Prologue

PROLOGUE

BEGINNING OF THE END

“ N ext!”

The guard’s bellow rang through the glen like a clamoring bell. Tension rose through the air, making even the most steady of horses shift over and over on their feet.

This was single-handedly the worst day of the entire year, and there was not a single soul there that didn’t know it. Ever since Laird Campbell had taken over the clan, he had demanded taxes that devastated the people. Every year, the money each family owed increased, no matter how much they were struggling. And every year, Flora watched the Campbell guards rob her family, and her friends, leaving them with hardly anything to their name.

“They cannae do this,” Mairi cried. “They cannae take him from me.”

Flora wove her arms around her cousin, pulling her in closer. At twelve years old, Flora was only three years older than Mairi, but at that moment, three years felt like a lifetime.

They had both lived such different lives. Though they shared the same dark, curly hair, Flora was already half a foot taller than her cousin. And she had her mother’s stormy gray eyes, whereas Mairi wore the Kerr family’s brown eyes. Flora knew there was a weight to her own expression that Mairi didn’t have. It was one that came from losing both her parents at a mere six years old. It came from feeding a slow fire of hatred for the man responsible. It aged her well beyond her twelve years.

“I ken it is nae fair,” she whispered to the younger girl, “I wish there was something I could do.”

Mairi cried harder, soaking the front of Flora’s dress.

“He was nae just a goat, he was my friend,” she wailed.

“Aye. I ken, I ken.”

She watched on as the Campbell guards slung back mugs full of ale, while one by one the families of Aberfeldy came forward to offer their tithe. With every additional line in the ledger, Flora’s stomach twisted into more and more knots until it was finally her uncle’s turn.

They were standing too far away for anyone else to hear the ruckus Mairi was making but even from that distance, Flora could see how thin her uncle had become. He was half the size of any one of the guards, his clothes threadbare and patched. Even his hair looked dull and scraggly, as though poverty had robbed him of his ability to take any pride in his appearance. She knew that if she was close enough, she would see the way the bones in his hands protruded or that his skin was covered in the cuts and bruises that came from doing hard labor without the food to sustain a body.

Guilt ate away at her. She was nothing more than another mouth to feed to them, that much had been made clear. Her aunt and uncle had only taken her in all those years ago because there had been no one else to fulfill the duty. And on days like today, her presence was no more than a painful reminder of how little they had. She was a burden to them, plain and simple.

Mairi tucked her face into Flora, unable to watch as her father handed over her beloved pet goat to the guards. It was all they had to pay their rent, despite all of Mairi’s protests.

“I wish there was something I could do,” Flora repeated, even after the goat had been added to the cart that was already weighed down by other animals.

Another hour of consoling her cousin while watching the village pay their rent passed and to Flora’s surprise, she was presented with the opportunity to indeed do something for her cousin.

One of the guards stumbled away from the table where the others were still seated, more interested in robbing her village than what the man was doing. But she kept her eyes trained on him.

All the ale he had consumed had worked its way through his body, probably drawing him away from the crowd so he could relieve himself. Flora could see that wasn’t the only effect the alcohol had; he could hardly stand up straight or take three steps without tripping on his own feet. He was drunk.

She knew he would make an easy target, she just had to wait for the right moment to strike. When the guard collapsed on the grassy knoll, his eyes shut before his body connected with the ground, she knew that moment had come. She stayed in her spot, tucked behind the oak trees, to see if he would rouse and right himself. She counted several heartbeats but still, he showed no signs of waking.

“Stay here,” she ordered her cousin. “dinnae leave these woods nay matter what ye see, aye?”

Mairi sniffled and nodded, her puffy eyes wide.

Flora didn’t waste another second. She was out of the thicket of trees and marching straight toward the guard without another spot. She hadn’t failed to notice the shining dagger that had fallen out of its sheath when the guard had collapsed.

Thirty paces, and she could already smell the ale wafting off the man. More importantly, she could see a handful of gleaming gems that had been built into the hilt of the weapon. She would take it, sell it in the village, and use that money to get Mairi’s goat back. Perhaps there would even be enough left over for her to give to her uncle. They could all use a new set of clothes and some meat on their bones.

She was less than five steps away, her palms itching to wrap around the dagger, when a hot, rough hand clenched down on her neck, stopping her in her tracks.

“What do ye think ye are doin’?”

The voice of her uncle’s disdain and disappointment was one she knew well, but not one she had expected to hear right then.

Before she could answer, he was already pulling her away from the man and back toward where Mairi was waiting.

“Go find yer mother,” John barked as soon as Mairi was within earshot.

He waited only long enough for Mairi to scamper off before whipping around to face Flora. His eyes were alight with fire and rage. Hers held the same expression.

“What did ye think ye were going to do? Steal from a guard and hope nay one notices?”

She clenched her jaw as she worked through how to answer him without flying off the handle. But when he pressed her for a response, any control she had over her emotions fled.

“Answer me, Flora!”

“Aye! I was going to take the dagger and sell it, and then I was going to pay to get Mairi’s goat back. Ye have nae been with her all day, listening to her wail and moan over the fact that ye took her pet. Ye kent how much she loves that beast, and ye sold him anyway without so much as a word of solace to yer daughter. I was going to do something about it.”

John shook his head, his own jaw tight.

“Do ye nae think about these things? Why can ye never see past the moment?”

“I was going to?—”

“Ye were going to get us all in trouble. Eventually, that guard is going to wake up and when he does, he will realize that his dagger is gone. It would have only been a matter of time before he put together that the wee lass who approached with a sack full of coins was responsible for his missing knife. And then do ye ken what would have happened next?”

She didn’t bother answering. She knew exactly where her uncle was going with his lecture, and she was furious that she truly hadn’t thought that far ahead.

He gripped her shoulders and spun her around so she was looking at the center of town.

“We would have all been tied to that post and flogged, one by one.”

Flora shut her eyes at the mental picture he painted. She had witnessed more than one whipping during her time in this village. It was that post and chains that had kept the village so terrified, so amenable to whatever abuse Laird Campbell threw their way. More than one person had died as a result of a flogging, and countless others still bore the scars.

“Mairi will one day get over losing her goat, but she would nae likely survive the post.”

“So instead ye doom her to a life of starvation and poverty because nay one will stand up to Campbell, least of all ye?”

The words flew out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying. She had long since thought about it but never had the gall to say it aloud.

In her mind, her uncle was little more than a spineless, withered man who cowered away from doing the right thing, just as he was doing now. She wanted nothing to do with that kind of cowardice.

She could feel his rage building behind her. She wasn’t surprised when he jerked her around again to face him.

“I have done all that I can for ye, Flora,” he bit out. “I have given ye a home and food and clothes, often leaving my own belly empty to do it. I have done this for my brother’s sake, but I will nae allow ye to bring such reckless endangerment to my home any longer. At first light, I am taking ye to the convent. After that, ye are nae welcome in my home ever again.”

Flora’s chin notched up, her pride wounded. This was a threat he had made half a dozen times before, and she was weary of it being held over her head. As much as she resented her uncle, they were the only family she had left. And now he was threatening to leave her with nothing. Her temper spiked and this time, she didn’t bother to tamp it down.

“Why bother waiting until first light? I will save ye the trouble and leave now. Good luck explaining my absence along with the goat to Mairi.”

She didn’t stick around to hear his response. Instead, she pulled out of his grasp and sprinted into the forest.