“Isla.” He stared at her, and she tried to ignore the warmth in his voice when he spoke her name.
She shrugged. “What?”
“I’ve not come to banter with you.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it. I just meant it can be quite dull and uninspiring here.”
He sat back in the chair and rubbed his chin in thoughtful contemplation. “There are plenty of reasons why a man would want to come home. And there is certainly nothing here I find dull or uninspiring.” The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. “I see you still hold that mischievous glint in your eye. The room still radiates with an undeniable vitality when you’re in it.”
She felt her face flush but resisted the urge to fan her cheeks. She thought of making a light-hearted comment but could not prevent the honest words from falling from her lips. “I’m not the same woman you remember. Many things have changed.” Namely, she drank blood and could not eat food. She shrivelled in the sunlight; bore the evil curse of a foreign devil.
“Aye. Neither of us is as innocent and naive as we once were.”
His comment tore at her heart. He was supposed to have been the one she married, the first and only one to claim her body and soul. She was supposed to have been the one who bore his sons. The sudden pain of loss almost choked her, and she put her hand to her mouth as she coughed.
“Are you alright?” He sat forward. “Do you need water?”
“No. I shall be fine.” She gulped a breath as she struggled to understand how it had all gone so terribly wrong. “Perhaps I’m coming down with a chill.”
“Well, if you will go racing off into the forest at night, what do you expect?”
She forced a smile. “Do you not know that’s what witches do? They dance naked under the full moon, chant their spells and lure unsuspecting gentlemen to commit a whole host of wicked deeds.”
Lachlan rubbed his hands down his powerful thighs. “You make the art of witchcraft sound so appealing. Is that what you do every night when you’re not terrorising the village livestock?”
Isla tore her gaze away from his large hands and sighed. “How could they think me capable of such devilish deeds? I’ve grown up with these people, known them all my life. I just pray they find an explanation, and soon.”
“I doubt there is an animal roaming these parts that is equipped to cause such fatal injuries. It doesn’t help that you’ve only been seen out at night these last few years. Such odd behaviour is sure to make them suspicious.” His words brimmed with curiosity, and she knew it was his polite way of asking her why.
The need to justify her actions pushed to the fore. “It is only odd if you fail to understand the circumstances.” She took a deep breath. “What I tell you now must not be repeated to another soul.” After disguising his initial look of shock, he nodded. Isla cleared her throat and continued. “Nikolai suffers from an allergy to the sun. There is a problem with his blood, and so it seems that he has infected me with the disease too.” She would trust Lachlan with her life, but that’s as much as she could say without revealing the true horror of her condition.
His face took on a deathlike pallor. “Are you telling me you’re ill?”
“Aye.”
His frantic gaze raced over her body. He reached out, perhaps contemplated touching her, before dropping his hand. “You’re not … you’re—”
“I’m not going to die.” She gave a weak chuckle. “Well, not unless the villagers decide to burn me on a pyre or bind my legs together and plunge me headfirst into the River Earn.”
“Is it contagious? Is that why you hide away here?”
Isla shook her head. “It is passed through contaminated blood, as in open cuts or wounds.” She could not tell him Nikolai had punctured her neck with his sharp fangs and drank from her until she could no longer stand.
He sat back in the chair, his broad shoulders sagging. “I wouldn’t worry about the villagers. They’re just superstitious folk. Have you not thought to tell them about your condition?”
Isla scrunched her nose in response. They would not accept her explanation. “What, and tell them I’m suffering from a strange affliction, one they’ve never heard talk of before? Then they’re sure to believe I’m cursed.” She gave a dismissive wave. Simply talking about her affliction roused painful memories. “But you did not venture out on a cold night just to hear my tales of woe. I hear you’re interested in renting the mine.”
“If the price suits my purse.”
There was something contrived about his choice of words. His pursed lips and tense shoulders revealed a certain discomfort. Incoherent fragments of his thoughts drifted into her mind. She sensed doubt, apprehension, felt the racing pulse that accompanies deceit. It struck her that he had no interest in the mine at all.
“You’ve never lied to me, Lachlan. Please, do not start now.” She caught a flicker of recognition in his eyes. It was enough to confirm her suspicions. “I do not need your charity.”
Like the last breath taken before leaving this world, his long, deep sigh expressed resignation. “Douglas told me that Nikolai left you with no means to fend for yourself.”
Isla saw pity in his eyes. When his gaze drifted over her dress and lingered on the frayed hem, he muttered a curse.
Once he had admired her, stood in awe. She had felt as rich and as respected as a queen. But now she had been reduced to the role of blind beggar sitting on the dirty streets pleading for scraps.