The Highlander's Enchantment Read online

  Chapter 24

  The miles of road between Guinn country and Rose did not disappear quickly enough. At long last, the top of Edan’s tower keep came into view. Rather than breathe in a sigh of relief, the anxiety he’d felt for the whole of the trip kicked up a notch, causing his heart to pound without mercy until he feared his ribs would crack.

  They rushed over the moors, but with every glide of his mount, he could have sworn the distance remained the same. A trick of the mind, to be sure. Then he was pounding over the lowered drawbridge and thundering into the bailey.

  Rose men and women stared up at him startled, their eyes full of alarm and wariness. Several rushed off, as if he were an invader and not their laird. Was it because of the way he’d entered—or something else? Because his brain was throwing scenarios at him that had him reaching for his sword.

  The hair on the back of his neck standing on end.

  “Where is my wife?” His voice was a near growl, and even Raibert, who’d ridden in beside him, had his hand on the hilt of his sword as though they’d just entered an enemy’s bailey.

  Murtagh stepped forward, his expression resolute. “She’ll not be coming out to greet ye, laird.”

  Edan bristled. “I asked, where she is? What have ye done with her?”

  “She awaits ye and your judgment. She’s killed again, my laird.”

  Edan let out a bellow that had children and animals alike running. Women cowered, hiding behind men if they were near. But Murtagh puffed his chest, ready to do battle with his laird on the matter.

  “How dare ye,” Edan said. “How dare ye lock her up for a second time when it is nay she who has done these crimes. We’ve only just come from Guinn lands, where my brother’s wife told me she begged her father for rescue, because someone tried to kill her first. She’d thought it was Connor, trying to kill her off for not having his bairns, but nay, it was one of ye. And I’ll have your head.”

  But for now, he needed to get his wife out of her imprisonment.

  “Raibert,” Edan growled, knowing that his guard and the other warriors they’d brought back would take care of those who wished to go against him.

  As soon as he took a step toward the keep stairs, Murtagh drew his sword.

  “Dinna make me kill ye, old man. Ye’re wrong. We’ve heard proof of it.”

  “She’ll kill ye, and the bloody lot of us,” Murtagh bellowed. Several of the other men saw the elder had pulled his sword and went to do so themselves.

  “Your laird has spoken,” Raibert shouted back. “We’ve all heard testament from the Guinns, and that no fault was had by them. How can ye go against the truth? Do ye hate her, do ye hate your laird so verra much? Traitors every one of ye that would dare to raise your swords to your laird.”

  Should they not immediately retreat, the men were sealing their fate. To pull their sword on Edan was to sign their own death warrants.

  It was up to Murtagh who’d issued the challenge against Edan to begin with.

  “Put it away, Murtagh, and listen to reason. Else, die here today.”

  Murtagh bared his teeth, his knuckles white on the hilt of his sword. “Your da would be ashamed of ye.” But he put the sword back.

  Edan tried not to let the painful words get to him. “Methinks ’tis ye who ought to be ashamed for condemning an innocent woman.”

  He didn’t wait to see Murtagh’s reaction or to hear his reply. He had only a desire to find his wife.

  When they’d locked her in before, it had been in one of the cells of the dungeon where the Ross warriors had been housed some weeks before. But this time, with them feeling certain she was the one to have gone on a killing spree, Edan would bet his life they put her in the hole to rot.

  The hole of Kilravock was nothing more than a dank pit in the rocky ground with a solid iron disk overtop to keep anyone tossed inside down there, and without light. He’d been gone for a little over a fortnight, and there was no telling how long she’d been down there.

  Edan gripped the iron, hauling it away with a roar. The guard on duty handed him a torch, his eyes filled with regret for having been the one to stand there.

  Edan gripped the torch and held it down into the darkness, lighting up only a portion of the dungeon, but not enough. Edan didn’t see her.

  “Blair,” he called. “I’m coming to get ye, my love.”

  He waited for a response, but there was none. He turned to the guard, wondering for a moment if he had gotten it wrong. “She is here?”

  “Aye, my laird.” Anguish sounded in his tone. “Though I’ve barely heard a peep all day.”

  “How long has she been down there?”

  “A sennight tomorrow.”

  “Food and drink?”

  “Some.” The man had the wherewithal to look gutted, but that didn’t make Edan’s desire to run him through any less, for he was certain some meant mostly none.

  “Hold this while I go down,” Edan said, holding out the torch.

  “Aye, my laird. Be careful.” The guard took it swiftly. Edan had the flickering thought that once he was below, this man could very easily return the iron cover in place. But that would cost him his life, as Raibert was sure to be close behind him. Edan had no doubt that he was innocent in all this..

  Edan lowered his feet into the dungeon, sinking his body slowly in, holding his weight up on the rim with his arms. His feet just barely skimmed the bottom, a feat a man of lesser height would not be able to accomplish.

  He let go, settling on his feet, and the guard lowered the light. Edan reached up, took the torch from him and held it out in front of him, watching rats scurry into the darkness. Bones littered the floor. Prisoners past. None that he knew, as he’d never made use of the hole himself, and he hadn’t been home enough before to know better.

  “Blair, ’tis Edan.”

  Still no answer.

  “Come into the light, love.” He moved forward slowly, not wanting to step on her by accident.

  He listened carefully, still only hearing the scurrying of rats as they scattered into their burrowed holes. The scent of the hole was of death, and the silence just as macabre. Edan’s heart was pounding, his stomach twisted up into knots, as he worked hard to thrust aside the images his mind conjured.

  “Blair,” he said softly again, “Where are ye?”

  As a lad, he’d always thought the hole was just that, a hole big enough for only a man or two, but now that he was down there, he could see it was much wider, the size of small chamber. Edan turned in a slow circle, holding out the torch to light the entire place. When it seemed he’d finally come in a full circle, he saw her at last, huddled in a small, very still heap against the wall.

  Edan let out a curse and rushed forward. He knelt where she lay, dropping the torch, too. It fell to the ground and was out snuffed, but he didn’t care. He gathered her in his arms, trying to see into the darkness from the little light that shown from the hole overhead.

  “My laird,” the guard called down in a panic.

  “I need a ladder.”

  She wasn’t going to be able to help him get her out of here.

  “Aye, my laird, right away.”

  Edan smoothed her hair from her face, touching her cool cheeks and pressing his finger beneath her nose. Shallow breaths fanned over his finger.

  She was alive.

  “Thank God,” he said through a throat tight with emotion. Tears of relief and anger stung his eyes. Only a day or two more of this and she would have perished.

  There was the sound of wood scraping behind him, and he saw a ladder being lowered, and then the guard climbed down with a torch.

  “I’ll light the way, my laird.”

  Edan didn’t speak, though he did nod, not caring whether the guard saw or not. He lifted his wife into his arms and carried her to the ladder, and from there, to their chambers.

  Inside, Blair’s maid, Willa, stood before a steaming bath. “Let me take care of her, my laird.”

&n
bsp; He didn’t like her tone, or the shift of her eyes, but more telling was the way that Blair jerked at the sound of Willa’s voice. Though she said nothing and did not open her eyes. It didn’t matter; the suspicions laid by Agnes and Mary were confirmed.

  Willa was the guilty one all along.

  “I’ve got it. Leave us.”

  Willa started to protest, but he gave her a look that promised death if she did not obey, and so she slinked from the room—though he wasn’t certain how long he’d be able to keep her at bay.

  Edan kicked the door shut and carefully laid his wife on the bearskin rug before the hearth, disrobing her and tossing the grimy garments into the flames. Bruises marred her flesh, whether from an attack or from being pushed into the hole, he didn’t know, but every one of them made him want to punish someone. His wineskin was still attached to his belt, and so he opened the cork and let her sip from the whisky he had inside it. She drank heavily and sputtered but begged for more.

  “Not too much, else ye’ll be spilling it back out again.”

  He washed her gently in the tub, and as he smoothed the sweet-smelling soap over her fingers, she tightened her grip on his hand.

  “Ye’re safe, my love,” he murmured, leaning down to press a kiss to her temple, and then her hand. “I’ll never let anyone hurt ye.”

  She opened her eyes, searching him out, and tears brimmed the edges. Her lips parted, but nothing pushed past save a croak.

  “Ye need not speak just yet, sweetling,” he said.

  Blair shook her head, her forehead wrinkling. “I… I need to tell ye.”

  “Only if ye’re up for it.”

  “Willa… She is…”

  But before she could finish speaking, Blair’s eyes widened, and Edan turned instinctively to see that Willa stood behind him with a dagger, poised to strike.

  He knocked her to the ground, grappling with her arm, which seemed to hold a strength unnatural for a lass of her slight figure. But he was able to get the dagger from her and pin her in place with his knees.

  Raibert burst into the room, eyes on Willa. “Sister, what are ye doing?”

  “It was her, Raibert, all along,” Edan shouted. “Guards!”

  Raibert looked stunned, as though he didn’t want to believe what he was seeing. The man had still held out hope his sister was innocent, a hope Edan had shared for his guard’s sakes. He backed away, shaking his head and muttering, “How?”

  “Get over here and save me, Brother, ye spoiled whoreson. I killed that bitch, too, ye know. She was vile, and I hated everything about her.” Willa was raving and spitting on the floor.

  “What in bloody hell are ye talking about?” Raibert’s eyes widened, and he met Edan’s. “I didna know.”

  “Our mother, ye bloody, puss-filled cock. Watched her drown in her porridge after I tried out my special ingredient. Dried-up bloody old bitch.”

  Willa spewed other words that made Edan rage with anger, but seemed to snap Raibert into action.

  He dropped to his knees beside Edan and the struggling Willa and helped to bind her wrists and ankles. With the task complete, he said, “I’ve got her, my laird.”

  “To the hole,” Edan growled as he climbed back to his feet, staring down with shock at the woman, sister to his dearest friend in the world, and daughter of the housekeeper who’d faithfully served his family for so many years.

  Raibert hauled the woman from the room, and as soon as they were both gone, he returned to the tub, slipping his arms around his wife, needing to feel her breathing and alive in his arms.

  Edan pulled her from the tub, dried her carefully and dressed her in front of the hearth. He then brushed out her hair until it dried and crackled, and she told him all that had happened while he was gone. When she started to tear up, he let her collapse in his arms, and pressed kisses to her face, murmuring words of love and comfort.

  “I’m so verra sorry, my love,” he said. “Would that I could take it all away.”

  “When I tried to tell them that it wasna me, that it was one of their own, they only mocked me. And she, Willa, was amongst them, mocking, shouting, egging them on, even when I knew it was her all along.”

  “’Tis over now. Those responsible will be punished, I swear it.”

  A soft knock at the door startled them both. Edan called for it to be opened, and Agnes did so. She stood there wringing her hands and looking very worried. Blair sucked in a ragged breath.

  “Nay,” Blair whispered.

  “Shh,” Edan said against her ear. “She is not to blame.”

  “My laird,” Agnes croaked. “We brought some food.”

  Edan narrowed his gaze, still uncertain who to trust. “Taste it first,” he said. “Everything on the tray.”

  Agnes nodded emphatically as she sipped the wine and took bites of everything. They waited in silence, and when nothing happened, he nodded for her to leave the tray.

  “Is there anything else, my laird?”

  “Nay.”

  Agnes backed from the room. As soon as she was gone, he carried the tray to the floor where they’d settled before the hearth and he fed his wife every bite.

  “I can eat on my own.” She offered him a small smile.

  “I know it, but I was not here to protect ye before, and I’ve the need to make up for it.”

  Blair sighed, took his hand in hers and brought it to her lips. “’Twas not your fault, and ye need not pay for what was done to me, nor make up for anything. Ye saved m; ye cared for me. Ye love me.”

  “I love ye with all my heart.” His voice cracked. “If anything should have happened to ye…”

  Blair pushed the tray of food aside and crawled her way over to him, curling herself up in his lap and pressing her lips to his. “I am safe now, in your arms. Make love to me and let us forget all of the horrible things that have happened.”

  Edan laid her gently down on the soft bearskin and braced himself over her. “Ye’re my everything.”

  “And ye’re mine.”

  When Blair woke the following morning, she reached for Edan, but found his side of the bed cold. She jerked awake, suddenly fearful that his return had been a dream, and she was still stuck in the nightmare. But she was in her chamber, and the water that had cooled still filled her tub. Their leftover dinner was still on the floor before the hearth. A sob of relief escaped her, and she flung back the covers, determined to dress quickly and find her husband, if only to reassure herself of his presence.

  But she needn’t have gone far, as he was standing in their solar, staring out the window.

  “Good morning,” she said with a soft smile.

  Edan started and came forward to wrap her in his arms and kiss her thoroughly. “I didna wake ye, did I?”

  “Nay. I slept more soundly than I can ever remember.”

  “Good.” A frown creased his brow.

  “What is it?”

  “The women who mistreated ye, save for Willa, have been placed in the stocks. If ye wish to face them, to say something to them, I will go with ye.”

  Blair sucked in a breath. She shook her head. “I dinna want to see them that way.”

  “It is a just punishment.”

  It was. She knew that.

  “And Willa?”

  “She awaits execution.”

  “When will that be?”

  “As soon as ye will it. She is already tied to the stake.”

  “The stake?”

  “She will be burned.”

  Blair shook her head. “Nay, please, I beg ye show her mercy.”

  “There is no mercy for a sinner such as this, Blair. The woman killed half a dozen people. Maybe more. How can we let her live?”

  Blair bit her lip, uncertain of the answer to such a question. She didn’t know. How could they allow her to live? She was a murderer, and very likely evil to boot. How else could she have so heinously harmed so many people and maintained her charm and care for Blair? She was cunning, conniving.

/>   “Your da would have her executed.”

  She nodded. “Aye.”

  “Your brothers, too.”

  “Aye.”

  “But not ye?”

  “Is there not a fate worse than death for a woman such as her?”

  He shook his head. “Nay. But if ye prefer it not be done on our lands, I can have her sent to the Guinns and give my sister-by-marriage, Mary, the chance at her own revenge.”

  “Aye. Then her fate is not in our hands. I’d hate for ye to go to Hell for taking the life of the woman who killed your brother.”

  “Lass, hers would not be the first I’ve taken. I’m a warrior. Dispatching of life in the name of our cause and protecting our way of the world is what I do.”

  Tears burned her eyes. “I’m afraid I’m not cut out for being the wife of a laird. If I canna even mete out a death sentence to a woman who deserves it. My sisters would be ashamed of me.”

  “Nay, mo chridhe, they’d expect nothing less of sweet Blair.”

  He took her hand and led her reluctantly outside.

  Willa stood on tiptoe tied to the stake, a pile of wood surrounding her. A loud curse blew from her snarling lips. “Whore! Ye sicken me, standing there discussing my fate as though ye were God. Ye’re not God! Ye’re nothing but a lowly whore. And ye’re no laird.” Her gaze shifted to Edan. “Only half a man. Ye know I fucked your brother? Every night. The reason his wife couldna get pregnant was because I took all the seed he had to give.”

  “She lies,” Blair murmured.

  “Aye,” he answered. “If I know one thing, it is that my brother was honorable.”

  “And she’d have had a bairn by now, yet her belly is as a flat as the wall.”

  “Aye.”

  “Are ye going to light the flames? Or have ye not the ballocks for it? I curse ye. Curse ye and your whole family.” She was screaming now, her head yanking from side to side.

  Mothers in the bailey hid their children behind their skirts or ushered them away. People were crossing themselves as Willa begged the lord of Hell to come and avenge her.

  Even Blair felt like looking at the ground to make certain no demons were coming up to grab at her ankles.