Caitlyn acted without thought and later realized how foolish she’d been, but she squeezed beneath Brice and her father’s bent arms and sprinted across the camp to where Laird Scott sat. Angling herself to reach the much larger man, but keeping her body protected by the tree, she pressed her blade to his throat and drew blood.
“You hired a mon to capture my husband,” Caitlyn’s voice filled the night air, her only accompaniment the odd crackle from a fire. “That mon underestimated Alex and died for it. You underestimate Alex repeatedly. Do not make the mistake of underestimating me. I will kill your father before your eyes.” Caitlyn pressed firmer against the laird’s throat, not at all certain she could go through with it. “Release your wife to my father, and I won’t be the one to end his life. Underestimate me and don’t comply, and you will be laird long enough to shite yourself, because you are not leaving here alive.”
“Bloodthirsty little whore. No wonder you favor your little brown bitch.” Sully sneered at Alex as he thrust Kenzie forward, using her as a shield, as he tried to back away from the Kennedy and Armstrong warriors who took umbrage with his insults to Caitlyn. He didn’t notice Brice slip Alex a knife.
“I warn you now, say another vulgar thing aboot my wife, and I will face King Robert with your head dangling from my hand.” Alex’s calm voice contrasted with the tenuous situation, making many shiver. The Armstrongs and Elliots recognized the Alex who dragged Brice from the battlefield with one arm barely attached. The Kennedys old enough to remember Alex as a lad recognized they were witnessing the determined man that boy grew into after proving himself over and over against the experienced warriors. “Release your wife as Lady Caitlyn said.”
“She’s my wife.”
“And my cousin.” Henry emerged from the woods a second time. “She bore you only daughters. She will return to the Hebrides since you are already a dead mon. I will not take Alex’s right to kill you, but I will cause you great pain first. Let go of Kenzie and let her walk to my side.”
“Worthless cu—” Sully howled with pain as a dagger embedded in his thigh and vibrated. Without thinking, he released Kenzie to pull the knife from his leg. She bolted toward Innes, who pushed her into the circle he, Brice, and Alex still formed. Henry stepped forward and reached out his hand to Kenzie. When she took it, the men moved aside. Like the wraiths they’d both been, Henry and Kenzie disappeared silently.
“Caity.” Alex nodded to Caitlyn, who lowered her knife but didn’t move.
“Aren’t your kind supposed to be more obedient?” Sully sneered. “Or is that only when you’re on your back?”
“Her kind?” Innes’s low growl shifted attention to him. “Like the gallowglass, I won’t take Alex’s right to kill you, but speak another word aboot my lass, and I will rip each fingernail off before I cut off each finger. Then I will pry your teeth from your gums with my dirk. Once you have no teeth in the way, I will cut out your tongue and wipe my arse with it, then stick it back in your mouth to swallow. Only then will my son kill you.”
“Kennedy—” Abraham started.
“That gallowglass wasn’t the only mercenary in your midst. Mayhap your wean never heard the story of how I met my wife, but you have. The auld Laird Mackay and I were as close as brothers when we sold our sword arm to whoever paid in France. Things that should stay in my past will come to haunt you if you even shift your eyes in my daughter’s direction again.”
Innes spared a glance at Abraham when he began, but he directed all his attention to Sully as he issued his final warning. Alex and Caitlyn exchanged a look when they heard Innes claim Alex as his son with no qualifier attached. Everyone heard the indelible bond that formed between the Kennedys and the Armstrongs. Tavin stepped before Abraham but held out his empty hand to Caitlyn.
“Everyone else is having such fun describing how they wish to torture your son. But I haven’t forgotten aboot you. You stole from my clan and caused a battle that nearly took both my sons.”
“Aye and left one worthless.” Abraham screamed as a blade pierced the muscle below his shoulder. He tried to reach back, but his tethered arms didn’t allow it. Caitlyn pulled the blade out and wiped it on the man’s doublet.
“You insult my daughter,” Tavin continued as though Caitlyn hadn’t stabbed a man. “You hold no value in family, but mine is everything to me. No one threatens my children, by blood or by marriage. I grow tired of this standoff.” Tavin lifted his gaze to Caitlyn. “I do not harbor any reservation that you wouldn’t kill to protect Alex. But no mon here wants that on your conscience.”
Caitlyn had told no one about the guard in the tunnel, and she intended to save that part of the story until a much better time. She knew the men in her life would have an apoplexy. Tavin pressed the tip of his sword to Abraham’s chest. The two lairds locked gazes as Alex called Caitlyn away. She didn’t hesitate this time. She stepped into his embrace, then moved into the circle. Tavin pressed until the tip punctured his nemesis’s chest.
“Give me a fair reason to let you live.” Tavin waited, but Abraham said nothing to him, instead directing his comment to Sully.
“Too bad she never bore you a son. Now our family line ends.”
“Do you admit before all who are here that you provoked the Armstrongs?” Robert Bruce spoke after keeping silent for several minutes. “Do you take responsibility for your son and your men’s actions against Alexander Armstrong?”
“He’s still worthless whether I’m dead or alive.” Abraham sneered at Alex, but his expression froze as he turned his gaze down to the sword protruding from deep within his chest. His eyes rose to Tavin’s as the latter moved aside and pulled his blade free, causing a geyser of blood to erupt. Laird Scott was dead before his next breath.
Twenty-Four
The camp grew still as everyone looked first at Laird Scott’s slumped body, then at Tavin, who wiped his sword’s blade across the dead man’s shoulder. Tavin turned to his sons, nodding at Alex before darting his gaze to Brice. No one knew what to do next, but slowly all eyes shifted to Robert Bruce. Not only was he the king’s son, he was also the Baron of Liddesdale, which made it unequivocal that he could be Tavin’s judge and juror in his father’s stead. Robert stepped to stand beside Tavin, placing himself between the laird and his nemesis’s son.
“Laird Armstrong, you have had your justice for your son’s abduction and confinement. The auld laird is dead and so too this feud will be.” Robert turned toward Sully. “You shall have no say because you will accompany me to Stirling, where I will report your nefarious deeds to the king. I am certain he will lend an ear as I recount what I’ve seen. You’ll do well to pack lightly.”
Sully’s face had blanched when his father died before him, but now it grew mottled as anger bled from every pore. He lunged toward Alex, moving behind Robert’s back. It was Robert’s blade that slipped horizontally beneath Sully’s chin, the blade leaving a shallow slice as Sully jerked back. Robert motioned and his men materialized, with four needed to restrain Sully. Eventually he was knocked unconscious, and the Bruce guards bound and gagged him.
“What happens to Abraham’s body?” Caitlyn whispered to Alex, who wrapped his arm around her and pulled her tight.
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Alex kissed Caitlyn’s forehead. “He has men here who can take him back to the keep. His wife can tend to him. Or they can leave him for the animals. All I care aboot is getting you away from here. We still have a long talk ahead of us, Caitlyn.”
“Aye. I have plenty to tell you from my adventure,” Caitlyn burbled, intentionally obtuse. “You will never believe my shock to discover Abraham on the dais when I arrived at the Hermitage to demand Robert’s help and a messenger sent to Mangerton.”
“Demand?” Curiosity, dread, and frustration competed within him.
“Aye. I’d already sent Grant home to Dunure because he was injured, and I never doubted Papa coming if I asked. Apparently, he tried to leave sooner, but it took him an hour to convinceMamannot to ride out with him.”
