Thorn in My Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs Page A

slapped against Jamie's legs and fell to the floor. “Care to explain yourself, Brother?”
    Rowena answered instead, her voice trembling. “Bide a wee while, lad. Hand me your—”
    “Haven't you taken enough out of my hands this day, Mother?” Evan's words, sharp as their father's broadsword, cut through the air, clearly wounding her.
    Jamie's back stiffened. Their mother had played a part in the deception, but Jamie wouldn't see her punished for it. Not when he'd willingly knelt by their father for the family blessing, as sacred a thing as any signed parchment. Not when he'd kissed the laird's cheek.
Like the kiss of Judas.
    Certain of his duty, Jamie took one step toward his brother. “If you've words to say, Evan McKie, say them to me.”
    “Aye, I will. More words than you'll be wanting to hear.” His brother's eyes matched the granite of Cairnsmore. Cold, hard, brooding. “You've planned this for ten years, haven't you, Brother?”
    “Ten…? What are you getting at?” Jamie didn't dare take his eyes off Evan, yet he longed to see what story his mother's face might tell.Had the woman planned this
cantrip
all along? Had he agreed without knowing it?
    Evan spat on the floor like the coarsest of men. “Ten years ago you made me pay for a dish of barley broth with my birthright, remember?” His
eyes
narrowed to slits. “You were practicing even then for the day you'd make it stick.”
    “Come now, Evan.” Jamie shrugged nonchalandy, hoping to appease him. “We were naught but lads—”
    “Aye,” Evan growled. “And now we're men and hardly brothers.”
    “Evan, I—”
    “Father blessed me, too, you know.” He brushed back a handful of red hair matted down by the rain, revealing a fierce scowl. “He promised I would live by the blade of my sword. And answer to you.” He snorted as he said it, curling his lips in disgust. “As to the second, I will never bow to my thieving younger brother. And as to the first, my dirk is sufficient for you.” Evan threw off his plaid and hurled himself across the room, his short dagger unsheathed and shining with a murderous gleam.
    Jamie!
    Their mothers scream was drowned out by their own war cries. Jamie lunged at Evan, and both brothers landed hard on the unforgiving floor. Back and forth they rolled, hurling insults as brutal as their blows. Evan overpowered him, pressing the flat of his blade against Jamie's chin, proving he meant business. Jamie bucked and shoved, trying to escape the weight of his sibling, who was stouter by a stone and stronger by far. The flagstones chilled his neck, and he tasted blood in his mouth.
    Evan stared down at him, eyes wild, his breathing heavy and thick with whisky. “I mean to kill you, Jamie!”
    Jamie wiped a trickle of blood from his chin. “I don't doubt you, Brother.” Heaving Evan aside, he rose to his knees, then tore into him with his bare hands while their mother, hysterical by now, begged them to stop.
    “Lads, no more! Evan, you're hurting him!”
    Ignoring her, they staggered to their feet, then plowed into the table, sending the cooks best pottery crashing to the floor in a noisy, shattered heap. Fists flew, brutally connecting with flesh and bone. Curses echoed through the once-quiet house. When the blade of Evan's dirk caught the firelight, Jamie lunged forward to knock it free, cutting his hand but sparing himself a deadlier blow. The dagger clattered across the floor and landed at the feet of a newcomer to the terrible scene.
    Father.
    Jamie saw him first and tried to blurt out his name between blows. Evan, oblivious, hammered away at Jamie with a meaty fist until he finally glanced up and froze.
    Alec McKie stood over the two of them tangled in a bloody knot. His gray eyes watered more than usual while he worked his mouth, clearing his throat as he did. “Rowena.”
    His wife moved toward him, visibly shaken as she stepped over the remains of her kitchen. “Alec…oh, Alec. I can explain.”
    Jamie