Page 59 of Highlander’s Sweet Poison

“Aye.”

“Lies!” he screamed, and backhanded her. “All filthy lies. Ye came to me crawling on yer knees with tears in yer eyes to save yer precious husband because ye love him! Him! Ye have never loved me.”

“Nay,” Jillian murmured and pushed at the crates. “And I never will.”

As they toppled onto him, she darted forward, desperately trying to find the stairs to the rest of the house. When she stumbled onto them, she fell but managed to crawl as fast as she could upward.

A hand wrapped around her ankle and pulled her off. With a scream, she fell to the floor, striking her head and moaning as the darkness started to close in.

No, she could not pass out. She could not.

“Ye are wrong, Jillian,” Art breathed heavily. “Ye will love me, and I have everything that I need to make that happen. It will be dark soon, and then, my darling, we will have the night we always deserved. ” With a grin, he pulled a small glass vial out of his pocket and held it up to the light. “Do ye know what this is?”

Green liquid. There were plenty of green potions, but none was ever that particularly dark shade of green. She struggled to hold on.

“‘Tis derived from a beetle, and according to the merchant I purchased it from, it will make even the coldest lass amorous.”

Losing the battle, Jillian passed out.

“We have searched the whole village and the bordering woods,” Tearloch announced when he returned to the keep. Graeme had searched the keep itself as well as nearby buildings. “Nothing.”

Behind Graeme, his mother and sister, Alexina, and Kylie all moaned. “Search again,” Graeme bellowed. “He hasnae had her long!”

“Graeme.” Creighton stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. “We cannae search again blindly. The more time that has passed, the more chance that he will kill her. We must be smart about this. Tearloch, are ye certain that every home was searched?”

“Aye. Duff, Robbie, and I oversaw it ourselves. We searched Baldie and Nora’s home twice just to be certain that he hadn’t somehow double backed to it. Many of the villagers joined the search as well, but we were watching over everything.”

“And ye searched the keep,” Creighton mused. “‘Twould have been a brilliant move on his part. The keep would have been the last place I would have searched.”

“Aye, but Art isnae brave enough to come back here,” Graeme growled. He was growing more and more unsteady with each passing minute that he did not have with his wife. “I will have a word with Baldie and Nora again. Perhaps there is someplace that Art goes that we dinnae know about.”

“Son.” Bridgette shook her head. “It will be a waste of time. Though he is a monster, he is still their son, and they will protect him. There must be something that ye missed. Did ye search his home for any idea of where he might be spending his time?”

Tearloch shook his head. “Nay. We posted a guard at his door in case he returns, but we didnae search the home.”

“There’s a cellar,” Kylie murmured before her eyes widened. “Art’s home has a store cellar beneath the cottage. When my aunt was ill last year, he brought over some baked goods from Nora. I went to his home to thank him, and he was in the cellar organizing some crates. He stores his paints down there. Did ye search there?”

Everyone shook their heads, and Graeme raced to his horse. There was no time to lose.

The villagers took notice of Graeme’s frantic ride, and of the dozens that followed behind him, and quickly attempted to follow suit. Jillian was their mistress now, had earned their loyalty when it should have been impossible, when it shouldn’t have been necessary, and Graeme could only pray that he would get to her in time so she could see the love her people had for her.

The love he had for her.

Grief rose inside him at the thought that she might be gone, but he pushed it aside. She’d faced more than her fair share of horror and survived every time. This would be no different, and as God as his witness, this would be the last time anyone got close to hurting her again.

The guard at the door stood at attention, and dust flew up from the stallion's hooves as Graeme pulled him to a stop. Jumping from its back, Graeme pulled his sword. “Have ye heard anything?”

“I thought I heard a noise earlier, but when I went to check it, there was nothing,” the guard said earlier. “Have I missed something?”

“We all have.” Grimly, he started to the cottage and stopped. Art was a madman and would not be reasoned with. There was only one door to the cellar. If he blocked Art’s only chance of escape, he might very well kill Jillian out of spite.

He needed to get them out of the cellar.

He looked at Creighton, who was studying the building. As if he understood, Creighton nodded and marched forward. “Ye there,” he said in a loud voice. “Do ye know who I am?”

The guard looked puzzled but nodded. “Aye.”

“Louder,” Graeme whispered.