Reclaimed (A Highland Historical Trilogy) (The MacKay Banshees 1-3) by Kerrigan Byrne Read Free Book Online Page A

perhaps finding a familiar scar beneath his thick, wet hair. “I was told that I let everyone know what I saw. Maybe I even heard that word before, An Dìoladh , though I canna remember it.”
    Katriona snorted. “Perhaps your head wound was worse than you thought if you remember watching the likes of Angus save your life.”
    Rory’s eyes narrowed on her face. “Angus was always so angry. So incredibly cruel. But he shared a womb with me. He laughed only with me . He rode, hunted with, and fought beside me. He loved me. And regardless of what happened after… that day he saved my life.” His gaze slid to the fire. “It ended up being one of his biggest mistakes.”
    “His biggest mistakes were viciously raping Kylah and burning my family alive. Or raiding and pillaging across the Highlands, wreaking unspeakable terrors upon those who wouldn’t cower to his demands,” Katriona hissed. “Or how about dividing our clan and making us weak, turning kin against kin until every death was a MacKay death.” Katriona advanced. “How dare you mourn him.”
    Rory stood, proud and completely nude. His jaw locked and a storm gathered in his eyes. “I ordered his death , Katriona.” His low voice a dark contrast to her Banshee wails. “My own brother. I put a stop to his evil.” Stepping out of the bath, he reached for a plaid and wrapped it around his hips, hiding his glorious male flesh from view. “That doesna mean I doona mourn the child Angus was, or the man he could have been.”
    Katriona could see the pain and shame etched into the lines around his eyes. The weight of his deeds straining the muscles of his heavy shoulders. She felt a swell of pity for him, but tried to crush it beneath a wall of ice.
    “Our father he was… cruel to us both, but Angus got the worst of it. I suppose because he was the eldest and next in line to be Laird.” Rory squeezed at his forehead again, a now familiar sign he experienced unpleasant memories. “The degradation that we—the humiliation… It’s no wonder he became a creature of pain and perversion.”
    “You excuse him in my presence?” Aghast, Katriona recoiled farther away from him.
    “Not an excuse.” He held up his hand as though to ward off her anger. “I just—”
    “Just nothing. ” Katriona could feel the Banshee rage gurgle from deep inside what little soul she had left, squelching what tendrils of warmth remained from his touch. “You were subject to the same upbringing as your brother. Based on your logic, don’t you have the potential for the same evil?”
    “Aye, it’s possible. But I choose to be different. I want my clan to be strong and prosperous.” Rory hit a fist to his chest, amber flames flaring in his eyes in response to the frost forming in hers. “I want the word of a MacKay to mean something in the Highlands again. And, most of all, I want to pay for my own sins and not the deeds of the Lairds before me!”
    “You enjoyed the pain my magic wrought, didn’t you?” Katriona sneered. “It brought you pleasure? Is that not a perversion? Do you enjoy inflicting pain with the same excitement that you receive from it?”
    Muscles heaving with fuming breaths, he advanced on her. “You know I would never.”
    Katriona let out a dry sound that may have been called a laugh if it wasn’t so full of contempt. “I know no such thing. What other sins do you hide from the fools in our clan who love and trust you? What price will they ultimately pay for their innocent willingness to forgive?” What price would she pay? Or her sisters? And was it already too late for them all? For even as she hurled accusations at him and watched the darkness gather on his features, she yearned to be back in the warmth of the water with him, forgetting anything about the past and the future. Living, as it were, only for the next moment and the new sensation it would bring them. A part of her knew she was being unfair, but she’d rather it be so than be deceived