Page 67 of Midnight Shadow

“I was hoping you’d meet your lover here.” Kenric scanned the clearing. “But I see that isn’t the case.”

Bria’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What do you want?”

Kenric stopped just in front of her. “I want many things, m’lady.”

Bria did not like his tone. She lifted her chin and moved to step around him, but he grabbed her arm, halting her.

“I’m not finished with you,” he said softly.

Bria tried to pull her arm free, but he wouldn’t release it. “Terran will have your head if you persist. I am lady of Castle Knowles.”

“For now.”

Dread slithered up her spine. Did he know she was the Midnight Shadow?

“You see, Lady Bria, it was I who suggested he marry you. It’s true we needed your dowry. But I had another reason. A while back, the herbalist was killed not far from this very spot.”

Bria swallowed hard.

His eyes narrowed slightly, his grip pressing ever tighter on her wrist. “Two women witnessed the murder. One I arrested and threw into the dungeon for the murder, but the other escaped. I chased her through the woods and onto Delaney lands. Who could have been out here in the middle of the night? I kept Mary alive to use as bait to catch the other woman. And now I have, haven’t I?”

Bria raised her chin.

“My guard heard you talking with dear Mary. I know it was you, Bria, and this little trip of yours to the very same spot proves it. I can have no witnesses to the death of that old woman.”

Bria turned wide eyes to him. What was he planning? He signaled the other guards with a wave of his hand. They began to move forward.

Fear flared through Bria like lightning. Why didn’t Kenric want anyone to know he’d killed the herbalist? “Why did you kill her?”

“She knew things,” Kenric said. “I couldn’t have her walking around telling everyone my secrets.”

Secrets? Bria thought back to the night he had killed the woman. What was it the old woman had said? He owed her coin for the first potion. “What potion did she make for you? Whom did you poison?”

Panic flared in Kenric’s black eyes, and Bria knew she’d hit the mark.

“You already know too much,” Kenric retorted as anger replaced his panic.

The two guards drew nearer and Bria knew she had to escape. She brought her heel down hard on Kenric’s foot. As he grimaced in pain and released his grip on her arm slightly, Bria shoved him away from her.

She turned and lifted her heavy skirt to dash away. She raced through the brush, managing to reach the dirt road nearby. But then something hit her from behind and she felt arms around her waist. She hit the ground hard, wiggling and twisting, trying desperately to free herself.

“Not this time,” Kenric snarled from behind her, holding her tight. He flipped her over so she faced him, and he straddled her waist, holding her arms down.

Bria fought, expecting to feel a sharp pain in her side from a sword wound or the tip of a dagger run across her throat. But it never came. Instead, a sharp slap stung her cheek. Her head rocked to the side, and for a moment her world teetered.

Kenric tilted her head back and something bitter entered her mouth. She spit it out immediately. Kenric placed one hand over her mouth and his other beneath her jaw to hold her mouth shut. “Take it, bitch,” he snarled.

Poison! She tried to open her mouth, but Kenric was stronger. She fought, hitting him again and again, trying not to swallow. But the bitter taste slid down deeper and deeper into her throat until she could do nothing but swallow.

She opened her eyes in horror and saw his evil visage looming above her. His hands clenched tight around her face, and her head was locked in the crook of his arm. “You see, dear Bria, it wasn’t all that bad. Had you not run from me the first time, I would have killed you then, and your horrendous marriage to Lord Knowles and subsequent rape by him could have been averted.” He released her and sat up.

Bria pulled away from him, moving back on her bottom. “Terran didn’t rape me.” She spit as hard as she could. The bitter taste remained strong in her mouth. She turned and began to crawl away, but two legs blocked her. She followed the black leggings up to see one of the guards.

“You can’t leave yet,” Kenric said from behind her. “It takes a little time before the poison works.”

“You won’t get away with this,” Bria proclaimed.

“I think I will. I have before.” A smile split Kenric’s lips.