“Abby, if ye can get away, then get away. Dinna wait for me. Just go while ye can.”
“Daft mon,” Abigail scoffed in a whisper.
“Nay, Abby. Dinna perish alongside me.”
“I heard Cormag and Gordon in the laird’s solar. Neither of them is going to do aught to either of us. They ken harming me isnae worth the consequences. By extension, they ken that means ye too. The only danger we’re in is if they receive a ransom but dinna let us go. They’ll likely kill ye then.” Abigail kept Gordon’s threat of marrying her to herself. It wouldn’t do either of them any good to both be upset, and Abigail believed, at that point, it was still a hollow threat.
“Go back now, Abby, before the guards find ye. I canna protect ye behind a locked door. They willna have the restraint Cormag or Gordon have if they catch ye. Please,” Ronan begged.
“I ken. Do ye swear ye’re all right?”
“Aye. Hungry and filthy, but hale. I love ye, Abigail.”
“I love ye, Ronan.” Abigail strained to rest her chin on the opening. Ronan leaned forward, but it was too wide from their lips to meet. But they squeezed one another’s fingers before Abigail slipped back into the darkness. Ronan listened, hearing Abigail’s muffled whistle, letting him know she’d found her way out.
* * *
Abigail spent her second and third full days at Dunvegan with little more to do than pace in her chamber. After her explorations during her second night at the keep, she barely made it into her bed before the door opened. She kept her lids lowered, but she watched Gordon enter her chamber. She clasped the handle of her dirk beneath the pillow, but he did nothing more than look at her. She feared Gordon suspected her of traipsing through the tunnels, so she didn’t dare go exploring the third night of her captivity. While no one entered her chamber that night, she heard voices outside her door more than once.
But on the fourth night, Abigail was resolved to wait no longer than it took for the keep to grow quiet. She slipped into the tunnels, more confident now than the first time. She hurried to the laird’s solar, but there was no one inside. The tunnels didn’t go around the chamber, so she had no choice but to enter the room and exit through the other hidden door. She slipped into the dungeon, but as much as she wanted to see Ronan again, she only whistled to let him know she was still safe. She was determined to discover the cave. Once she left the door to the dungeon, she retraced her steps until she came to a fork in the tunnel. She turned down the one she hadn’t explored.
The decline was much steeper than any Abigail had traversed yet, but it was still familiar to her. She remembered Donovan grunting in annoyance when both Abigail and Madeline grabbed his shoulders to keep from slipping. Abigail trailed her hand along the wall to brace herself. She was still a dozen feet from the end when she heard the lapping waves and barking seals. She grinned as she recalled the stories about selkies her father used to tell. He’d teased Abigail and Madeline that they might each be one with their dark hair. He would ask if they’d cast a spell over him, shedding their seal skins to come live amongst humans as his daughters. Abigail’s heart pinched as the memory became stronger as she approached the cave.
Abigail held her torch down and away from her as she eased her way to the opening. She heard no voices, nor any movement, but she didn’t know if the clan posted guards at the gate at night. If anyone breached the gate, they could overrun the keep. With a deep breath, she risked her life yet again and stepped into the cave. Unlike when she was a child, there were crates and barrels stacked beside the walls. She lifted her torch, sweeping her arm back and forth as she looked for a key that would open the gate. She didn’t spy one, and she nearly wet herself when she heard the distinct splash of oars just outside the gate.
“Who’s there?” A deep voice barked. Abigail cursed to herself, realizing that the goods lining the walls were leaving the keep, not arriving. She gathered her skirts and turned back the way she came. She heard the same voice again. “I saw light, but where are the men to open the gate if they’re in there?”
Abigail didn’t wait to offer an answer or to discover what the men would do if they found her. She stomped out the flame, even spitting on it, before she traversed the black corridors back to her chamber. She heard no one behind her, but she couldn’t be certain they didn’t move silently. She tossed the log into the fireplace and kicked off her boots as she tugged at the kirtle laces she’d kept loose. She slipped into bed, her heart thumping as she waited for men to burst into her chamber. She stared at the ceiling, convinced men would drag her from the bed and dump her before Cormag or Gordon. Eventually, she relaxed and drifted off to sleep.
* * *
Discussion at the evening meal about the next night warned Abigail that shipments were coming and going from the keep. While no one said that the sea gate was where the loading and unloading would happen, Abigail opted not to test her luck again. For that night and the next, she settled for checking on Ronan from afar, then returning to her chamber. Her sleep was restless each night, growing more and more worried about Ronan and the other men suffering in the dungeon. Unable to withstand the need to see and touch Ronan, she slipped back into the dungeon the seventh night they were at Dunvegan. After a sennight in the cell, Ronan’s eyes were sunken, and his cheeks were hollow.
“Ronan, ye canna stay down here much longer. We must get ye out. I must,” Abigail whispered.
“Get yerself out, Abby. Get free of here and send someone for me, but dinna wait for me.”
“I’m nae leaving ye behind,” Abigail refused.
“Ye’re more likely to die trying to free me.”
“Then what? Roam an island I dinna ken? I dinna ken how to get to Dun Ringill. It’s more likely someone else will capture me before I can send men to rescue ye. I amnae leaving this hellhole without ye.”
“Abby—”
“Nay,” Abigail snapped. She softened her tone. “I’ll only go if I’m certain I can get ye help. I willna abandon ye. I’d rather be in that cell with ye than in that bluidy chamber alone. Tell me the truth, are they torturing ye? Ye tell me ye’re all right, but that isnae what yer face tells me.”
“I havenae seen Gordon since they tossed us in here. Cormag hasnae been once. The guards kick me once in a while, but I dinna fight back. It’s still nae the right time for them to ken I can. It’s too dark in here for them to notice ma hands are free, and it’s nae as if they change the chamber pot.”
“That first night I spied on them, I heard Gordon say that more of yer men are in the storage buildings in the bailey. They’re the ones who made it ashore. It sounded like they rounded up the survivors and stuck them in there, so ye wouldnae ken that ye only lost two men.”
“Only two?”
“That’s what they said.”
“I still didna travel with enough men. Even with the extra guards that came to Lewis with me after ma last trip home, there werenae enough to protect ye.”
“Dinna say that, Ronan. I’m in better shape than ye. Ye and yer men kept the fight off the boat. I would have surely died if any of them reached me. Ye protected me.” Abigail’s adamance was clear despite her whisper. “Ronan, I’m scared for ye. The longer ye’re down here…”
