“Ye said she tried to force ye. Did she force ye?”
Magnus looked away. He still battled the shame he felt for how that scene ended.
“Nay. But she was vera close. I woke to her stroking me. She was aboot to mount me when I realized what was happening. I’d thought I was dreaming. I roared with rage and twisted, sending her flying off the bed. When I realized she’d tied me to the bed, I was even more enraged. I broke the headboard when I pulled it from the frame. Fool woman didna think I slept with a dirk under ma pillow. What warrior doesnae? She obviously wasna a virgin, so she’d shared at least one mon’s bed.”
“Ye broke the headboard? What did ye do with the knife?”
“It was asgian dubh. I keep it wickedly sharp. I nearly shredded ma arms and slit ma wrists, but I got one hand free. I got hold of a handful of her hair and pushed her to the door, which she’d locked and bared. The headboard dragged behind me and made a horrific noise. I still dinna ken how I did it. When we got to the door, I maneuvered her against the wall and nearly crushed her as I opened it. Once again, I had a handful of her hair. I pushed her into the passageway and bellowed for her uncle, Laird Matheson. People were already gathering. It gave me the chance to cut ma other hand free, but enough people had candles to see what I was doing.”
“St. Columba’s bones!”
Magnus hung his head.
“I’m nae proud of what happened next.”
“What did she do?”
“Nae her. Me. I pushed her against the wall, pulled her head back, and was ready to slit her throat. She spat in ma face. I was beyond reason. Ma elbow went to her face. It broke her nose and cracked a cheekbone. Matheson came out and started blaming me. Mind ye, it was early spring. We werenae building fires anymore because we needed to conserve the wood. I slept in ma leine. She was naked. The moment Matheson accused me of defiling his niece, I launched maself at him. All the anger from that night, along with everything I’d learned aboot her, came pouring out. It only took one punch to knock him out. Seamus was trying to reason with me. I’m telling ye, Siùsan. I didna hear aught. Nae that I ignored him. I heard none of it. I dragged Louisa down the stairs, uncaring that she was falling down most of them. I slung her into a cell in the dungeon and took the key to a garderobe and tossed it.”
“Bluidy hell.”
“How we arenae at war with the Mathesons and all their allies is beyond me.”
“What happened to her?”
“It took a few hours for the blacksmith to get the cell open. By then, I’d calmed slightly. I was pacing Seamus’s solar, though. Plenty of servants spied the broken headboard. The pillowcase she’d used to bind my wrists remained tied to the headboard. Ma plaid was hanging on a peg with ma boots beneath it. Ma belt was on the peg next to it. But she’d strewn her clothes from the door to the side I’d been sleeping on. It was clear it wasna a moment of passion soured.”
“I’m so sorry that happened.”
“Thank ye. A search of her belongings found more things Caroline didna ken had been stolen, along with the sleeping draught. All I could think aboot as I paced was how different things would have been if I werenae the stronger of the two of us. How easy it is for men to molest women if a mon ma size nearly had it happen to him. I couldnae stop thinking aboot what nearly happened to ye. Hearing yer screams came flooding back to me. It started when I realized what she was trying to do. It was like I was seeing what I imagined happened to ye in that tower chamber when I was two-and-ten, but I was living it at four-and-thirty.”
Siùsan wrapped her arms around her younger brother and drew him in for the same embrace she’d given him thirty years ago when he would hurt himself climbing trees. Magnus found the same comfort as he had all those years ago. His mother never hugged him. He had not a single memory of any affection from her. It had always been Siùsan once she moved into the keep who cared for Seamus and him.
“Is she dead?”
“Nay.” Magnus felt Siùsan stiffen before she pulled away. “Ye canna do aught, Siùsan. Dinna think aboot it.”
“I ken I canna do aught, but I can think aboot it all I want. She’d better keep her distance at the next Highland Gathering, otherwise, she will breathe her last.”
Magnus didn’t doubt Siùsan was making a pledge. She was not a woman prone to violence. She had the patience of an archangel and a capacity to forgive much. But there was no redeeming oneself if they crossed Siùsan’s family.
“What happened once she was free of the dungeon?”
“Seamus had to lock me into the solar to keep me from dropping her in the oubliette. Ma mind was stuck replaying that night we met Callum and the others. I couldnae stop hearing yer screams or how Callum roared as he ran up those stairs to ye. He got to ye before ye were forced, but I still have nightmares. Seamus kenned without me saying aught. He told me later that he experienced the same thing, but obviously, nae as extreme as I did. They gave her clothes before she came out, and I had to stand before Seamus and the clan for assaulting a woman.”
“What?”
“It wasna Seamus’s fault. He kenned it had to be done, so we could lay the matter to rest. It was humiliating to admit that I’d been drugged and molested. I was so ashamed that a mon ma size—a warrior who wakes to a fly sneezing—could have been so taken advantage of. We learned from Louisa’s maid that she was to wait in the passageway until Louisa was through. That would have been after I planted ma seed in her. Then the maid was to come in and scream. The tale they planned to tell was, I woke from ma ale stupor and dragged Louisa back to ma chamber through seduction. Bedding her and spilling ma seed would have forced a marriage within days.”
“Ye being dressed, the sleeping draught, and the pillowcase tied to the headboard, and ye dragging it to the door exonerated ye.”
“It did, but I still had to recount what happened. I feared the men would think me weak, and the women would think me a liar and a threat.”
“Did they?”
“Some did. Mostly that I was weak. The women didna believe me a threat, but most believed me a liar. They still blamed me despite the maid confessing and admitting she did Louisa’s bidding because she had a bastard infant Louisa threatened to drown. Kenning Louisa, I believe she would have done it.”
“What happened to that lass?”
