Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

A va dried the tears from her cheek as she turned away from Kai and her father. She had been told to return to her chambers, leaving the two of them standing at the top of the landing in the castle, talking together. She longed to hear what more her father had to say to Kai, but he made it clear he was not going to talk anymore in front of her.

Wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of her gown, she turned into the corridor that led to her chamber, then jumped back at a great hulking form in her way.

“Oh! Me heart.” She laid a hand to her chest as she found herself staring up into the face of Laird Grant. His expression was barely visible thanks to the shadows between the burning torches. “Ye frightened me, me laird.” He was eerily still, his arms folded in front of him. “I thought ye were at the feast.”

“That is where we should both be.” His voice darkened to something raspy. She shifted, taking another step back away from him. “Where have ye been? Ye disappeared.”

“I needed some air.” She tried to walk around him, giving him a wide berth. “If ye’d forgive me, I am rather tired. I think I will retire fer the night.”

“Nae yet.” He reached out, his hand grabbing hold of her arm.

“Oc, me laird, ye are hurting me!”

He took her wrist.

There was a flash in her mind. It was the memory of the man who had bent himself over her in the woods, gripping her, trying to force himself on her.

“Please, let go of me,” she demanded, twisting her wrist out of his grasp.

Laird Grant suddenly moved forward.

“What are ye – nay!”

She was backed up against the wall. Laird Grant still had her wrist and now held it above her head, pinning her in position with it.

“We are betrothed, arenae we? All this flirtation, all this suggestion… and nae a single kiss.” His other hand reached up and grabbed her chin. It was forceful, painful.

“Ye’re hurting me,” she growled out the words between her gritted teeth.

“One kiss, Ava.” He moved toward her.

“Nay – nay!” she tried to scream but his grasp on her wrist was so painful now, all she could think about was the ache and his looming lips.

“Release me daughter. Now!”

Ava froze, as did Laird Grant. They turned their heads in unison to the end of the corridor, where her father stood with Kai at his side.

When Laird Grant didn’t move, continuing to pin her against the wall, Kai moved forward fast.

“He said, release her.” Kai suddenly had hold of Laird Grant’s shoulders and he was thrown off. Ava stumbled against the wall, rubbing her sore wrist as Kai moved to stand in front of her.

A short distance away, her father shook his head, his face pale.

“That is me wife tae be,” Laird Grant declared with a laugh. “I will kiss her as many times as I wish tae.”

“Ye would force her?” Finley still shook his head. He raised his eyes from the floor and met Laird Grant’s gaze. “I offer tae give ye me daughter in marriage and ye repay that kindness that way…?”

“A wife is a wife, me laird. We all ken that women need tae be brought in line –”

“She is a woman, nae a pup at yer heels!” Kai roared, but Finley raised his hand, waving it at Kai and urging him to be quiet.

“This betrothal…” Finley gestured between Laird Grant and Ava. “It is at an end. I desire tae withdraw me offer before we go too far.”

“What did ye say?” Laird Grant’s voice became rasping as he stepped toward them. Kai straightened his spine, showing he would not allow Laird Grant to get any closer.

Ava couldn’t believe her ears. Could it be possible? Was her father going to release her from this nightmare after all?

“Ye cannae break this betrothal.” Laird Grant’s voice echoed off the walls. “Ye risk war tae dae so,” he spat. “I will bring me soldiers, me men, me whole clan tae fight ye fer her.”

“Ye would kill men? Fer what?” Finley shook his head. “Tae win a fight or tae force yerself on me daughter? Ye are nae a true laird. I am nae even looking at a true man. Take yer men and get out of me castle. Tonight.”

Laird Grant seemed to reel on his feet. His grey eyes shot to Ava. She didn’t let her spine slump but stood tall, refusing to be cowed by him in fear.

“Goodbye, Laird Grant. I trust ye willnae bring war on us fer this, but if ye dae, be warned…” Finley gestured to the ornamental sword at his belt. “We shall be ready.”

“As shall the MacLeods,” Kai seconded.

Ava thought she saw briefly a look of pride in her father’s eye. She thought he even may have been impressed by Kai, but then it was gone. It was replaced by the fury he angled at Laird Grant.

“Go,” he ordered, gesturing down the corridor.

Laird Grant walked away, though he repeatedly glared back over his shoulder at them all.

“Thank ye, Faither,” Ava whispered, her spine slumping at last as she capitulated against the wall.

“I willnae give me daughter tae a man that would attack her. Never.” He looked at Kai. “Ye realize what this means? She will need yer protection more than ever.”

Ava couldn’t sleep properly. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw that hand on her wrist again. She wasn’t sure whether it was that hand that had gripped her in the forest years ago or Laird Grant’s hand.

“Nay one is here,” she muttered, rolling over in the bed. By the slit of moonlight that shone through the window, she could see the door was shut and locked tight. She had even moved a coffer in front of the door, to block it in case anyone thought to break it down.

She knew it was a mad fear. Kai had said himself that he’d watched Blair and his men ride away from the castle as everyone else had left the feast, confused at the strange announcement about the sudden end to the betrothal.

Laird Grant was not in the castle. He could not hurt her now.

She rolled the other way, putting her back to the door, then lifted the pillow and brought it down over her head. To try to stop the foul memories, she conjured better ones instead.

Kai…

She thought of the way they had made love that night in the library, how he had let her take control, lying down. Even now, the memory of the pleasure made her writhe beneath the fur covers.

Kai had never frightened her. He had always been there for her, constantly. Even when they had escalated to being physical and very intimate, he had been slow. How many times had he told her they could stop if she wanted to? How many times had he kissed her gently, checking she was happy with what they were doing before he had increased the passion?

He is everything. I love him so much.

Telling herself that everything would be well now, that Laird Grant was gone, and maybe someday she could marry Kai, helped sleep to come.

In that darkness, there was movement. She could hear it close by. There was a rustling sensation, and something was scraping across the floor, something heavy. Was that a chair being dragged out? No, no. That was not what it was, but yes, something was being dragged across the floor.

Ava saw herself walking through the darkness. She was following someone.

Kai…

He was far ahead of her, walking away with his family. Laird Domhnall stood on one side, then Thora on his other. There were also Magnus and Enya, the whole family together, just out of reach.

Ava raised her hand, trying to grasp them through the thin air, but her hand fell limp.

There was that scraping sound again. Something was most definitely being dragged across the floor now. Then something creaked, like a door opening…

Ava’s eyes shot open.

The door creaking had not been in her dream, no more than the something being dragged. Was it the coffer being slid across the floor?

A footstep nearby creaked the floorboards.

Someone is in this chamber!

Ava reached beneath the second pillow. She knew exactly what she kept there. She kept it there every night. Her warrior ways had taught her long ago to always be prepared. She grabbed the small dirk firmly in the palm of her hand, then spun around in the bed, raising it high.

Thick fingers grasped her wrist and held the dagger, stopping it from falling.

Grey eyes flashed silver in the darkness.

“That is nay way tae greet yer husband-tae-be now, is it?” Laird Grant’s voice hissed in the darkness.

“Ye bast – hmm!” He placed a hand over her mouth, silencing her.

“Get the ropes,” he ordered someone.

“Hmmm!” Ava wriggled desperately to be free, trying to prize her wrist out of his grasp and bring the dagger down on him, but he was too strong and other hands were now on her. The dagger was snatched away, her wrists pressed together. A second man, Laird Grant’s advisor Peters, was the one tying the ropes as Laird Grant kept her silent, pinning her down and shutting her mouth.

“Bind her mouth. We need tae keep her silent as we get her out of here,” Laird Grant ordered.

She knew if she was forced to be silent, she could be slipped out of the castle as easily and as undetected as they had somehow managed to get in. She shifted her face as much as she could and bit down hard on Laird Grant’s hand. He grunted and pulled back his hand on instinct, shaking it out as she drew blood.

“Kai!” she screamed the first word she could think of. “Hel – hmm!” Peters rolled her over and grabbed the back of her head, pushing her face into the pillow so that the sound was silenced.

“Here, gag her.”

“I have a better idea.”

They were the last sounds Ava heard before there was a crack across the base of her skull.

Kai’s head shot around. He stood in the corridor not two passages away from Ava’s chamber. He hadn’t been able to sleep and had been pacing these corridors for hours, acting much like any other guard in this castle.

That was Ava. I’m sure of it.

He spun on his heel and sprinted in the direction of her chamber, running so fast that his lungs burned. When he reached the end of her corridor, he came to a halt, skidding to hide himself in the shadows.

Two great figures were carrying something out of Ava’s chamber. It took one horrifying moment for Kai to realize what it was… Ava.

He quickly analyzed the situation. It was Laird Grant and Peters, their faces barely distinguishable in the darkness. They were muttering between them, perhaps amending their plan. Kai could see Ava’s wrists had been bound and she looked unconscious.

Kai swallowed the rising bile back down his throat and reached for the sword in his belt.

He waited until they disappeared down the other end of the passage, then crept out. With two of them, he would have to be very careful. They could overpower him within minutes if he didn’t plan this with caution. He tiptoed, following them through the castle with his sword raised. They had clearly planned their route with care, perhaps scouted out that option when they were staying in the castle, for they never once passed a guard.

They ended in the underbelly of the castle, creeping toward a door that led out of the servants’ quarters and into the grounds.

“Ye get the door,” Laird Grant ordered his advisor, shifting Ava to fling her over his shoulder. When Peters turned to reach for the door, both turned their backs to Kai, and he took the opportunity.

Stepping out, he knew he couldn’t run Laird Grant through, or Ava would fall. He couldn’t risk injuring her like that. Instead, he went to injure Laird Grant, rather than death… Stepping behind Laird Grant, he drew the sword up through the air, cutting across his back.

“Argh!” Laird Grant cried out, staggering to the side with Ava still in his grasp.

Peters whirled around, bearing his own sword. Kai lunged toward him. He knocked the blade quickly out of Peters grasp and made him back further up into the kitchen.

“Move, and ye’re dead,” he warned Peters, then raised his voice. “Release Ava, or yer advisor loses his life.”

“Ye dinnae have the stomach fer murder. Ye could have just killed me now and ye didnae.” Laird Grant called between gritted teeth of pain. “Give it up, Kai.”

“Dinnae think I dinnae have the stomach.” He struck Peters across the chest with the blade and a second almighty cry of pain erupted. “Now, release her!”

There was another sound of footsteps. Kai’s stomach knotted tight. He’d only seen two men wandering the castle, but that back door was now open. Was it possible there was a third man waiting? One of Grant’s guards?

A floorboard creaked behind him and Kai whipped around. He barely glimpsed the man in the Grant soldier uniform before he was struck across the head.

Kai went down hard, knocking the other side of his temple on the stone floor. Feeling sick, Kai tried to push himself back up, but he couldn’t. There was blood seeping into his left eye, mixing with the darkness encroaching on his vision.

“What dae we dae now?” Peters called, his voice wheezing with the pain of his wound.

Once more, Kai tried to push himself up, but his head felt heavy, and he dropped back down to the floor.

“We take them both.”