed to rest and heal from his wounds, but how was he to do that when the woman he loved was lost to him?
"Evie, Hamish. Thank ye for being here for me today. I dae nae ken what the family would have done if ye had nae shown up when ye did." Although Owen had been passed out in the healer's room, he had heard all about how they fought off the attacks from William Dodd's men because Evie and Hamish had shown up with their men just in time.
"Of course. We are a family. What else would I have done? We always help family," Hamish said, clasping Owen's arm in his. Owen wrapped his sister in his arms and kissed her forehead. "They're still waiting for the news?"
"We are," Owen said. He sighed and lowered himself into a seat. The pain in his legs relaxed and he no longer felt the pressure on his side. He closed his eyes and let out another sigh.
"Who would have thought that ye would have ended up with an ally of the Musgraves," Hamish said suddenly. Owen and Margaret had filled everyone in regarding Charlotte's identity. It made sense to tell them that and a little about the dangers she faced so that they would know how important it was that they knew where she was. Still, there were some things that Owen kept to himself. They did not need to know everything, especially since she had told him in confidence. And simply because he wanted to have a piece of her that was private for only him and her.
"Yes. I never expected it either, but from what we have seen so far with our family, one should always expect the unexpected." His brother was married to Margaret, who was a Musgrave and Evie was married to Hamish, who had been from a clan of alliesto the Musgraves. So was it really a surprise that he had ended up falling in love with Charlotte, another ally of the clan? What mattered was that they had ended up with good people who did not care for injustice.
"Ha! That's true," Hamish said. He took his wife's hand in his and kissed it, grinning widely when she smiled at him.
Owen got up when he heard a commotion coming from outside. He quickly ran out with the hurried footsteps of his sister and brother-in-law following closely behind him. His heart filled with relief when he saw that the soldiers had returned. But they had returned, unfortunately, without Charlotte. Owen shelved his disappointment to listen to what they had to say.
"We followed her tracks like ye wanted me tae, tae where it stopped, but by the time we arrived there, there was more than one track. She had been joined by more and eventually stopped at a point. It seems like she had been involved in a scuffle and had raced off with her horse. I found the tracks of her horse again, but I dae nae believe that she was on the horse. Since the other tracks did nae follow, it is obvious tae me she did nae escape, and they must have caught her."
Owen processed what he had just heard. There were only two people who would care to send men after her. And that was her uncle and William Dodd. Seeing as the uncle had betrothed her to William Dodd despite her encounter with him years ago, Owen did not need anyone to tell him that the two men were working together. He gave his attention to the soldier who had resumed talking.
