Kenna slid her cup to the small table beside her chair. She couldn’t risk another sip. Nauseating dread already sloshed what little she had choked down for supper.Please don’t let this end badly,she silently prayed. If either man suffered on her account, she would never forgive herself. Her heart and soul belonged to Colum but she considered Ronan an honorable man and friend.
The corded muscles of Colum’s sword arm rippled as he jabbed the tip of the blade even harder toward Ronan’s chest. “This man dared abuse the Lady Kenna. That alone is enough for this challenge. But I also witnessed, with my own eyes, what an unholy abomination this man truly is and the monstrosities he brought into our midst.”
Kenna held her breath as Ronan slowly rose from his seat beside her. He stepped forward and jerked his chin in Colum’s direction. “State yer evidence, man. I will not be challenged over the tongue-wagging of ill-disciplined servants or what a fool besotted with whisky mightthinkhe witnessed. Many demons live in the bottom of a bottle.” Ronan huffed a snorting, humorless laugh. “I have no time for such games.”
Colum hitched another step toward Ronan, his face flaming a murderous red and his lips curled back in a teeth-baring sneer. “Her own grandmother has seen the bruises. I have the truth from the Lady Kenna’s own bloodline.”
Ronan clenched his hands to the small of his back and turned his glare on Granny. “Is this true, old woman?”
Mother Sinclair responded with a curt nod and sat straighter in her chair. “Yes. I told Colum the truth. I have seen Kenna’s bruises.”
Kenna bit the inside of her cheek and fixed Granny with anI-can’t-believe-you-said-thatstare. The only bruises Granny had seen were the ones from the mudslide. What the devil had she told Colum?
The sly old woman narrowed her eyes the slightest bit and lifted her chin.
Kenna knew that look. Granny had just told her to keep her mouth shut and watch. A dismal sigh escaped her. This was not going to be good.
Gray’s hands closed into fists on the arms of his chair. “State yer challenge, Colum.” The chieftain slowly stood and gave a sweeping glance around the room. “State yer intent clearly, to be heard by all. All claims will be judged, settled, and witnessed by those gathered here this day.”
Colum hitched forward and rested the tip of his blade against Ronan’s chest. “I challenge ye. Swords. To the death. I intend to free the Lady Kenna of yer insulting burden. She has no use for ahusbandsuch as yerself.” His booming voice echoed to the rafters and the way he growled the wordhusbandleft no doubt about his feelings.
“No.” Kenna sprang from her seat and rushed forward. Not to the death. She could never to live with that.
“Sit, woman. ’Tis past time ye learned yer place as my wife.” Ronan didn’t spare her a backward glance, just barked the order as though she were one of his hunting dogs wandering too far from his heel.
She stared at him. What the hell? He had never talked to her like that before. Was this new asshole attitude just another facet of this ridiculous testosterone charade?
“Kenna.” Granny spit her name in a hissing whisper. She pointed a knobby finger at Kenna’s seat. “Sit. Down. Now.”
Kenna clamped her mouth shut and returned to her chair. She clenched her hands in her lap and prayed that they all knew what the devil they were doing.
“It escapes me why ye would risk a challenge for one such as her.” Ronan inclined his silver head in her direction. His face twisted into a scowl as though he just smelled a very bad stench. “Strong-willed and sharp-tongued, she is. Ye best leave that one’s breaking in to me. I doubt verra much ye can handle her.” Ronan nodded at Colum’s scarred leg. “Especially as weakened as ye are.”
Colum’s face darkened to a deeper shade of crimson. Rage shook his voice as he pointed his sword at Ronan’s heart. “Ye are not fit to care for a litter of mongrels. A bloody fool, ye are, and I intend to do ye the favor of relieving ye of this life’s worries.”
Kenna eased out of her seat again and slid behind Gray’s chair. Ronan had pulled his own sword free by this time and the men were slowly circling each other like a pair of raging stags preparing to lock antlers.
She squeezed Gray’s shoulder and clutched at Trulie’s arm while leaning down between them. In a desperate whisper, she pleaded, “You two have to stop this. They’re going to kill each other. If one of them dies, I can’t live with it. Please—do something!”
Gray didn’t bother turning, just leaned forward and kept his attention focused on the two men. “Let it play out. Much is at stake here. Ye have no idea how much.”
Trulie didn’t speak, just gave a sad shake of her head and returned her attention to the fight about to ensue.
Damn them all and their ridiculous Highland pride. That’s what had started this entire roller-coaster ride of sheer idiocy in the first place. Kenna gripped the carved finials on Trulie’s and Gray’s chairs until her knuckles ached.
Colum lunged and swung his broadsword across his body in a lethal downward arc. The nerve-shattering clash of steel against steel split the air as Ronan leapt to one side and deflected the blow with his own upward thrust.
Colum turned with a deft rolling spin, slashing back across his path with enough force to cleave Ronan’s head from his shoulders. Ronan crouched just in time to miss the glinting edge of the blade as it whizzed within inches of his head.
Ronan roared as he hefted his sword upward in a powerful lunge. His blade sang along the edge of Colum’s weapon as he muscled forward.
Colum teetered off balance, stumbled back, and nearly went down. He recovered the attack with a diving roll that moved him just inches away from Ronan’s blade.
Ronan’s taunting laugh drowned out the collective gasps of those gathered in the hall. “Ye grow weak already? I would have thought a man able to survive the cruelties of the Highlands would surely consider this bit of swordplay as easy as tumbling a maid in the gardens.”
Colum didn’t respond, just bared his teeth as he labored to his feet and heaved his sword over his head.
“It is about to end.” Gray spared a glance back at Kenna. “Ye best be ready.”
