Page 47 of A Laird and a Gentleman

Fear clawed at her chest as she looked into his eyes, and saw her own death written there. Tears fell from her eyes as her thoughts turned to the one man who had never looked at her in that way no matter what she had done.

Cameron.

In that moment the truth hit her like a blow to the chest. Not only did she need him. She wanted him. She loved him. Never once had she allowed herself to think, much less say the words. Not to herself or to him. She’d hidden from that truth like so many others in her life.

At least she’d been able to acknowledge her feelings before she died. Closing her eyes, she sent out her thoughts. I love you, Cameron.

Calmer now, she opened her eyes. At the pyre, layers of leaves and moss cradled by the wood were lit on fire. The flames jumped from smaller branches to larger ones, until the pile of wood they’d stacked fully ignited. Sparks drifted upward, to fall moments later on to the forest floor as the fire intensified and the scent of smoke filled the air.

She didn’t deserve to die. All she had done was help them. She was not like her father, and she never would be. A bittersweet smile came to her lips. She was more like the mother she never fully knew than she was the father who had raised her. She took comfort from the thought as she stopped struggling against her bonds and instead tried to open her palms.

She focused her thoughts on loosening the ropes at her hands and feet. She could feel herself awakening to whatever forces lay dormant inside her, but she also felt drained from the energy she had expended earlier. Would she have enough magic left inside to free herself?

A long minute passed. Not even the slightest loosening had occurred in the ropes that bound her. Disappointment flared hot and bright as she shifted her thoughts to the one thing she could control with or without her hands free—the wind. She gathered it about, making ash and dead leaves swirl about her. But just as suddenly as the wind had stared, it stopped and ice rippled down her spin. Her gaze shifted to the pyre. The flames leapt higher; the smoke more intense. Creating more wind would only accelerate the flames, making the men’s goal of burning her alive that much easier.

“Get the girl. It’s time,” Angus said as he and three other men moved to grab her by the legs and arms.

“Stop, please!” Mariam bucked in their grasp, writhing, struggling, making it difficult for the men to carry her. She had to do something to stop them. She lifted her hands, but dropped them as Angus slapped her so viciously that her head snapped to one side.

She continued to squirm, slowing them down, forcing them to struggle for every step forward. The flames danced higher. Panic clawed at her, closing her throat so she could barely breathe. Desperate for air, she drew a deep, terrified breath and instantly the flames lessened. At the sight, an idea formed. Perhaps not only could she create wind, but she could cause its absence as well.

Mariam tried again, drawing a deep, deep breath. The flames flickered, lessened. Again and again, she drew the air into her lungs, until her vision blurred before her. Yet she didn’t stop. She kept breathing in as deeply as she could. Just when she thought she couldn’t take another breath, a rush of something moved through her. She gasped at the rising sweep of it. Her body sizzled as a new wave of energy came to her. She drew in the air about them all until the flames that had once danced before her eyes extinguished entirely.

The men carrying her stumbled as she deprived them of their life’s breath. The two holding her legs dropped her feet. Then just as suddenly Angus and the other man at her arms fell to their knees, taking her with them to the ground.

Mariam looked around her in wonder as the men around her collapsed onto the ash-covered ground. She looked into Angus’s fearful gaze as his eyes closed, and she felt a moment of panic. Had she killed them?

A heartbeat later she noted the soft rise and fall of Angus’s chest. Her body sagged in relief. Not dead. Simply stunned.

Mariam wriggled her bonds again and found them just as tight as before. She might be tied up, but that did not mean she couldn’t escape. She rolled forward as best she could, until her body pressed up against Angus’s. Then, sitting up, she maneuvered around him, until the way was once again clear. Drawing a breath and holding it, in an attempt to limit the amount of ash she inhaled, Mariam tucked her arms in front of her. She rolled over the forest floor and kept on rolling, avoiding the obstacles in her way. She had to find a place to hide before the men regained their senses.

It was her only chance of escaping a painful death.

*

Cameron felt the wash of magic in the air as he and Alexander entered the forestlands.

“They’ve brought her to a source of wood instead of bringing wood to her. Clever, if I do say so myself,” Alexander said as they made their way through the rowan trees.

“There is no cleverness in killing an innocent person.”

“You’re certain she’s innocent?”

Cameron gave his friend a hard stare. “She’s innocent.”

Alexander shrugged. “Before I left for Kinmount House you were ready to marry the girl off just to be rid of her. What’s changed?”

“I will not abandon her, no matter what the cause of all this ash. There is another logical explanation.”

“Is that all?”

Cameron released an unearthly growl at the mix of emotions that cascaded through him—anger and guilt that he had left her unprotected while he escorted her father to Falkland Palace, as well as fear that he might not save her now. “Something changed, Alexander. I don’t know when it happened . . . Over these past few days I stopped pretending I didn’t care about her. My heart has only one thought, one desire, one need, and that is Mariam.”

Alexander smiled. “Then judging by the smell of smoke in the air, I suggest we hurry before you lose what it is your heart desires.”

Cameron couldn’t have agreed with his friend more. Despite the trees, they shot recklessly ahead. At the speed they were going, it was too difficult to talk, but they both knew the odds of finding Mariam in time were lessening. They were near, yet not near enough. The intensity of the fear that flashed through Cameron robbed him of breath.

Urging his horse even faster at the feeling time was running out, he pushed the debilitating thought away, buried it deep inside. He would find her. He had to.