Page 75 of A Virgin for the Icy Laird
She nodded, and his grin widened.
Clearly, he was not of sound mind. Never had she felt such fear for her life.
“Of the two of us, I was the better strategist, with a sharp mind that picked up on things easily. It was the one thing nature had granted me, and I had sharpened it, hoping it would give me an advantage, but I found out soon enough that charm won over shrewdness all the time.
“It was annoying, since I didnae truly care to foster a good relationship with the clansmen, nae when there were better and more important decisions to be made about the governance of the clan. As far as I was concerned, it was a colossal waste of time and nae really a sign of good governance as they thought.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Emily sympathized.
“I daenae need yer pity, Emily.”
“I daenae pity ye,” she answered. “I apologize that ye were hurt by yer family. They?—”
“Daenae patronize me!” he snapped. Then he cleared his throat and sat back. “I am sorry for raising me voice. I must tell ye whyI am wary of Clan MacDonnell. The former Laird was a shrewd bastard who sought to replace me, and he succeeded. He made me almost useless.
“He and Ewan became more like braithers than Ewan and I ever were, and it annoyed me to no end. Everything came to a head when I realized that Alexander and Ewan were trying to cement their friendship and partnership by betrothing their children to each other. I saw red, realizing that the path to me becoming Laird would close if I allowed such a partnership to hold.”
The final pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place.
Emily’s heart lurched as a crazed look entered her uncle’s eyes.
Her uncle.
The fact that she had living kin all this time still hadn’t fully sunk in, and the fact that her family had such a dark history made a terrible feeling coil in her stomach.
The carriage jolted, and the wheels veered, throwing her slightly to the side.
“Drive carefully, ye lout!” Laird Scott scolded.
“Pardon me, me Laird,” the driver called back.
“Now, where did I stop?” Laird Scott sneered. “Oh aye. I remember. Yer family had a tradition of crossing the frozen loch every winter to visit Clan MacDonnell. It wasnae really a perilous journey, mostly because the loch was usually frozen solid at that time of year, but me aim was to make sure it didnae hold under the weight of yer carriage. So I sent some of me men to dig holes in the ice. The plan was almost foolproof?—”
“Ye mean ye were the one who killed our parents?” Elize gasped.
“Daenae ye see why I had to do it?” he asked maniacally. “I couldnae let yer faither have everything that should have been mine. When I heard the story, I wished I were there to hear yer screams as they perished in the icy depths. It was almost too perfect, until I heard Alexander had come to try and save them.
“It was the best day of me life when I heard that he had died in the same frozen loch that had claimed the lives of his friend and his family. Me joy kent no bounds. But something kept niggling at me.
“I kent I shouldnae be happy at such a tragedy, considering that Ewan was good to me, but the most important thing was presented to me. A chance to use me talents where they were needed most—the Laird’s seat. I wasnae to be blamed if I celebrated a little too hard, since the reason for that restriction was no more. I took full control of the clan’s fate.”
“How could ye?” Emily snapped. “We were yer family!”
“And I did what was necessary.” He shrugged. “I had to feign grief for the time it took to bury me braither without a body. At least I devoted a few days to searching for their remains, even though I was convinced there was no need to do so, since it was suicide for anyone to look for them under the ice, and it would be months before it thawed.
“It was strong logic that allowed me to close the chapter of me braither’s death. Relishing the fact that I had flawlessly eradicated the prat’s family from existence, I took over the lairdship and turned everything around.”
Emily found herself flitting between disbelief and grief. Her uncle had killed her parents and nearly killed her and Elize, all because he wanted power.
He kept talking, and she listened, although his voice sounded distant, as though she had her head under water.
“I loved yer faither. It is a pity that he didnae love me enough to give me what I wanted. So I took it,” he said flippantly, shrugging his shoulders. “It is a pity he had to die for that to happen.”
“That was his right,” Emily spat, growing annoyed at his delusion.
“Says who?” he shot back with a small smirk. “Nature? A man makes his own way because nature isnae always right. Power isnae innate. Power belongs to those confident enough to reach for it.”
“Ye evil—” she began, but was interrupted by the whinnying of horses.
