How to Heal a Highland Heart by Julie Johnstone

Author:Julie Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Highland
Published: 2019-08-28T16:00:00+00:00

“I ken ye’re in here.”

The voice was clear above the hum of the waterfall Patience and Jane stood behind. Spray from water soaked Patience’s clothes and face.

“I’m coming for ye. Both of ye,” Loskie called out.

Patience’s scalp tingled. Loskie was closer. And calm. Too calm. Like someone who was certain they’d be victorious. Patience shuddered as she clutched Jane’s hand and plastered herself against the wet, jagged rock. In front of her, the water came down deafening from the rocks above that rose toward the sky. Patience’s heartbeat thudded in her ears. She curled her left hand tighter around the dagger she’d grabbed from the table in Jane’s cottage as they had raced out.

“We’re going to die!” Jane cried.

“Shh,” Patience said. “I refuse to die today.” She didn’t know where her bravery was coming from. All she knew was that one of them had to be brave, and she was in much better condition to try than Jane, who had been beaten badly.

The images of her battered state flashed behind Patience’s eyelids, awakening her own past. She had to suck in her cheeks and bite the inside of them to keep from screaming her anger. Busted lips. Swollen eyes. Aches that took weeks to subside. Breathing was hard. Movement impossible.

That was then, not now. In this moment, her body was alert and ready. Shadows protected them, but not for long. Soon, he would come upon them, traveling as he was on the same ledge they stood upon. He’d come from her right. She stared hard into the dark, seeing nothing.

All she had to do was plunge the dagger into his chest where his heart was. Nausea roiled in her stomach. She didn’t want to do it, but she would. Her brother had once shown her how to wield a dagger, and she prayed she remembered. Her fingertips pulsed around the hilt of the weapon.

“Which one of ye should I kill first?” Loskie taunted.

Jane whimpered and Patience elbowed her. Jane immediately fell silent. Patience bit her lip against her own desire to whimper until the metallic taste of blood touched her tongue. Was he ten steps away? Nine? Jane suddenly pressed herself even closer to Patience, the violent trembling of her body making Patience’s memories rattle louder. She pushed back against the tide of fear and squeezed Jane’s hand to try to offer reassurance. She wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. There never had been anywhere to go. No home. No safety. Her whole life had been blocked by men and now she was trapped by rock, too. They were the same. Immovable.

No more, no more, no more.

Rock crunched from her right just audible beneath the hum of the waterfall. Turning toward the noise, she released Jane’s hand in the same instant and stepped toward the sound, hoping to block Loskie from reaching Jane.

Almost. Almost.

Blood pumped from her heart, down her arm to her fingers, and a shriek split her ears.

God’s teeth! Had that been her?

A bellow came next.

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