But for who?
It seemed it was taking forever to reach his wife, when it truly hadn’t been that long. But he didn’t know Sterling’s plans for Willow and the longer it took to reach her the more harm she could suffer. He prayed that wasn’t so, and prayed even harder that he wouldn’t be too late to save her.
Willow tried to keep a safe distance from Sterling, but he hovered around her like an annoying gnat. The cold stone she sat on chilled her backside and sent a shiver through her now and again. He waited impatiently for Slatter but then so did she. She prayed her husband would arrive soon and this would finally be over.
Sterling stopped suddenly and glared at her, then grinned.
The blow came so fast and so unexpected Willow barely had time to blink. It sent her tumbling off the stone, her head hitting the ground and blood pouring from her lip that she felt already swelling.
“Something to anger him and make him lose control,” Sterling snickered.
Willow got to her feet and went to wipe the blood away with the edge of her cloak.
“Don’t,” Sterling ordered. “It looks much worse with the blood.”
Willow remained on her feet and kept a steady eye on Sterling, ready to avoid another blow if necessary. She wondered what her sister Sorrell would have done in this situation. She would have tried to escape him by now or she would have driven him crazy with her endless chatter and curiosity.
That gave Willow a thought.
“How is it that you and Sterling resemble each other?” she asked.
“That’s a tale better left for Slatter to hear,” he said with a chuckle.
“If I were to take a guess, I would say you both have the same father but different mothers and seeing what an evil man you are leaves me to assume your father is just as evil. Slatter’s mum must have realized it and wisely left him.”
“She was a whore and her son a bastard. Neither of them meant anything to my father,” Sterling snapped, then turned an angry glare on her.
“Perhaps but she outsmarted him, running off, no doubt, to keep her son safe,” Willow said a slight snicker to her tone.
His hand shot out, but Willow was prepared and he stumbled forward missing her.
“Willow!”
She turned and ran at the sound of her husband’s voice, though she hadn’t spotted him, barely missing Sterling’s hand that reached out again to grab her.
“Willow!”
Her husband continued to call to her, his voice filling the surrounding woods and she was so excited when she spotted him that she didn’t see that Sterling had gotten close. His hand clamped around her neck, jolting her to a stop.
Sterling dragged her to the middle of the clearing where they had been waiting, and she gasped for a breath since his grip was tight.
“Let her go, you’ve got what you wanted now… me,” Slatter said, rushing into the clearing. He kept his eyes on his wife, not only seeing the fear in her eyes, but feeling it, and it wasn’t only fear for herself that dominated both, but for him.
Sterling shoved Willow away and when she went to run to her husband, she saw one of the two men that flanked her husband had a blade pointed at his back, and she stopped where she was.
“Dunn would only be too glad to stick Slatter as he did his grandmother,” Sterling said, his grin smug.
Dunn laughed, poking Slatter with the tip of the blade, not drawing any blood, just enough of a poke to let him know what awaited him. “The old crone failed to give me what I came for so I left her to die a slow death. You’ll have a slow death yourself while watching us enjoy your wife.”
Willow caught the way her husband’s muscles tightened in his face. His anger was near to exploding.
“But first I have a tale to tell you,” Sterling said, joyous with his impending victory.
“Don’t bother, it’s obvious,” Slatter said. “You’re my half-brother.”
“Your mother was my father’s whore,” Sterling spat annoyed he had spoiled it for him.
“And your father didn’t like that I was born the better looking one,” Slatter said with a laugh.
“He wanted you dead,” Sterling said, spittle flying out of his mouth with each word.
“Of course he did. How would it look if there was a man who resembled his heir walking around? What would people say? And would this man try to claim his title and lands that rightfully belonged to his true son? But my mum understood that the man she thought she loved was an evil man and meant her and her son harm, so she did what any loving mum would do… she ran.”
“When did you realize all this?” Sterling asked.
“It became obvious after a while. What other explanation could there be? What I am curious about though is why impersonate me? Why not kill me and be done with it? It must have been your father’s edict that once you found me I was to die.”