The guards were distracted.
Good.
He’d almost reached the stairs when a figure emerged from the shadows, and his hand went instinctively to where his sword should be. His muscles coiled, ready to strike with his bare hands if necessary.
But it was only Leona, her face pale in the torchlight, a small bundle clutched to her chest. The cat sat at her feet, tail wrapped around her paws, yellow eyes gleaming.
“This way,” Leona whispered, gesturing to a side passage he hadn’t noticed. “The guards change in ten minutes. There’s a door that leads to the kitchens.”
She pressed the bundle into his hands. His weapons. Somehow, she’d retrieved them. The weight of his sword felt like an old friend returning, solid and familiar in his grip.
Their fingers brushed in the exchange, and both pretended not to notice the spark that jumped between them.
“How did ye…” Murdock began.
“Nay one thinks me capable of standin' up to Keith, so they pay me nay mind.” She was already moving, leading him down the narrow passage. “We have to go. Now.”
They moved swiftly through the servants’ corridors, Leona leading with confidence born of a lifetime in these halls. She knew every turn, every hidden doorway, navigating the castle’s skeleton with the ease of someone who’d spent years finding places to hide.
Murdock followed, his weapons now belted at his waist, his eyes scanning constantly for threats. The castle was quiet at this hour,most of its inhabitants asleep. But someone would check the dungeon eventually, find the empty cell and the discarded ropes.
His jaw tightened. Let them come. He’d been ready from the moment they’d laid hands on his daughter.
They emerged into a narrow corridor that smelled of bread and smoke. The kitchens, just as she’d promised. Leona paused at a side door, pressing her ear against the wood, listening.
Silence.
She eased the door open, and cool night air rushed in. The outer courtyard lay before them, bathed in moonlight and empty… for now.
Just as they reached the center of the courtyard, Leona stopped abruptly, her hand flying to his arm. Voices echoed from around the corner. Angry voices. One of them achingly familiar.
Keith’s voice, raised in fury, demanding to know why the prisoner hadn’t been checked on in the last hour.
“The stables,” Leona breathed, her face pale. “Ye can take the north path, it leads to the woods. Go. Now. Before he…”
But Murdock was looking past her, his expression hardening.
Keith had appeared in the courtyard, flanked by six guards, torches blazing in their hands. His eyes swept the space and landed on Leona with immediate understanding.
For a moment, time seemed to stand still. Keith’s gaze darted from Leona to Murdock, taking in the freed prisoner, the weapons, and the way she stood beside him rather than cowering away.
Then his face contorted with rage.
“Ye dare betray me?” he roared, advancing on them. The torchlight cast his features in sharp relief, making him look demonic. “Guards! Kill him!”
The guards rushed forward, but Murdock was already moving.
What followed was brutal and swift. Years of training under his father’s cruel hand had honed his body into a weapon.
The first guard went down with a broken neck before his sword cleared its scabbard, the crack of bone sickeningly loud in the quiet courtyard.
The second guard managed to draw his blade, but Murdock was faster. He sidestepped the clumsy swing and drove his dirk up under the man’s ribs, finding the heart with practiced accuracy. The guard’s eyes went wide with shock before the light left them.
A third guard came at him from the side, sword raised high. Murdock caught the descending blade with his own, twisted, and sent the weapon flying from the man’s grip. His fist connected with the guard’s jaw, and the man crumpled.
Throughout it all, Murdock positioned himself between the threat and Leona, a human shield she had never asked for but found herself grateful to have.
She pressed herself against the wall, the cat hissing at her feet, watching as the man she’d freed transformed into exactly what they called him—the Beast of Ainsley.
