Highland Hunger Read Online Free PDF Page A

to kill.”
    Una stared at him in surprise. The cold, firm tone of his voice told her he meant every word he said. In the flickering light of the fire, he looked predatory, all the soft amiability gone from his features. It should frighten her to see him like that, but Una realized she was comforted. After being alone and frightened for so long, she had finally found a strong ally. He would do whatever was necessary to protect her and help her friends.
    “Are ye certain they must be killed?” she asked although she believed the laird and his men deserved whatever fate Raibeart dealt them. “We could just steal the prisoners and slip away.”
    “I fear the men ken too much. We have only just discovered that our blood can heal Outsiders ourselves. This is a secret that cannae be allowed to be told.”
    “Outsiders?”
    “Those who are nay of MacNachton blood. Our laird decided that we were dying, no bairns born to the clan for many, many years. Not amongst the Purebloods. He was born of an Outsider and a Pureblood. He also realized it isnae so easy for us to stay hidden at Cambrun anymore, that the world outside its walls is growing, secrecy becoming more difficult to maintain. For our own survival as a people, we had to begin to look outside the clan for wives. He found one and both his sons can tolerate a lot of sun. He thought we could breed out most of what makes us so different and feared, but the Lost Ones are showing us that it may ne’er all go away.”
    “Nay. And it can come back a wee bit now and then. ’Tis stronger in me than it was in my mother.” A fresh pang of grief struck her when she thought of her family’s deaths. “I wish I had kenned that my blood could heal. I might have been able to save my family.”
    “How did they die?”
    “A fever.”
    ”It may have helped, but ye cannae be certain, and we who have lived with what we are for hundreds of years didnae ken what our blood could do for others until recently. Ye couldnae have helped them when ye didnae ken how.”
    Una nodded. “I ken that. It just hurt for a wee moment. What do we do now?”
    “We rest and then we go to Cambrun,” Raibeart replied as he moved to lie out his bedding.
    “How far away is Cambrun?”
    “Three nights’ ride if all goes weel.”
    “Then, at the verra least, it will be over a sennight before I can rescue the others.”
    “At least. It willnae take us long to plan our attack for, since finding the first of the Lost Ones, we are always at the ready to ride out. The only thing that slows us down is that most of us still need to shelter from the sun. That is a weakness I will be verra pleased to see bred out.”
    “Ye cannae abide any sun, can ye?” Una was weary but could see that he had only enough bedding for one, and she was not looking forward to sleeping on the hard rock floor of the cave.
    “Verra little. We all have heavy cloaks so that we may ride or go out in the early morning or at the end of the day, but I am a Pureblood and the sun is poison to me. ’Tis as if it slowly draws the life right out of me.”
    “I have felt the same when caught out in the middle of the day.” She frowned as she thought of the ones still trapped at Dunmorton. “I think some of the other prisoners may have a stronger dose of MacNachton blood than I do. The bairns say they cannae abide the sun much past the dawn. So the weakness your laird tries to breed out appears determined to linger in the blood.”
    “Or they are the get of one of our men who went awandering and ne’er returned. Some go looking for a mate but find only death, too often betrayed by the verra woman they thought was their mate.”
    Una wanted to question that word mate but yawned instead. With her belly full for the first time in far too long and the bloodrich wine she had drunk healing and strengthening her, her body now demanded rest from the ordeal she had suffered. She knew she needed sleep to continue to regain the strength she would need