She didn’t haveto go under or in when she could simply go up. A smile played at the corners of her mouth as she reached forthe top branch. Despite how frail and weak she was, Madison’s determination and will to live was greater. She pulled up to the first branch and rested her legs over it.
“Oh my,”she whispered as a slight relief washed over her. The heated pain that coursed through her left side had ceased to be the moment she sat. But as she looked to the ground, it donned on her she wasn’t high enough. Not only would the hounds bite her feet right off, anyone hunting her could easily pull her from the spot. No. She would have to go higher.
Mustering all her strength,Madison reached for the next branch. Using more of her upper body, she climbed higher still as a low howl rippled through the grove causing Madison to freeze. The hounds were still far off, but Madison’s curiosity was peeked.
She cranedher neck and spied through the branches. Her heart fluttered as she spotted Gabriella’s bright red cloak flapping like a banner readying the troops for war. Madison squinted as she tried to find Flora, but there was no sign of the girl. Unspeakable thoughts played leaps and squats through Madison’s mind. Images that were so vile, she shuddered.
Takeoff yer cloak and turn to the west. Ye daenae want to go that way.
Madison whimperedas she caught sight of three lairds waiting at the mouth of the ravine as if knowing at least one the girls would go there. And as much as Madison wanted to call for Gabriella toturn, it would be futile. She was too far away, and it would only give her position away.
A scream pierced the stillness.Fear gripped Madison’s heart like an eagle snatching its prey out of a lake. In a jolt of panic, Madison shot for the higher branch. The snap in her ear might as well have been a gunshot. Her panic shifted to terror as she clasped for the branch only to grasp the air.
The ground came up fastand slammed the air from her lungs. Stars exploded through her vision as her thoughts scattered. The pain in her leg was nothing compared to the agony in her chest—like inhaling shards of glass. She jolted up, coughing and gasping. Then she dropped to the dust once more, still reeling.
“What in the...?”a strong baritone voice rumbled through the ringing in Madison’s ears. “Clever lass.”
Madison blinkeduntil the world and everything in it came back into view. But it wasn’t Lewis’s face staring back at her, but a stranger’s, whose direct gaze held her prisoner. The raven-haired man with icy blue eyes towered over her. Madison’s body screamed for her to flee, to kick and fight off the fiend before her. After all, he had to be one of the lairds who had paid Lewis for this experience.
It wasthe shift of light that pulled her out of her stupor. In a frantic rush of self-preservation, Madison hunted and shifted through the dirt at her fingertips. She needed a weapon, something to ward off the stranger. The moment her fingerscurled around the hard object, she wielded it as if it were a part of her being since birth.
The branch crumbledas if it were made of ash against the stranger’s arm. He scowled as he mumbled curses under his breath.
“Take it easy there lass,I mean ye nay harm,” he said as he recoiled from her as if she had any chance at damaging him. He was the size of a bear and just as muscular. Her heart fluttered as she stared at him in anticipation. His gaze bore into her and despite the fear coursing through her veins, the stranger was by far the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on.
“If that’s so,then ye’ll leave me be,” Madison spat as she clung to the remnants of the branch she’d bashed against him.
His eyes narrowedas he rubbed his arm. “Now see, that, I cannae do.”
2
“Nay, stay back.”
Theodore’s chesttightened as she scrambled to flee from him. Yet despite her efforts, she couldn’t make it out of his long stretched out shadow. He flexed his jaw. He’d seen some foul things on and off the battlefield, but nothing could prepare him for the sight of the young lass before him.
The lass wasnothing but a wraith, hollowed out from neglect and hunger. Her skin was pale as parchment and where her eyes should have been full of life, he saw nothing but empty, haunted darkness. Swallowing hard, Theodore refused to focus on her cracked chapped lips as he wondered just how long it had been since she tasted water.
“Ye’ll leave me be,do ye hear? I’ll nae go anywhere with the likes of ye.” She thrashed the crumbled branch in her hand as her eyes burned with defiance and determination. Despite howworn she appeared, there was still spirit in her, a fire that this world just couldn’t put out.
“Ye’ve nothin’to fear from me, lass,” he said as his gaze met hers. He couldn’t believe what he saw before him. Here was a lass who by all rights, should have been dead. Yet, here she was trembling but unbroken. There was no doubt in Theodore’s mind that the fire the coursed through her was a force far greater than the frailty of her body.
“I was toldthat before and yet here I am,” she said. There was no masking the malice in her tone. But he wasn’t about to hold that against her. Not with everything she had already endured. Running his fingers through his hair, Theodore wasn’t sure he wanted to contemplate what vile things she had encountered.
“Aye,here ye are, alive. Still drawin’ breath, are ye nae?”
“So,ye’re to put me out of me misery, is that it? Well, nay matter what it may look like to ye, I happen to like being alive,” she said through clenched teeth. Every muscle in her body was taunt. She reminded him of how his men would look before battle. How every muscle in their body was taunt and coiled ready to spring. Theodore pulled in a long breath, throwing a quick look to the sky.
“Ye took quitea tumble out of the tree. I’m sure ye’d rather have someone have a look at it, and maybe make some tea for ye to soothe the ache?” he suggested as he realized she needed a tender hand, not a firm one. He ventured with grace, treatingher as if she were a wild doe that would take flight at any frantic movement.
“And I supposedye take me a fool do ye?” she snapped as she took another swipe at him. He shook his head. How easy it would be for him to snatch the branch from her hands. But he knelt beside her, studying her. Although she was caked in a layer of dirt and grim, he instantly noticed how striking her features were.
“I never said ye were a fool,”he answered, reaching a hand out to her. She recoiled and jerked to the side, her frail body twisting so her shoulders hunched protectively. . A corpse had more meat on it than she did. And at least it was at peace. “But I’ll nae hurt ye.”
As light as a bird,he snatched her hand but the moment his hand closed around her, shock ripped through him. Good Lord she was nothing but thin, brittle bones that felt more like fragile reeds in his grasp. He tried to soften his grasp around her, to guide her to her feet, but as he held her, she cried out. Her jagged, ragged nails clawed at his forearm in a feeble but desperate attempt to free herself.
“Easy there, lass,”he said in an even and steady tone. “Ye’ll only break yerself.”
She didn’t yieldher attempts but kept at him like a feral cat. He pursed his lips into a tight line and pulled her closer to him. In a single swoop, he had her in his arms. How tiny she was against him and just as tender. She was no more than a bag of flour he’dtossed over his shoulders as a lad. He feared that if he loosened his grip around her so much as a breath she’d slip right through like sand in an hourglass.
