Romilly nodded, satisfied, as Lachlan pulled the sword out and allowed the blood on the blade to patter onto the floor like red rain.
Moira looked down at the wound in her belly, her eyes bulging, her lips quivering. She could not even make a sound, merely a breathy whistle, barely audible, like a kettle in the seconds before it boils. She grasped at the hole, and her stubby fingers immediately became slick with blood.
She fell to the floor, bloody spittle forming at the corners of her wide mouth. She gazed at Lachlan pleadingly, as though there were some way he might still be able to take it back.
Then she slumped to the cold stones below, motionless.
“I know ye cared for her, Lachlan,” Romilly purred, putting a hand on his shoulder consolingly, “but you have made the right choice tonight. When you are the captain of my guard, ye will soon enough have your pick of comely lasses. Now, though, we must secure that future! Hack the limbs from her while she yet lives, my faithful warrior! I want the agonized contortions of her dead face to speakvolumesof her torment to those who find her!”
Lachlan set his jaw in grim determination and raised his sword, marching toward Isla.
She cowered against the wall, unable to move. Her blood was like cold broken glass in her veins, her thoughts were drowned out by the fright that gripped her, and with her final thought, she wished that she might have seen Alex one final time before leaving this world.
She had been a fool to so easily believe the worst of him, she realized now. She had allowed herself to be manipulatedso handily by those whom she’d had no great reason to trust. Instead of remaining with Alex and trying to save their betrothal, she had stupidly fled, and now she was about to pay for that folly with her life.
Before Lachlan could bring his sword down upon her leg—for that was what he appeared to be aiming for—there was a commotion outside the cottage… rapid hoofbeats, men shouting, and the clang of steel against steel.
Romilly and Lachlan turned in the direction of the din, perplexed. However, a split-second later, they leaped out of the way as one of their guardsmen came crashing into the room. There were defensive wounds upon his hands, and an arrow protruded from his left shoulder, just out of his reach. To watch him desperately claw at himself for it was a pitiful sight indeed.
“We are attacked, my lady!” the warrior screeched. “It is Laird Alex, with over a dozen men!”
Romilly went pale as a ghost, and stumbled toward one of the windows. “Then get back out there, cretin, and fight them off with the others while I make my escape!”
“There are nay others, Romilly.” Alex’s voice preceded him by mere moments as he stepped into the doorway, brandishing his sword. “Or rather, none alive who have not already fled.” He turned to Lachlan. “Ye have fought me before, lad, and the outcome has always been the same. Do ye wish tae lose your life in the attempt this time?”
Lachlan hesitated for a moment… then dropped his sword and raised his hands. “I am at your mercy, Laird Alex,” he replied in a trembling voice.
Alex nodded. “Lady Romilly, I did not realize ye took my withdrawal from our engagement so grievously as to abduct my new bride-to-be.”
“She meant to murder me, Alex!” Isla blurted. Her relief at his arrival, combined with the sheer terror she’d felt meremoments before, made her feel as though she was coming apart from the inside out. She wanted to shriek, and was worried that if she did, she might never be able to stop.
Alex scowled at Romilly. “We shall have a long talk about that upon our return to Castle Oliphant, my lady. And then we shall see what is to be done with you.”
A wet and tremulous groan rose from the floor, and Isla and Alex turned in that direction.
Moira shuddered, her eyelids fluttering.
“She’s still alive!” Isla exclaimed happily.
Tears of relief streamed down Lachlan’s face, causing Romilly to glare at him sharply.
Alex pointed to a pair of his warriors. “You two! Take her and ride ahead tae the healer! Make haste!”
They complied immediately, lifting her by the arms and carrying her out.
As more Oliphant soldiers entered to bind Romilly and Lachlan and drag them away, Alex went to Isla and cut her bonds. She collapsed, and he caught her, holding her tight.
“I heard your scream,” he told her softly. “I came as soon as I could.”
Isla’s shock suddenly bubbled up into a terrible fit of giggles, as she remembered the first time she’d ever met him, when they were still so young.
“You could have gotten here sooner,” she told him, “if you had listened to what I told ye before and gotten a Highland Pony!”
He stared at her in disbelief… then joined her in laughter, until in their mirth, both of them could barely summon breath.
The Oliphant soldiers remained outside, though from the sounds within the cottage, they looked at each other and silently wondered whether their laird had gone mad.
When at last Alex and Isla were able to get ahold of themselves, Alex said, “I should not have said those ghastly things tae you when I came tae speak with ye. I should have been patient and listened, instead of throwing it all back in your face.”
