“Do not mock me.”
“It is just surprising. Duncan never struck me as being the gentle sort. I’d have thought you apt to cower even more under his authority, especially considering that he made you his leman.”
She said the last bit with a tone of superiority that brought Aileana to her feet. She faced her sister, trying to stand firm against the wave of dizziness that swept over her. “Duncan may be many things, Morgana, but tyrannical is not one of them.”
“How touching. Such faith in a man. I would not have deemed you quite so naive, despite your years of seclusion.”
“Believing in Duncan is not foolish.”
“I’m so glad that is how you feel. It will make everything that much more…satisfying.” Morgana’s brow arched wickedly, and she paused, the silence pregnant with an emotion Aileana couldn’t name. Then, as if she’d suddenly decided to tell a secret, Morgana murmured, “Did you really think I’d waste my time keeping you alive without profiting by it?”
Aileana made a scoffing sound, then groaned as the effort sent a stabbing ache behind her eyes. “I don’t know what game you play, Morgana, and I don’t care. You disgust me, with your plans and plots. It is all for evil.” She straightened, determined to show a strong front. “Didn’t your spies tell you that I’ve spent the last decade trying to be sure that everyone realized I’m nothing like you?”
“Mayhap it would have been better for you if you were,” Morgana snapped. “As it stands, your stupidity has made you a lure for catching the one person you’d most wish to keep safe.” She grinned. “But now I have him and you, too. It’s only a matter of what I’m to do with you both after I’ve had my fun.” Swinging a key on a silken rope, Morgana swayed to the door.
“Wait!” Dread filled Aileana as Morgana stopped, turning to her with a smirk.
“Ach, I’ve finally gotten your attention, have I?” She shook her head and made a clicking sound.
Aileana kept silent, driven to let the taunt pass by her need to know if what she feared was true.
Morgana’s expression took on a diabolic light. “I think you know what I’m saying to you.” A slow smile spread across her face. “The truth is that your beloved Duncan is here as we speak. Secure in the dungeon below and suffering the torments of the damned.”
When Aileana sucked in her breath with horror, Morgana laughed. “The greater beauty of it is that I got him to surrender without a fight. He came in alone, without Kinnon or any of the others.”
“Why would he do something like that?” Aileana breathed the question, not wanting to believe Morgana’s lies, not wanting to hear any more. She knew better than anyone that Duncan would never have attempted Morgana’s castle alone. Not without good reason. Not unless…
“I offered you as bait, of course. It was why I took his betrothal ring from you, as proof that I had you imprisoned here. I told him that if he wanted to keep you alive, he would go willingly into my dungeon.” She scoffed. “Of course he did. A lamb to the slaughter, it was so easy.”
Sinking to the pallet again, Aileana threaded her fingers together. “Nay,” she whispered. “It cannot be.”
“Aye, Aileana. Revenge is in my blood, as much as any man’s in the Highlands.” Morgana yanked open the door, pausing for an instant to take hold of the bar she would use to lock it from the outside. “Now all of my plans are complete. After today, I’ll have my vengeance on everyone who tried to stop me,” she skewered Aileana with her gaze, “including you, little sister.”
A shadow passed over her features, then, but vanished before Aileana was even certain she’d seen it. “Enjoy your remaining moments of solitude. You’ll be having a visitor soon enough, while I’m working with theEalach.” A flat smile contorted her face again. “I’m sure you understand.”
And then she was gone, the door locking with a hollow thud of the bar dropping home. A shudder rippled over Aileana, caused by a chill deeper than the temperature of the damp chamber. It was something else…
A tingle of shock shot through her.Samhain!Memory snapped back into place, and with it a quick calculation of days. There was no mistake. Today wasSamhain—the sorceress’s high holy day. The day Morgana would invoke theEalach’s power.
Heaven help her, but she had to free Duncan and stop Morgana before it was too late.
Wrapping her arms round herself, she let her gaze sweep the room. It was empty, but for a small table with two candles and the pallet. A single window broke the monotony of gray wall, its view facing west, if her sense of direction held true. Hurrying over to it, Aileana un-latched the shutter to peer out, hoping to find a means of escape.
Chill wind rushed at her through the casement, almost robbing her of breath with its bite. It forced her to squint to see what lay beyond the castle boundary. She crossed her hands to her shoulders for warmth, gritting her teeth as she stared at the barren landscape of rock and salt-crusted sea grasses that stretched to the edge of a cliff not thirty paces from the wall. Beyond that she saw waves, their white tips curling above the gray surf. They seemed to pull back and crash, again and again, into the ragged rock that formed the land here. It was as cold and unforgiving a landscape as her sister’s black heart.
Another shiver tore through her, but when she tried to pull the shutter closed, the brittle wood snapped in half. Securing what remained of it over the gaping hole, Aileana stepped away, looking at the sun through the broken portion. It was at the edge of its arc, preparing for final descent on the horizon.
Her time was almost up.
If she couldn’t escape, find Duncan, and stop Morgana before the sun set, all would be lost. When darkness fell, Morgana would cast her spell with theEalach. And heaven help them all, but no one knew what damage Morgana might be able to wreak with the amulet at her will.
Panic twisted her heart, followed by guilt.Duncan. His name ripped through her with a vengeance. She remembered his torment the day she’d locked him in the storage chamber. Morgana’s dungeon would be much worse, surely. Like the Tower all over again, and it was all her fault.
Shaking her head to stop the voices, Aileana wrapped her arms round her waist. Recriminations weren’t helping. She needed to find a way to get to Duncan and—
“That worried pose becomes you.”
Aileana whirled to face her intruder; the bar must have been lifted so quietly that she hadn’t heard it. Colin leaned against the door, his large, muscular shape filling up the entire opening. He’d crossed one foot over the other, and his bulging arms folded across his chest. Tilting his head, he smiled, but the expression failed to reach his gaze. The black patch covering his missing eye added to his sinister aura.
