Taken By the Vicious Highlander (Taken by Highland Devils #5)

Chapter 22

22

L ilith woke up to warmth surrounding her, the scent of damp stone and herbs lingering in the air. Her head pounded dully, and her limbs felt heavy, but as she blinked away the haze, her eyes landed on a familiar figure slumped in the chair beside her bed.

Damon.

He was asleep, his head bowed, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. Even in slumber, his brow was furrowed, as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a faint groan escaped, the sound barely above a whisper.

Damon’s body tensed up instantly. His eyes shot open, sharp and alert, scanning the room until they found her face. Relief flooded his features, but it was brief, vanishing behind a guarded expression.

“Lilith?” His voice was hoarse as he reached for her, his fingers ghosting over her wrist as if to reassure himself that she was real. “How do ye feel?”

“Like I’ve been trampled by a herd of horses,” she muttered, attempting to sit up, only for a wave of dizziness to hit her.

Damon was there in an instant, his strong hands steadying her.

“Easy,” he murmured, adjusting the pillows behind her. “Ye’ve been unconscious since last night.”

The memories came back slowly—dinner, the warmth in her chest, the moment she’d been about to tell him she loved him, and then… nothing.

“What happened?”

Damon hesitated, his jaw clenching. “Ye were poisoned.”

The words sent a chill through her.

“Poisoned?” She searched his face, her heart pounding. “By who?”

His silence spoke volumes. Someone close to her. Someone who had access to the food.

“Smith?”

Damon refused to acknowledge the guess, which was enough to tell her that it was wrong.

“Nae Ryder, nae Smith…”

Her eyes widened and met his, disgust on the tip of her tongue as the realization hit her.

“Nay,” she whispered. “Nae Ariah.”

Damon gave a slow nod. “Aye.”

Lilith sucked in a sharp breath. It felt impossible. Ariah was her friend. More than that, she was her closest companion, the one she had trusted above all others.

“I need to speak with her.”

“Nay.” Damon’s refusal was immediate, his hand clenching into a fist. “She doesnae deserve the chance to speak to ye. She’ll rot in the dungeons for what she’s done.”

“Damon, I need to hear it from her.” Lilith gritted her teeth as she swung her legs over the mattress. “Please.”

His eyes burned with reluctance, but he exhaled sharply and stood up. “Fine. But I’ll be there with ye.”

“Nay. I’ll go alone, husband.”

The muscle in Damon’s jaw ticked, but he relented. “Fine, but I’ll be at the end of the corridor.”

“I’ll meet ye in the study.”

With a sigh, Damon nodded firmly. “If ye arenae up here in ten minutes, I’m comin’ down for ye.”

“Fine.”

The dungeons were cold, damp, and reeked of mildew. Ariah sat on the floor of her cell, her once-pristine dress wrinkled and stained with dirt. Her arms wrapped around her legs, her head bowed.

Lilith took a shaky breath. “Ariah.”

At the sound of her voice, Ariah’s head snapped up. Her brown eyes widened, then flickered with something unreadable. Guilt? Fear? Resignation?

“Ye shouldnae be here,” she murmured.

“I need to understand why.” Lilith stepped closer, gripping the iron bars. “I trusted ye. I loved ye like a sister. And ye poisoned me. Why, Ariah?”

Ariah lowered her gaze, her fingers curling into the fabric of her dress, but she said nothing.

Lilith’s breaths came quicker, her fury simmering beneath the surface. “Say something! Ye owe me that much!”

Still, Ariah remained silent, her lips pressed into a thin line. Lilith couldn’t tell, and it only made her angrier.

“Damn ye, Ariah! Have ye nothin’ to say for yerself?” Lilith’s voice rose, echoing through the damp stone walls. “After everything, after all?—”

Her words caught in her throat as she thought all of those times they hid away from Magnus.

Clearing her throat, she said instead, “After everything we shared, ye’ll nae even give me a reason?”

Ariah’s shoulders curled inward, but she remained silent.

Lilith’s chest tightened with frustration, her nails digging into her palms. “Did ye hate me so much? Was it jealousy? Were ye after Damon all along?”

At that, Ariah’s head snapped up, her lips parting slightly. But still, no words came out. Her throat bobbed, as though she was swallowing down something she could not say.

Lilith exhaled sharply, trying to rein in her emotions. “Was it Tristan? Did he put ye up to this? He’s been against Damon from the start, and I’ve been defendin’ him this whole time, sayin’ that he’s just doin’ his job. But is this his idea? Tell me, damn ye!”

Still, nothing.

Lilith let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head. “Coward.”

Ariah flinched.

Lilith turned to leave, her hands trembling. But before she could take a step, Ariah finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, “I’m pregnant.”

Lilith froze. Slowly, she turned back, her stomach churning. “What?”

Ariah’s lips quivered. “I… I’m with child, Lil?—”

“Dinnae call me that. Ye cannae call me that anymore. We arenae friends.”

Ariah dipped her head and bit her bottom lip to keep from shaking.

A sharp, bitter taste filled Lilith’s mouth. She felt sick, her pulse pounding in her ears. “Ye are with child, and ye still did this? Kennin’ that ye carry a bairn? Ye put yer own child in danger?”

Ariah’s breath hitched, and she looked away. “I didnae?—”

“Ye didnae what? Think? Care?” Lilith cut her off, stepping closer to the bars, her fingers curling around the iron so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “Ye’re carryin’ a child out of wedlock, and instead of protectin’ it, ye plotted against me? Poisoned me? What if I had died, Ariah? What if the babe inside ye had suffered for it? Tell me why!”

Ariah closed her eyes, her hands clenching into fists, but she said nothing.

Lilith shuddered. “If ye ever get out of this mess, he must marry ye—forgiveness or nae.”

Ariah looked up at her then, her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. But she hesitated.

Lilith’s vision blurred with the sting of unshed tears, her heart breaking under the weight of betrayal. “Why, Ariah? Why would ye plot against me? After everything we’ve been through? Everything we’ve shared?”

Ariah remained silent, her jaw tight, her body rigid.

Lilith let out a strangled cry and her fury boiled over. Before she could stop herself, her palm smacked against the cold stone. A sharp sting shot through her fingers, radiating up her arm, but she barely felt it over the rage burning in her chest.

She took a shuddering breath, her voice thick with fury. “If ye’ll nae talk to me, perhaps Damon’s more unconventional approach may loosen yer tongue. The Second Aragain doesnae take kindly to traitors.”

She turned on her heel and stormed out, her breathing ragged, her pulse hammering. The ache in her chest was unbearable, the weight of shattered trust pressing down on her like a boulder. But she would not look back.

Ariah had made her choice, and I have made mine .

By the time she reached her chambers, her hands were shaking. She pressed them against her temples, trying to steady herself, but the anger still roiled within her, sharp and unrelenting, and she hissed at the pain in one of them.

Shouldnae have slammed me hand into the wall. So stupid.

Lilith couldn’t give herself leave to dwell on the conversation between her and Ariah. She needed to talk to Damon. She needed to tell him.

But when she found him, he was distant. He stood near the window of his study, his arms crossed over his chest, his expression unreadable.

“Did ye ken about Ariah? About the child?” she asked quietly.

He nodded once. “Ryder told me.”

Lilith studied him, frustration bubbling up inside her. “And?”

“And nothin’,” he said flatly. “She’s made her choice, and she’ll live with the consequences.”

Lilith frowned. “Damon, we need to talk about?—”

“Nay, Lilith.” His voice was firmer now, colder. “I have too much to handle, with the festival comin’, with Tristan still out there. I cannae do this right now.”

Her heart sank. He was pulling away. She could feel it.

Damon continued, unrelentingly so—each sentence felt like a blow. “Ariah’s in the dungeons. What more do ye wish for me to do? I couldnae even save ye from yer best friend. Good choice on that, by the way—that surely turned out well.”

His fingers drove through the strands out of place on his head with furious force, and Lilith blinked back tears.

“She’s still me friend!” she bit out, and immediately recoiled at the crazed look in Damon’s eyes.

“She’s still yer friend? Are ye daft? She’s nay friend of yers! She just tried to kill ye, Lilith!”

“She didnae wish to?—”

“How do ye ken that? Did she tell ye? Did ye think that she was lyin’ just so that ye’d feel sorry for her? I’m sorry, lass, but ye dinnae ken what ye’re talkin’ about.”

“I ken well enough what I’m sayin’, and—I ken yer ways as well, Damon. She willnae speak to ye or give up her source, and I dinnae take kindly to torturin’ a pregnant woman.”

“What are ye on about? I’m nae evil. I’m nae yer braither. Why would ye ever think that I would torture her?”

“Well!” Lilith started to hurl an insult his way but then thought twice. “Well, I already scared her by tellin’ her that ye would!”

“Ye did what?”

“I was angry! And, well, I played into her fear, so I put that out there, but I dinnae actually wish for it to happen. She thinks ye are a brutal man. Ye could use it in yer favor.”

Damon sighed, his hands falling to his sides. “Brutal? Ye think I’m brutal? Truly?”

Shite, this isnae how I wished for this to go.

“I never said that, but while we’re on the topic. It was appalling to find out that ye dinnae consult me, again, before visiting her!”

“That doesnae make me brutal, does it?”

“I never said that, Damon,” Lilith said in a softer voice, trying to convey her meaning. “But ye cannae deny that ye were. I mean, ye should leverage it in times like these.”

His eyebrows knitted together in frustration. “Ye wish for me to be that man again?”

Again?

“I just—Nay! I’m just tryin’ to say that I’ve already put the threat out there, and to her, it’s nae out of the realm of possibilities for ye to confuse her.”

“Confuse? What are ye sayin’?”

Lilith’s pain, anger, and frustration boiled over to the point that her ears started ringing furiously. She let the next words spill out of her to relieve the pressure.

“For heaven’s sake, Damon. All of Scotland kens that the Second Aragain has a wrathful side?—”

But the blow landed precisely where she hadn’t intended.

“I’m the Second Aragain now? Ye cannae be serious. What has Magnus told ye about me, then? Out with it!”

“He told me enough,” she said, clenching and unclenching her fists, squeezing her eyes shut.

“And ye believe him, even in death? A man who was nay braither to ye, who was an actual evil brute—ye believe him?”

“I believe…” she began, her eyes fluttering open, the edges of her vision blurry.

He was supposed to give her a respite, but he was not doing anything to rescue her this time.

“I believe…” she tried again.

“Aye, Lilith, ye believe what ye must.”

“I—”

She felt herself slipping, but Damon walked up to her, gripping her arms with soft surety.

“Believe this,” he said, his eyes locking onto hers, grounding her. “I would burn the world to ensure yer safety. Call me a brute. Call me whatever. But believe that I would never harm a pregnant woman.”

A tear escaped and slid down Lilith’s cheek as she let out a shaky breath. “I ken that, but she doesnae. That’s all I was tryin’ to say…”

“I’m nay brute. I’m vengeful and wrathful when it comes to protectin’ me own, but I’m nay monster.”

“I—” She choked back a sob. “I thought ye were just goin’ to stand there and leave me to?—”

“I vowed to protect ye, even if it’s from yerself, lass.”

Damon’s words were soft, his grip burning through the sleeves of her dress, but his expression was guarded and unreadable. Something dark lingered behind his eyes.

Lilith wanted to bring up their seventh night, to remind him of what they’d shared before everything had fallen apart. But with the pain in her hand, she hesitated, her mind racing back to Ariah.

“She’s still me friend, Damon. She would never do this unprompted. She’s nae the orchestrator.”

“I ken that well enough, lass,” he sighed.

He dropped his hands and took a step back from her, and then another, putting space between them that sliced through her heart.

With each step he retreated, the distance grew by several miles.

Where is he goin’?

Concern darkened Damon’s features as she watched him watching her spiral into madness. Instead of confronting him about it, she ran. She turned and rushed out of his study, not turning back even after hearing him call her name.

If he’s puttin’ space between us, then good. I was silly to think otherwise.

She swiped at the tears streaming down her face as she bolted down to the Great Hall, where she ran into a new kitchen maid. Her hand suddenly started throbbing, pain shooting up her arm.

“Me Lady, are ye well?”

“Can ye fetch me a bucket of ice water?”

“A bucket of ice and water, Me Lady?”

“Aye, the same!” Lilith said, her hand now clenched so tightly that she had to pry her tender fingers from the balled fist they stayed in. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she pinched her thigh to quell them this time.

What if he’s nae puttin’ space between us? What if it’s somethin’ else?

Just as the kitchen maid rested the bucket on the chair next to her, Lilith pressed her bruised knuckles against the cold surface and relaxed into the pins and needles sensation.

Why did I run?

She started swirling the water almost playfully, almost forgetting how cold Damon was toward her, almost forgetting the pain she felt in her hand and her heart.