In unison, the couple’s frowns turned to smiles. “Stab the lion in the heart.”
Brontë shone the light and Finn saw what she meant. He plunged the dagger home just as she called for him to wait.
The statue shifted to the side to reveal a dark hole. No light. No movement.
His heart sank.
Then a sleepy, gurgling growl Finn was all too familiar with….
Chapter 38
The grind of stone against stone barely penetrated the blind anxiety that petrified Aila’s senses and left her heart laden with boulders. Rab stirred beneath her and eased out of her grasp with a huff. A faint light like a muted sun on a cloudy day brought life to shadows and she lifted her head. Optimism burst as if they were the shiniest of summer’s rays.
Finn had come. Her faith hadn’t been misplaced!
A leaden clank of iron hit the ground followed by a soft, spongey slop and with it the metallic scent of blood. She felt the distance between her and Rab grow and then heard the sound of chewing.
“What the…?” Aila stared up at the opening to see a dark silhouette descend. “Finn?”
No answer. She didn’t repeat the question. She wouldn’t need to if it were him. Climbing to her feet, her head swam dizzily to remind her of the many hours she’d gone without food or drink. It wasn’t hangriness that renewed its claw-like hold on her, however. Had Derne somehow gotten away? Only to return to finish the job?
Recognizing her rescuer, Aila relaxed with a tight laugh. “Thank God, ye found me! I thought I’d be down here forever.”
“No, only long enough for me to fetch something to distract your dog. Be so good as to back up, if you please.”
“What? What are ye talking about?” Aila glanced at the pistol laying on the ground on the fringes of the meager light the single candle cast. Beyond the circle, she could hear Rab wolfing down whatever it was that had been brought to distract him. Looking up again at the way out, she could see that, while it had moved nearly all the way back to a closed position, there was still a small gap. It did not close automatically. “Ye locked me down here? Why?”
Derisive laughter. “For reasons similar to Derne’s, I imagine. Where is he? Dead? I confess, I was pulling for you.”
“So ye could have the pleasure of killing me yerself?”
The blunderbuss pointed at her shouldn’t have been more daunting than the multi-round, modern handgun Derne used earlier. This yawning muzzle brought to mind a cannon. No doubt at this distance, the iron musket ball within could rip her apart like one.
“I don’t want to kill you, Mistress Marshall, that’s why I also brought those.” The set of iron shackles explained the sound she’d heard. “Pick them up. Go on now, that’s a good girl. And back away.”
“I’ve been called a good girl and a stupid girl tonight,” she bit out as she complied. “I dinnae care for either one any more than I like having a gun pointed at me. Derne was one thing. He was old and crusty. I had rather liked ye, Mr. Elliott.”
Elliot’s eyelid twitched. “And I liked you. It’s nothing personal. To be fair, I did try to direct you to take rooms at the inn rather than the castle. If you had, we may have avoided this unpleasantness. On the other hand, we would not be here at all if it weren’t for you. Your questions about Boyce? The stories about treasure? I’ll admit, when asked, you were evasive enough to rouse my suspicions.”
She hadn’t been evasive. Her mind had been clouded by lust. There was a big difference. Perhaps it had prevented her from seeing the truth earlier.
“If I were to be honest, I’d admit I thought you’d found me out when you filled Niall’s head with stories of treasure and sent him to me. To bait me into revealing my hand.”
“Who’s to say I wisnae? That was only a few days ago and this is the first move ye’ve made.” Honestly, Aila didn’t have a clue what he meant or what sort of nonsense she was spouting. She only knew she needed him to keep talking until she came up with a plan.
Or Rab finished eating. She cocked her head and listened. “What did ye do to my dog, ye son of a bitch?”
“Calm down.” The blunderbuss bobbed up and down. “I laced the meat with laudanum. I told you, I needed to distract him. Once I have what I came for, he’ll awake and his barking will draw someone’s attention to save you. Now, to the treasure, if you please. I know you found it.”
She hesitated and the barrel of the gun wavered before her face.
“I have no intention of hurting you unless you force me to, Mistress Marshall.”
“If ye’re after what Derne wanted, ye’ll no’ find it.”
She almost pointed to the device she’d retrieved from the trunk and ergo to the pistol on the ground beside it. Gah, she didn’t need him to be better armed than he already was. What she needed was a chance todisarmhim. Aila flexed her arm under the weight of the shackles. She didn’t like her chances of diving by him to retrieve a pistol she had only theoretical knowledge how to use and trust her aim of her first shot ever to take him down.
She turned her back on the weapon and took slow steps down the tunnel with a horrible sense ofdéjà vu.There was little hope this time would turn out better than the last. Where Derne was old and wiry, Elliot was young and robust. She had little hope of defeating him alone. Not while Rab was scarfing down his dinner. Poor thing had to have been starving. Her stomach, on the other hand, had been in knots for hours.
