Stolen by the Highlander (21 page)

‘Talk,’ he forced out. Barely able to drag in breath, he said it again. ‘Talk.’

‘Talk? You think to talk to me? You think I would talk to you now? I have waited for months to avenge the murder of my son.’ The dagger went deeper and Brodie could feel blood seeping from the wound. ‘I think I will not give you such a quick ending. A gut wound will have you suffering for days.’ The blade pierced the skin on his belly. ‘Days when you will beg for death and it will not be given.’

Those around cheered their laird and Brodie could feel himself slipping away. He must stop this now.

‘Arabella...’ He panted. Now he spiralled down into some dark place.

Cold water shocked him, causing him to spasm and gasp for breath. Every movement and cough that tore through him caused agony anew. He prayed for the strength to survive. For if he did not, neither would...

‘Arabella,’ he said louder.

‘Do not speak of my daughter, you damned murderer!’ Euan yelled. A fist pounded into his face. ‘I will not have the man who took the life of my son speak her name.’

‘He did not kill Malcolm.’

Brodie hung on to consciousness by a thin thread and thought he’d imagined the voice and the words. They were followed by such an uproar, it would have wakened the dead. It took some time for the laird to regain control over his men and his hall. Brodie tried to lift his head, tried to see who’d spoken but he could not.

‘What did you say, boy?’ Euan demanded.

Boy.

Boy?

Alan.

‘I said Brodie did not kill Malcolm. The other one did.’

Could it be that simple? Could a child’s word give him absolution for a crime he’d accepted on his own soul? Did the boy speak the truth?

‘Clear this chamber!’ Euan called out. Over many vocal protests, they left as he ordered until it was quiet. ‘Come here, Alan,’ he said. A pause while the boy must have come to his uncle’s side.

‘Now tell me truly. Were you there that night?’

‘Aye.’ The boy’s voice was barely a whisper.

‘You followed Malcolm, then? As you were told not to do while we were there?’ Courage, boy, he thought.

‘Aye, Uncle,’ Alan admitted. ‘I just wanted to see what they would do.’

‘And what did they do?’ Euan asked. ‘Come now, you’ve admitted your disobedience. Tell me the rest of it. It will not change your punishment.’

If Brodie could have moved at all, he would reach up and throttle the older man. Why would any boy speak a word after such a threat? ‘Boy,’ he forced out. ‘What did you see?’

‘The other one stayed awake when Malcolm and Brodie and the others slept. They fell asleep all over the ground.’ Alan paused. ‘I can drink more than they did, Uncle!’

‘Then what happened, Alan? When Malcolm slept on the ground.’

‘He...’

‘Lord Caelan?’

‘Aye, Lord Caelan stabbed Malcolm. I thought he would wake and save himself, but he did not.’ He could hear the distress in the boy’s voice. He was crying. ‘Then Lord Caelan threw Malcolm on Brodie and left him there.’ He cried openly now as he explained how his beloved cousin had died.

‘See to him,’ Euan said.

Thinking he meant the boy, Brodie was surprised when the ropes that bound him were cut and he was freed. As the feeling rushed back into his arms and legs, he was dragged to his feet and held there.

‘Why did you not tell me this sooner?’ Euan asked Alan. ‘If you knew the truth of it?’

‘I was not supposed to be there. I knew you’d be angry. And then Lord Caelan said he’d seen Brodie stab Malcolm. I did not dare to call him a liar.’

‘Wise boy there,’ Brodie said, coughing and spitting out blood. ‘Caelan would have found a way to kill him, too.’

‘Did you know this?’ Euan asked him. He walked over to Brodie and stared at him. ‘Why did you never dispute your cousin’s word?’

‘I still do not remember the night,’ he answered. ‘Only Alan can tell us the tale.’

‘Does anyone else know that you were there?’

‘Arabella,’ they both said.

‘She knows?’ her father asked.

Brodie shook his head. ‘She knows he was there. She does not know what he witnessed.’

‘Arabella made me swear not to tell anyone that I’d been there. She said it could mean my death if anyone knew.’

Once more silence reigned there as both of them digested the information given by the boy. His own addled brain would not accept it. He’d lived with the guilt for so long, he’d believed it as fact. Now, he knew it was not. His knees buckled and he would have pitched forward but for the hands that yet held him.

‘Sorcha, summon the healer,’ Euan called out. ‘Nora, see him to a chamber.’ Brodie reached out to grab Euan’s arm as he passed.

‘My men wait for me to the west. By the lakeside. Summon them.’

Those were the last words he would speak for some time.

Chapter Twenty-One

W
hen Brodie came to awareness, several people were hovering over him. Rob he knew, the other man and woman he did not. From the poking and prodding of his injuries under Rob’s watchful gaze, one of the strangers was the clan’s healer and the other a servant of some kind.

‘Ah, so you are awake,’ the man said. ‘Not too bad.’

Rob raised his brow at the pronouncement, clearly having a different assessment of his friend’s condition. ‘A few broken ribs. Gashes and bruises. Your left hand is broken, too. And your nose, he thinks.’

‘And you have lost a considerable amount of blood,’ the healer offered. ‘But you should survive.’

He’d suffered those and more in his years of fighting, but possibly not all at the same time. ‘When can I ride?’

The healer and Rob exchanged a glance and then both laughed aloud. The servant woman shook her head in disgust.

Brodie pushed up, intending to find Euan and settle this, but he did not get very far. His body betrayed him, sending him reeling backwards. This would not do. He must get out of this bed. He must get to her and tell her the truth he’d just discovered.

‘Lord Euan will be here to speak to you,’ Rob explained. ‘You might want to rest now so we can leave sooner.’

‘Did you bring the box?’ he asked Rob. A nod was his only response. ‘Bring it here.’

Rob left and Brodie gave himself over to the healer’s ministrations.

* * *

When Euan arrived, his injuries had been cleaned and dressed. By the time Euan had read all the documents collected in the box, Brodie was able to get out of bed and stand. Sipping some noxious brew that was supposed to speed his healing, he waited for The Cameron’s reaction.

‘I had no idea.’

‘You were not supposed to know. He played each one of us against all the rest,’ Brodie said. ‘And you would not know even as he was destroying you bit by bit.’

‘Why?’ Euan asked. ‘Oh, this feud is like many others. It’s become almost sport between us, when it does not get out of hand. But this,’ he said, holding out the parchment he was reading, ‘this is personal.’

‘You killed his parents in front of him. Certainly it is personal for him,’ Brodie said. He hated what his cousin was doing but he could understand the need for revenge.

‘It was a brutal time. One that brought us, both of our clans, to the brink of madness. But, I did not kill his mother.’ Something darkened in the old man’s gaze, his face grey for a moment. ‘She ran into the middle of the fight and was struck down. I have regretted their deaths since that day.’

‘There is something more?’ Brodie asked.

‘His mother died the same way my Fiona died,’ Euan said, looking away for a moment. ‘At the same festival. It had been Fiona’s idea.’

It was the last time the clans had tried to end the feud. A festival that had brought many to its promised haven and it had turned into a massacre when squabbles between factions of both clans had escalated into violence. Fighting had broken out.

‘Was Arabella there?’ he asked, wondering if she was Caelan’s focus for more than one reason. Had she played some part in that, too?

‘Aye, she was there. Not much more than a bairn. But old enough to disobey me and sneak out of our tent. Fiona went searching for her and ran into the fighting as it began. We found her curled around Arabella, saving her life with her own.’

A hardness entered the man’s voice then. And Brodie realised that...

‘You blame Arabella for her death.’ Many things fell into place then. The man’s brutal treatment of his children, especially Arabella. His pursuit of a peace. ‘Does she know?’

‘I couldna bear to look upon her afterwards, for she has the look and eyes of her mother. I think I grew to resent her.’

‘Does she know?’ he asked again.

‘I never spoke about it with her,’ he admitted, sitting on the bed. ‘I do not think she kens the real reason. She learned to stay out of my way. She did as she was told.’

All the things a child does to protect herself when others do not. If he had the strength then, Brodie would have beaten the man as he had often raised his hands to his children. Even making a fist was not possible now, so it would have to wait. But it would come to the old man.

Arabella had become a different person in dealing with her father, to protect herself and her brother. She hid her curiosity and strength within, never letting Euan see it. But Brodie had seen it. Brodie saw the true Arabella hiding inside the hurt woman. Once Caelan was handled, he would make certain no one hurt her again.

‘Does Caelan know it was an accident? That you regretted his mother’s death and your involvement?’

‘Nay. Whenever we spoke, he never seemed to recognise me. So I thought he’d forgotten me.’

‘Forgotten? Nay. Just buried the hatred deep so no one could see.’ As Arabella had buried herself.

‘As I said, brutal times.’ Euan met Brodie’s gaze then. ‘’Twas about the same time that Arabella’s aunt had been kidnapped by one of your clansmen—the one called Grigor.’

‘Her aunt?’ Brodie had never heard this.

‘Aye. There were some stories about the two having meetings in secret that were discovered. But the truth is that Grigor kidnapped and ruined her and we had to attack to get her back.’

He looked over at Rob who was as surprised as he was. They both knew that the woman had been meeting Grigor while at Drumlui Keep. More than once, she’d been seen with him long after her charge had retired for the night. And Grigor’s gaze followed the woman whenever she was in the same room. Brodie suspected that none of them knew the truth of the matter.

‘But, killing in the heat of battle is different from planning to assassinate someone in cold blood and then doing it under the sign of a truce. And blaming someone else for it. He must pay for that,’ Euan said, his tone saying that he would not allow any other outcome.

Brodie held no sympathy for his cousin or his actions and when the time came, he could step aside and allow Euan his vengeance. But, he also desired to strike the blow that would end his cousin’s destructive plans.

* * *

It took several hours to lay out their plan. Brodie hoped that Arabella was using her wits to stay alive and well until they could get there. And he prayed that she understood that he would always come for her, no matter what.

Once, in the middle of their discussions, he wondered to himself if Arabella was asking Caelan as many questions as she asked him. He chuckled aloud, bringing strange glances from the others. She would hold her own with his cousin, he had no doubt. But, whether they faced the twelve plagues of Egypt or every demon from hell, he would see her safely out of Drumlui.

Finally, the planning was done and Brodie’s body pushed for rest. The others left, but Euan remained behind. Brodie could tell exactly what the man wanted to know from the way he could not find the words to begin.

‘You held her prisoner,’ he said. Brodie nodded. ‘For nigh on four weeks.’ Another nod. ‘Did you take her virginity?’

Brodie did not want to insult the man about his daughter so he was choosing his words carefully when Euan blurted out, ‘Knowing the girl, she offered it to you.’

He laughed then and it hurt. Clutching his side, he tried to breathe slowly to make the waves of pain subside.

‘That is what I thought.’ Arabella’s father shook his head. ‘She trusted you if she went to your bed.’ Euan squinted at him then, as though seeing him for the first time. ‘I did not think you would suit, but you just might.’

‘I have pledged my loyalty to Grigor, Lord Euan. He is the one to lead the Mackintoshes and oversee the treaty and the peace. And he will choose another to be tanist from the other clans in the Confederation.’

‘I do not think your men are doing this to put Grigor in the chieftain’s chair,’ Euan said with a shrug.

Think what he might, it would not be Euan making that decision. The man did want peace, Brodie knew that much, but he had agreed to this extraordinary arrangement to save his daughter. And, for the additional concessions that Brodie would broker for him when the time came.

‘Get some rest,’ Euan advised him. ‘We ride at morning’s light.’

* * *

At dawn, as Brodie climbed stiffly onto the black for the ride to Drumlui, he suspected that this was only the beginning of the road through hell.

* * *

Arabella tried to hide her true feelings, but each hour that passed made it more and more difficult. The two women he’d assigned to her looked on her with suspicion and loathing. She would never again complain about Ailean’s sour disposition after spending the past few days with these two.

At first she thought she could sway them from staunch support and absolute obedience, but she failed at that. So, she stopped talking to them. Whenever another servant arrived, whether with food from the kitchen or clean linens for her bed, she tried to engage them in conversation.

All her attempts to discover his plans failed. All her attempts to gain some freedom of movement failed. Then she had a visitor that the two servants could not order away. Grigor Mackintosh knocked at her door and asked to speak to her. While the two women were chattering about what to do, Arabella opened the door and bade him enter.

‘Lady Arabella, I thought to look in on you,’ he said politely as he sat next to her. ‘You look as though you are recovering from your ordeal.’

‘Go and fetch some wine and some food for my guest,’ she said to Bethoc, the young woman. When she looked as though she would refuse, Arabella smiled at her. ‘Remember who will be your lady in just a few days, Bethoc. It might be better to be in my good graces since I will oversee this household.’

‘Begin as you mean to go, my lady,’ Grigor added, making the young woman pale as she considered this new twist to her situation. Deciding that fetching refreshments was safer than directly disobeying her, Bethoc nearly ran from the room. Once she was gone, Arabella smiled at the other one. But Grigor surprised her by speaking first.

‘I would speak with the lady privately.’

He nodded to the door and stood, taking only a step towards it before Una fled, too. Arabella had no doubt that she would go directly to Caelan, so they had little time.

‘Is Brodie alive? And the others?’ he asked.

She knew that Brodie and his men trusted Grigor, she knew he’d helped get Magnus out of the keep for them, but she could not understand why he would think he could trust her?

‘Come now, your aunt said you could be trusted.’

Her mouth fell open then. Of all of the things she thought he would say, that was not one of them. Her aunt? She would speak about that later.

‘They were when I was taken from the encampment. Some, though...’ She shrugged.

‘What do you think he will do?’

‘He was sending the women and children north to his uncle. The men? I do not know.’ Then she did. ‘He will come for me.’ Lifting her head and smiling, she repeated it. ‘He will come for me.’

That expression in his eyes when he saw her across the clearing in the camp. It was love looking back at her. He did love her. He would come for her again.

‘You must be ready. He will be here soon. But I have no idea how many will be with him.’ The sound of approaching footsteps down the corridor made her hurry with the rest. ‘He had the proof he needs. Tell those who would fight against him, he is the rightful chieftain.’

Grigor raised a brow at her words. Although Brodie spoke of supporting Grigor’s claim, she thought it should be Grigor supporting Brodie and said so. ‘They will need someone who has always put the clan’s interests first. He is the stronger warrior with the skills to bring this clan back together. He is honourable and worthy and—’

Grigor held his hands up in mock horror to stop her.

‘Aye, my lady. I have always believed it, but the lad did not. Maybe with us both demanding it, he will see reason?’

When the door flung open, Caelan found them sitting quietly, with Grigor offering his kind words about the ordeal she had suffered. The servants at his back stared in, expecting to find something else.

‘And so, I do hope you will not hold that criminal’s actions against the rest of us? That rogue will be stopped,’ he said, standing to leave. ‘Ah, Caelan, come to visit your lady, have you?’ He patted Caelan’s on the shoulder and nodded. ‘Young love, ’tis a glorious thing to witness.’

‘Caelan,’ Arabella said. ‘I did not expect you, but it is good to see you. May we speak?’ Caelan was still looking at Grigor as he walked down the corridor when she touched his arm. ‘Would you be free from your duties soon, so that we might walk together? I know you worry about my safety, but if you are with me, then all will be well.’

In trying to keep up his game, it was hard to refuse her.

* * *

So, Arabella found herself walking along the path around the keep with an irritated Caelan. Their walk was interrupted when the guards called out that riders approached. Caelan did not even wait to find out who rode to the gates.

Whoever it was could not be a good thing for him.

Within minutes, the gates were closed, guards lined the walls and she was dragged back to her chambers. Caelan dropped all pretence then, calling out for the priest as he pulled her up the stairs and shoved her inside a small chamber.

‘Ready yourself, Lady Arabella. We marry as soon as the priest comes.’

‘I will not consent. The priest will not hear those words from me.’

‘Oh, aye, he will.’ The smile he gave her then made her skin crawl. She wanted to back away but there was little room to do so in that chamber. He had a plan and would use whatever force he needed, she knew that now.

He pulled the door closed and Arabella heard him drop the bar to lock her in. She pulled on it and pushed against it but it would not give way. She cried out and called for help but no one came. Then, a short while later, he opened the door and strode back in, carrying a small bottle.

‘This is a wondrous potion. A few drops and you will say whatever you are told to say,’ he explained, pulling the cork free and tilting the bottle to show her.

Then he set the bottle on a shelf on the wall and grabbed for her. No matter how much she struggled, he soon had her subdued, pushed against the wall with his hand holding her throat tightly so she could not move her head.