Chapter 40
“It used to be a bathroom,” said Aidan conversationally. “Joseph Archer was a bit eccentric and had a lot of unused rooms bricked off. He claimed it would reduce heating costs. There’s a shared bathroom down the hall.”
Swallowing thickly, she turned slowly, not sure how to reply or even begin to justify her reasons for being here. “Uh…”
He smiled, and it was full of gentleness. “It’s okay. I know why you’re here.”
Madison couldn’t look away from the crossbow at his side. “Uh…”
Aidan glanced down at it before setting it on the nightstand. “I’m not going to shoot you, Madison.”
Relief surged through her. She had been wrong. Not about him being the missing twin, she was sure, but he clearly wasn’t the one who had killed Joan.
Shaking his head, he said, “No, then they’d know it was me. It has to look like rebels.”
Ice water coursed through her veins at his words, and she took a step back without thinking, running right into the brick wall. Her mind searched for a way out, but all she could think of was to keep him talking. Maybe Tiernan would come looking for him if she could delay Aidan long enough.
As though he’d read her thoughts, he said, “It has to be now. You know everything, and Tiernan’s not due back for a couple of hours.” Genuine regret seemed to shine from his warm green eyes, so much kinder than his mother’s. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Then don’t.” She cleared her throat. “You’re Tiernan’s brother, aren’t you?”
Aidan nodded once, his mouth twisting. “I’m the disposable spare.”
She winced. “That was Catherine. Tiernan had nothing to do with that. You have no reason to hate him.”
He looked honestly puzzled. “Why do you think I hate him? He’s my best friend, and I love him.”
Blinking, she said, “You tried to kill him.”
He sighed. “No, I didn’t. I knew he’d take the side entrance. The bombing was necessary to encourage him to look for the rebels.”
“You killed Cleo.” She couldn’t keep the anger from her tone, though she really didn’t want to enrage the man standing between her and the exit.
“That was an accident. I liked her.” He shrugged. “She wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“So you’re just absolved?”
He frowned. “I know exactly what I’ve done, and what my tally is, Madison. Cleo’s blood is on my hands.”
“But why? If you love Tiernan, why are you doing all this?”
Aidan lifted a brow, as though he couldn’t understand her confusion. “Because he has everything, and half of it should be mine.” He took a step closer to the bed as he began unbuttoning his jacket. “I came to find him with the intention of telling him who I was, but the timing was never right.”
“He would have welcomed you,” she said with utmost confidence.
He shrugged. “Perhaps, or maybe he would have been threatened by me. How was I to know he didn’t feel the same way as our mother, that I was a potential rival, not a brother?” Dropping the jacket on the bed, he started rolling the cuffs of his shirt to his elbow. “I thought I’d get to know him first, to let him see I wasn’t a threat, but…”
“But?” she probed after a moment of silence, wondering why he was disrobing somewhat. He certainly didn’t give off a perverse sexual vibe, as though he planned to rape her. A chilling thought made her cringe. Was it to keep blood off his clothes?
His unfocused gaze cleared as he looked at her again. “Things changed. I saw what he had, and I became bitter. Angry. Resentful.” Shaking his head, he said, “Of my own brother. By the time I knew I could safely tell Tiernan who I was, I couldn’t anymore. I let my desire to have what he has overtake me. Can you understand that, Madison?”
She nodded, willing to agree to anything to keep him talking, though she really could understand his feelings to a certain extent. Just not to the extent that led him to betrayal and murder. “So, what did you do?”
Aidan took a couple of steps closer, but stopped. Was he toying with her? “I selected a contingent of loyal troops and began stealing rations and generating ill-will toward Tiernan’s leadership. A rebel group formed, and he started pursuing them, making the problem worse.”
A glimmer of comprehension came to her. “And you’re going to be the hero who deposes Tiernan and rights things for the people?”
He inclined his head. “That is the plan. Or, it was, until Briggs got involved. He decided to assassinate Tiernan, but only after making him suffer.” Aidan sighed. “I couldn’t allow that, but I also couldn’t risk Tiernan taking him alive and accidentally discovering something that made him suspicious of my plan. Distraction was the best technique, so I ‘found’ the journal you’d been keeping.”
Anger surged through her again. “You bastard.”
He nodded. “I absolutely am, dear Madison. I was also sloppy, with limited time, and made several factual errors. When Tiernan really studied the book, he soon realized your beautiful hand didn’t pen it.”
“Still, it served its purpose,” she said blandly, though rage was making her blood boil. “You managed to keep us apart and him in turmoil until Briggs was almost out of the picture.”
“Yes, though I was surprised he tortured him for information.” Aidan shook his head. “That was so unlike Tiernan.”
“Why Joan?” She sniffed back tears. “I don’t understand. She had already told me.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know how much she knew about me. I’ve never met her, but she might have information I didn’t know about. Again, I couldn’t take the chance.”
She compressed her lips. “So, you slipped away while I was telling Tiernan she needed to tell him something.”
He nodded. “I heard enough to guess what she was going to reveal.” His eyes softened. “Congratulations on the twins, by the way. I wish I could let you have them, but they’re the next heirs. I just can’t—”
“Take the chance,” she said sourly. “You don’t want to leave any competition around, in case the people turn to them when they’re older.”
“Yes, you’re very clever, Madison.” He looked regretful. “Too clever. I hadn’t planned to make another move just yet. I was hoping to arrange an accident for you in the next few months. It’s so much neater to deal with it before they’re born.”
He was a monster, but his flashes of humanity hid it well—and made him all the more chilling. “Either way, Tiernan will be destroyed. If you love him, how can you do this to him?”
He didn’t answer for a long moment. “I’m in too deeply now, Madison. There’s no turning back. I’ve gone far enough to lose his trust if he finds out what I’ve done, but not quite to where I could take his place without a civil war. I’ve thought about stopping, but I can’t.”
She held out a pleading hand. “You can. You have to. Think what you’re doing to him. He’s your brother, Aidan.”
“And my biggest rival.” He spoke with bitterness, and a touch of dark amusement. “I guess Catherine was right.”
Madison shook her head firmly. “No, you’re making her right. She was a hard, cold woman with no compassion. You’re turning into her. Is that what you want?”
He sighed. “I want what I can’t have through other means. To get what’s rightfully mine, I have to remove Tiernan. I love him, but I need this. I can’t stop.”
Perhaps he was unaware of the quiet desperation in his tone. Madison wasn’t sure, but she thought that maybe he was on a path of destruction he didn’t know how to end. Was he asking for help to stop? Or was he warning her he couldn’t stop and didn’t want to? It didn’t matter at the moment, since she and her babies were his targets, regardless of what motivated him to continue.
As she racked her brain to come up with a way to get through to him, the door creeping open a couple of inches caught her attention. Her mouth was dry with fear and anticipation as she waited to see who stood there. Was it someone who could help her, or was it one of Aidan’s loyal supporters?
Her heart skittered in her chest upon recognizing Tiernan. Doing her best not to betray his presence, she returned her attention to Aidan, willing him silently not to look behind himself. “What do you plan to do with me and the babies?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. At first, I thought maybe I’d push you down the stairs. Pregnant women are clumsier, so it’s plausible.” He shook his head. “The problem is you might not die from that. I could break your neck first, I suppose.”
She closed her eyes, stomach churning with nausea at the thought. They blinked open at a small noise, and she cried out with alarm when Aidan spun around to confront Tiernan.