Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

A s Reginald’s words sunk in, the truth of them Katherine struck her like a physical blow, the betrayal cutting deeper than any blade could.

Seconds later, all the anger, pain, and hatred of what Reginald had done exploded out of her in a great torrent.

“No! No!” she shrieked. “Why would you do such a thing? Why would you take him from me?”

Clearly impervious to her distress, Reginald looked at her, his head high, his eyebrows reaching for his hairline, and his upper lip curled. With his utter disregard for her on full display, she then came to the full understanding that she had only ever been a pawn. A disposable piece that he could use and throw away.

Katherine could not know how long he had seen her in that way, but his lack of concern for her well-being had certainly been evident on this journey, this mission he had convinced her was for her benefit to avenge their father’s death.

“You do not understand, Katherine, how the world works. Father was a formidable man, and, in such good health, he was not going to die anytime soon. I could not wait for nature to run its course, and thus, I helped it along.”

“You murdered him,” she spat.

“Yes,” he nodded, “I did. Well, not me specifically, of course. But when he last went into battle, arrangements were made to ensure he never returned.”

She could hardly believe her brother was speaking so calmly about something so heinous, but more than that, she couldn’t understand why he would do such a thing.

“Surely, you didn’t commit such an atrocity just so you could take his place,” she gasped, struggling to breathe as the tears continued. “There has to be something more.”

“There is,” Reginald answered evenly. “Until Father was out of the way, I could not fulfill my ambitions to get closer to King Edward. I intend to make myself very useful to our ruler, and with that, gain the power I desire.”

“The king sent you to kill Domhnall,” Katherine breathed.

But Reginald shook his head. “Indeed, he did not. But with this impertinent beast out of the way, I can now destroy the entire clan. And when King Edward discovers that I have killed a man with powers, a man who could strike fear into any Englishman, I have no doubt that he will be even more pleased.”

Katherine frowned deeply, for her brother was making no sense at all. Did he not know that the MacLeod clan would just appoint another in Domhnall’s place? Maybe he didn’t. Maybe her brother was not as smart as he believed himself to be.

“Then you’re a fool,” she spat. “Domhnall has brothers who will take his place. Killing him will bring you no benefit at all.”

Reginald sneered at her. “You think I am stupid, sister. Believe me, I have a plan to rid this island of all the remaining MacLeod family. That way, the clan will be without a laird, leaving an opening for English rule.”

“What plan?” she demanded.

But Reginald was clearly getting annoyed at her impertinent questions, and baring his teeth, he bellowed at her. “Silence!”

Katherine jumped with fright. Feeling too terrified to press any further, she glanced over at Domhnall. Her eyes widened however, for the sight of him took her by surprise. Only moments earlier, he had looked beaten, defeated, ready to give his life to save Katherine’s, and resigned to such a fate.

Now, however, there appeared fire in his eyes, his shoulders were lifted, and with his head high, his jaw and fists were tightly clenched as he shook with anger.

Perhaps it was the disclosure that Reginald had killed her father. She had hated him so much at the beginning when she had blamed him. Or perhaps it was Reginald’s threat to his brothers and the rest of his family. Whatever it was, he seemed to be fighting through his suffering and pain, and pulling strength from somewhere.

Suddenly, Domhnall exploded, and, launching himself at the man nearest to him, he hit him with strike after powerful strike. The guard made an attempt to fight back, but Domhnall, even in his weakened state, continued to overpower him.

“I will kill her,” Reginald shouted, panic now rising in his voice.

Yet, Domhnall, much to Katherine’s relief, completely ignored her brother and continued pummeling the man until he collapsed on the floor, no longer able to move.

Reginald’s dread danced on his face, and Katherine, realizing that there was now a real chance that they could both escape, lifted her elbow sharply in front of her. With as much force as she could muster, she drove it back into her captor’s gut. She heard the great gasp and groan as wind was forced from his body, and a second later, he was bent double.

Spinning on her heels, she grabbed the dirk from his hand and plunged it into his stomach, gasping at the feeling of the warm blood that trickled onto her skin as the man crumpled to the floor.

Relieved, distraught, and shocked at the same time, she could only look at what she had done. She was not pleased that she had taken a man’s life. It gave her no satisfaction. In fact, she stood there, frozen to the spot as she stared at the result of her actions.

Oh, God. What have I done?

She hardly had a chance to work through those emotions, however, for she suddenly felt an arm snake around her throat as she was grabbed from behind.

“Argh,” she cried, stumbling back into her brother’s body.

Pulling her back into him and holding her so tight, she struggled to breathe, Reginald pressed a knife to her throat. So close, in fact, that she was certain he was already piercing her skin.

“I will kill her,” Reginald bellowed again.

Domhnall had already taken down another of Reginald’s men, but at those words, he spun around, and then stopped dead, his eyes flying wide at the sight before him.

Slowly raising his hands, he said, “Nay. Ye dinnae have tae dae this.”

“Let him kill me, Domhnall,” Katherine croaked. “You have to protect your family. He’s going to kill me anyway.”

“Nay,” Domhnall yelled.

“Once I am gone, there will be nothing to stop you from destroying him. You are stronger than him, and he knows it,” she reasoned. “He killed my father. Avenge my father’s death. Please. Do it for me.”

“Silence,” Reginald bellowed

For a second, there was a stalemate. A moment where no one moved, or spoke, or barely breathed. Katherine gazed at Domhnall, her eyes pleading with him to let her die. But his own showed his denial. With his eyes full of fire and love, she could see he could never let that happen.

“It’s you or her,” Reginald growled. “What’s it going to be? I haven’t got all day.”

“Me,” Katherine and Domhnall said at exactly the same time.

At that moment, the door at the top of the stairs opened, and Katherine gasped, for with more men coming, they had now lost the advantage.

“Finally,” Reginald yelled. “Get down here and tie this monster up.”