Thompson started toward the doorway where Kenneth had taken Leah, and Magnus lunged at him, their swords connecting in a clash of steel.
Thompson roared and lifted his sword over his head, bringing it down onto Magnus, who only just had time to parry and stop the blade from splintering his skull.
He had underestimated the man’s strength.
They circled one another, Magnus watching to ensure that Thompson didn’t suddenly dart behind him and away. Kenneth would protect Leah with his life, but they were not out of the woods yet.
“Ye are a fool if ye think ye will get out of here alive,” Magnus snarled.
“I’ll find her, dinnae worry about that. I’ve always wanted to ken what it was like to have an Englishwoman.”
Magnus growled as he advanced, and their swords clashed as they parried and scuffled together, finally leaping apart as they returned to circling one another.
“Once ye’re dead, there willnae be much to protect her. She’s a long way from home. I can take this castle while I have me English wench whenever I want her, at me beck and call.”
Magnus drew in a shuddering breath, remembering his training and trying to calm his thundering heartbeat.
“Ye’ll ne’er have her. Ye die today,” he said.
Thompson cackled. “Ye think me men will let her go? They’ll scupper the boat so she cannae get away.”
Thompson was wallowing in his own arrogance now, and Magnus saw his chance. As the man’s sword lowered just a fraction, Magnus spun around in a great arc, bringing his sword harshly down on the man’s right arm, cutting a chunk of his flesh off his shoulder. Blood poured instantly from the wound.
Thompson howled as he stepped back, glaring down at the injury in amazement and, in his rage, brought the blade up too fast without calculating Magnus’s next move.
It took very little energy in the end. Magnus ducked, dodging the blade as the man lost his balance and stumbled forward, and then he plunged his blade deep into the man’s heart with a satisfaction that was almost euphoric.
“That is for me bairn, and layin’ hands on me beautiful wife,” he snarled.
He pulled the blade from the man’s chest, and Thompson tumbled to the floor, blood pooling beneath his body and spreading outward in a wide arc.
Magnus stepped back, looking down at him with dark satisfaction, taking in his final revenge. Then he ran out the door and went to find his wife.
CHAPTER 26
“Let me go!”Leah cried as Kenneth pulled her down the hallway.
She wished to lunge at Magnus and gouge his eye out for the things he had just said.
“He is protectin’ ye, M’Lady. Please. We have to get out of the castle.”
The urgency in his words finally placated her, and she allowed him to lead her down the corridor and outside again. They both ran toward the steps, where they now knew that Thompson’s men had been waiting disguised as their own guards.
Kenneth seemed to know exactly who the imposters were as he charged through the archway. Leah screamed as he ran full-pelt down the stairs. She watched as four of the men in the boat jumped out and sprinted away into the trees.
She stared after them, feeling numb, as Kenneth pursued them. They would not get far. She could not feel any sympathy for them—they were cruel-hearted and followed orders from a madman.
She looked back at the castle, hoping against all the odds that Magnus was all right. Despite her anger toward him, she did not want him to come to harm. Kenneth had told her that Magnus was protecting her, but his words were still burned into the back of her mind.
She trapped me into marriage.
Often the truth was the hardest thing to hear. He was right, after all. If she had not climbed into that carriage and forced him to help her, her father would never have been able to manipulate him in the first place.
Leah turned to see Betty and Katie approaching. Katie looked confused, but Betty had the same dreamy look in her eyes that Leah had grown accustomed to.
“Is all well?” Katie asked.
Just as she said that, Leah looked back at the castle and saw Magnus emerging, a sheen of sweat on his brow and a bloodied sword in his hand but otherwise unharmed.
