“Shh, Abby. I ken. I wish I could make this all go away. Just ken that I, and the others down here, are still alive. Hungry, but alive. Abigail, I love ye.”
“I love ye just as much, Ronan.” Tears pricked at the back of Abigail’s eyelids. Ronan only used her full name when he wanted her to understand how serious he was. Each time he said it, she feared it was the last time she would hear it.
“Ye must go.”
“I ken. I dinna want to, but I ken. I love ye.” Abigail strained even more than the last time she’d kissed Ronan through the bars. This time their lips brushed, and Abigail couldn’t stop her whimper.
“Wheest, Abby. We’ll be gone from here soon enough, and then ye can scrub ma back as I wash yer hair. Then I’ll spend a moon making love to ye before we leave our chamber.”
“Two moons,” Abigail countered with a weak smile. They squeezed each other’s fingers before Abigail slipped back into the darkness, a soft whistle her goodbye.
Twenty-Seven
Abigail’s seventh full day at Dunvegan passed, and she was ready to climb the walls. She’d continued to watch the guards on the wall and the people moving about the bailey. She knew people’s daily routines, and she could even predict which dishes would be served at the evening meal. But she couldn’t escape the keep, and she couldn’t free Ronan.
Cormag allowed her to go outside for an hour that day. Cecily demanded she only be allowed in the grove, and Gordon insisted four guards trail her. After watching her attack Donovan without a flinch, he was the least trusting. What none of them seemed to realize was letting her outside when most were eating their midday meal meant she could watch food being delivered to a storage building. Abigail realized that her hour-long reprieve coincided with when the MacKinnon warriors could leave their prison and sit outside. The moment she saw them, she whistled. One of her guards shoved her away, but it wasn’t before she heard a MacKinnon respond.
She slipped into the dungeon that night, relaying her observations to Ronan. She still couldn’t believe how she hadn’t been discovered. When she pointed that out to Ronan, he mused that it spoke to the quality of men Cormag led. Abigail had to agree, remembering how men reacted to the captain of the guard. During her time outside, she heard the guardsmen on the battlements and clearly saw their expressions. She thought it childish how many sneered and mocked the captain when he turned his back, but it showed their sentiments about the man. She noticed Gordon elicited more respect from the men, and that only frustrated her. It was obvious they were loyal to the middle brother and, Abigail could only assume, to their laird. But she wondered if they were as lazy as the men assigned to the dungeon. When she spoke her thoughts aloud, Ronan grinned and pointed out the men on dungeon duty were likely assigned there for a reason.
After nearly being caught in the cave, Abigail had halted her midnight exploration, hoping no one had grown suspicious about the unexpected light. She knew they kept her chamber door locked, and at least two guards stood in the passageway throughout the night. From the grove, she saw out the postern gate when it opened. The MacLeods had a large fleet of birlinns; at least twenty were within sight that day. Abigail gazed at them, watching the fishermen unloading their catches as they returned at midday. Then she watched them sail away, wishing she and Ronan were aboard. The glimpse of freedom only increased her anxiety as she thought about Ronan locked in his cell.
Ronan promised her during each visit that he was well and that he could manage if she were safe. As the days dragged on, Abigail lost her appetite for everything and could only eat enough to survive. Her fear of being poisoned lessened, but it didn’t disappear. She felt ill thinking about food when she knew Ronan had nearly none. She smuggled food from her morning and midday trays down to the men, dropping bread, fruit, and cheese into the cells.
When a week of captivity went by, Abigail could no longer wait. She was determined to free Ronan or die trying. While conversing in a whisper, they had a heated disagreement about what Abigail should do. She suggested she should free Ronan and his men, so they could overpower the dungeon guards. They could agree on that, but where their thoughts differed was how to escape while leaving none of his men behind.
Ronan knew neither he nor any of the men in the dungeon could get to those locked in the storage building without being seen. There was no way for Abigail to do it, since Cormag had only just allowed her outside that day. She suggested that she sneak across the bailey and release them at night, but Ronan refused to entertain the risk. None of the MacKinnons had swords, and Abigail knew she couldn’t gather them from the armory unseen. She suggested freeing Ronan and taking him through the tunnels, so he could see the inner bowels of the keep and the cave with the sea gate.
“And how will ye get the keys to do that?” Ronan hissed.
“I can try the tip of ma dirk.”
“And when it scrapes the metal, ye’ll bring the entire guard down on ye. Cormag’s good intentions will go to hell. Right now, ye are free to gather information. If he locks ye in yer chamber or down here, then it really will be impossible to escape. I dinna want ye down here, Abby. I can bear it, but it’s cold and disgusting. Ye’ll fall ill.”
“And why are ye so certain ye’ll survive? Because ye’re bigger than me?”
“Because I’ve done it before,” Ronan snapped. He flinched at Abigail’s gasp. He hadn’t intended to reveal that, but his constant fear for Abigail frayed his patience. He feared her being caught and thrown into a cell, perhaps with him, but probably without. He worried every moment that he didn’t know where she was, fearing what the MacLeods might do to her. He lived with a constant headache and stomachache from too little food and water. His clothes were always damp, and the stench made him want to heave any time he was awake.
“When?” Abigail’s voice was more a puff of air than a sound.
“I spent time in the MacNeacails’ dungeon when I rode out on ma first sortie. I didna pay enough attention, and I learned ma lesson for it. I spent nearly three sennights there before they sent a ransom to ma father. He thought I was dead. I found maself in the MacNeills’ dungeon just before ma father died. I led a raid to retake cattle they stole. I was the decoy while ma men herded them toward our land. I was too far behind them as I raced toward our border. They captured me before I crossed over to MacKinnon territory. It wasna long after that the MacNeills attacked ma mother and ma father rode out instead.”
“Ronan, do ye blame yerself?” Abigail could hear the anguish in Ronan’s voice.
“He would be alive if I hadnae failed to teach the bastards a lesson. Instead, they held me captive, then left ma mother to die alone as she tried to find her way home. He couldnae trust me to do the job right, so he went himself.”
“Dear God, Ronan. That’s why ye’re truly afraid to fail.”
“Aye. And if I agree with any of yer suggestions, I’ll be a widowerandan orphan. I willna agree to aught that risks yer life. Remain here, unmolested and safe, Abby.”
Abigail remained quiet, shocked at what Ronan revealed. She suspected he meant to keep his previous captures a secret, and she was certain he hadn’t intended to tell her about his parents while they stood together in a dungeon. She didn’t doubt he would have shared their fates, but they were hardly in the right place for such a grief-laden story.
“Abby, I didna mean to tell ye that,” Ronan confessed.
“I ken,mo chridhe. I ken. But ye having experience in a dungeon doesnae make me any less scared for ye being in this one. Mayhap ye ken what to expect, but that doesnae mean I do. I want ma husband to hold me in his arms far, far away from here.” Abigail called Ronan “my heart” and meant it. She didn’t think it could beat without Ronan.
“Abby, I will. As soon as I can. Our clan kens by now that something happened. Men have likely sailed to Stornoway, and Kieran will ken now too. They’ll search Skye and the coasts of Lewis and Harris. I ken ye hate being in yer chamber all day, but ye’ll see when yer clan or mine arrives. Even if Cormag and Gordon lie, ye’ll be able to call down from yer chamber.”
“True.” Abigail nodded, knowing the value of what Ronan said, but she still wanted a way to free him rather than waiting with uncertainty.
