“I’ll show youold woman.”Granny connected her walking stick in a sharp upward strike hard across his buttocks. The stinging thwack lifted him to the balls of his feet. “Don’t you dare talk to me like that ever again. You are not too old to have some manners knocked into you, and I’m not afraid to be the one to do it. Is your memory of my previous offer to send your ungrateful ass to the future already faded?”
Dammit, he was tired of Granny smacking his arse as though he were a bullheaded lad. He turned just as she raised the staff again. Righteous fire flashed in the old woman’s eyes as she spread her stance and choked up on the walking stick as though preparing to knock him out of the stable.
He raised a hand to deflect the threat and backed against the stall. Damn, the woman was stout for one so old. He flexed his arse against the fading sting of her last hit. “I beg yer pardon. Ye are right, Mother Sinclair. I meant no disrespect.” Lore help him if that damn staff started to glow again. He had no desire to be sent to some dark unknown future.
Granny slowly lowered the stick, but kept it clenched in front of her slight body as she straightened from her attacking crouch. “Apology accepted.” She nodded at Rua. “I heard what you said about leaving MacKenna keep. You can’t run from this, and I can’t believe you’re even going to try. Face it. Know it. Resolve it.”
“I am not running.” He bent and picked up the leather sack of provisions he’d packed for the journey. He didn’t have the time nor the inclination to explain his plan to Mother Sinclair. The old she-dragon would ken the truth of things soon enough.
“She did it for you, you addlepated numpty! She traded her life for yours. You witnessed it yourself.” Granny scowled and thumped the end of her cane against the dry, hard-packed earth. “She won’t tell you the whole story about her sham of a marriage and neither will any of the others, but I’ll be damned if I keep my mouth shut and watch my granddaughter fritter her life away on a man who doesn’t deserve her.”
Colum was not entirely sure whatfrittermeant, but he had a pretty good idea. He wound the leather straps of the provision bag around the horn of the saddle, held one strap tight in his teeth, and yanked the other strap hard into a secure knot. Mother Sinclair needed to leave him be. He had to make it to the pass well before Sutherland and his men.
“So that’s it. You’re just going to abandon her? Leave her when she needs you the most?” Granny glared at him over the rims of her spectacles, her thin lips flattened into a disapproving frown.
He worked his thumb against the reins in his hand. Why would the old woman not let him be? He didn’t have time to explain nor listen to all her nattering. Best let Mother Sinclair believe that he’d accepted the situation for what it was. Maybe then she would go the hell away. “Lady Sutherland—” Lore a’mighty that name nearly choked him.He sucked in a deep breath and swallowed hard. “Lady Sutherland has no need for a man such as me. She has her husband. She will soon have children. Let it go, Mother Sinclair.”
Granny’s shoulders slumped and her gaze dropped to the ground. She shook her head and eased out a shaking sigh as she slowly turned away. “Fine. I will go to Gray. Maybe he’ll have enough gumption to stand up to the man who is a danger to my granddaughter. Chieftain Sutherland has agreed to stay here one more night for Kenna’s sake. Gray will see to it that she’s removed from harm.”
“Danger?” Colum stepped away from Rua. What the hell was Mother Sinclair saying? “Removed from harm? What harm?”
“Yes. Kenna won’t say so herself but I know she is not safe.” Granny leaned heavily on the walking stick as she gimped toward the stable door. “I’ve seen men like Ronan before. Kenna won’t speak of it but I’ve seen her bruises. I’m old, but I’m not blind. I know what’s really going on.”
“Bruises?” Scalding rage surged through Colum like a choking gulp of the raw whisky he loved. “The bastard struck Kenna?”
Granny shrugged a thin shoulder and yanked open the stable door. “It’s none of your concern, Colum. Don’t worry about it. The MacKennas and the Sinclairs will handle it.” Granny paused and turned back. Her face puckered with a displeased scowl aimed straight at Colum. “Unlike you, we never abandon our own.” She let the wooden door slam shut behind her.
The bastard dared to strike Kenna? Now, he had even more reason to kill him, and by the gods, he wouldn’t wait to do it beneath the cloak of the Highlands. He would not allow Sutherland another night to torment his Kenna. Rage burned hotter with every beat of his heart. He would end the man this very evening—with the clan as his witness.
Colum stormed out of the stable and made his way down the far side of the skirting wall to access the outer staircase leading up to his rooms. He needed his best sword and dagger. The practice sword he’d used in the field didn’t have the weight he longed to feel in his hands when he cleaved Sutherland’s head from his shoulders.
The low murmuring of an irritatingly familiar voice drew his attention to the bit of land just beyond the skirting wall. He hoisted himself up to the narrow walkway built around the wall’s rim, keeping crouched low as he moved toward the voice.
“I fear she is not the one,Máthair.”
Máthair?Colum slowly rose, taking care to remain hidden while peeping over the wall. A sense of shock wrapped icy fingers around his chest and squeezed. The ability to breathe left him for a good bit. He knelt back down on the path, leaned against the wall, and scrubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes. No. It couldn’t be. He eased back up and peered over the wall again.
Ronan stood down at the water’s edge, the morning sun reflecting off the silver of his hair with his every move. Standing beside him, raptly taking in his every word, was one of the largest wolves Colum had ever seen. The beast’s rich, plush fur rippled and parted in the gentle breeze as it cocked its head first to one side, then slowly tilted it the other way as Ronan spoke.
Colum swallowed hard, gripping the edges of the block wall so hard, the chiseled stone threatened to crumble in his hands. The wolf Sutherland had calledMáthairwasn’t nearly as shocking as the unholy beast with the great horned head and black neck sprouting high above the water’s surface. The dark shadow of the beast’s enormous body rippled beneath the waves. Wispy tendrils of smoke curled up from the monster’s nostrils as he brought his head closer to Sutherland’s, then appeared to completely agree with whatever had been said by nodding with a slow up-and-down bobbing of his scaly head.
That settled it. Chieftain Ronan Sutherland would be stopped before he left the keep. No man who had obviously sold his soul to the devil himself would take Kenna—not while Colum lived and breathed.
Colum crept along the narrow path, not straightening to his full height until he reached the shelter of the archway enclosing the staircase to his rooms. He vaulted up the steps two at a time, then hurried down the torch-lit hallway to his chambers. Shouldering open the heavy oak door, he quickly closed it behind him and bolted the lock. He had no time for interruptions by curious chambermaids or lads tending to the rooms. He had a sword to sharpen. He had a murder to plan. Nay. Not a murder. He had justice to serve.
CHAPTER36
Kenna almost choked on her mead as Colum plowed into the hall with sword drawn and a snarling scowl that clearly indicated his level of rage had reached critical mass. Granny had said she’d had a chat with him earlier and apparently, she had more than effectively baited the bear.
All conversation ceased and the gentle vibrations from Coira’s lyre faded as her slender hands stilled the music of the strings. Even Karma perked, hefting himself up from the floor, then rolling back on his great haunches and tilting his ears forward in rapt interest. The air of the room thickened with anticipation.
“My chieftain.” Colum clenched his sword across his body as he came to a halt in front of Gray.
Gray didn’t say a word, just straightened in his chair as though bracing himself for whatever Colum was about to say.
Colum widened his stance and aimed the point of his sword at the center of Ronan’s chest. “I would show this man what happens when he dishonors and disrespects a cherished woman of our clan.” He lifted his sword a hair’s breadth higher and jabbed it toward Ronan. “This man is not a mighty chieftain. He brings evil to our midst.”
Gray leaned forward and eyed Ronan. “What claim have ye against this man? I would hear it.” He waved a hand to encompass all those in the room. “We would all hear it.”
