Grace was shocked. She felt so stupid for not realizing it sooner. She looked at Harris who turned his glance on Duncan. “Please help her. He was on my trail and will be here soon. He is not only coming for her. He wants to destroy the whole clan once and for all.”
Laird Fergus raised his hand pointing at Grace, “Ye planned to kill me son.”
And with that sentence, people’s temporary pity shifted. Even Sheena dropped her arms. Grace had no retort. All energy had drained from her body, her arms hung lax by her side. Duncan felt his heart shift. She had truly lost her father in a grueling manner. And if her inheritance was threatened, it meant her mother was no more, just as she’d said. This Ethan was a man who was close to her father, who was now on the hunt for her. Her pain had almost eroded his clear perception of her offence until his father had mentioned it.
“Ye were given shelter, food an’ good honest work-” the laird continued. His voice, while usually weak, became degrees firmer.
Thundering footsteps stormed into the hall, shouting above his voice. “Me laird! The English are here!”
The warriors ran to the laird’s side with Duncan. He met Grace’s eyes and she could not hold his for more than a few seconds, ridden with guilt. “Take them tae the dungeons,” he ordered. Then, “take the laird tae his bedchamber. Secure the doors and guard him with yer life!”
Grace was taken away with Harris by the guards, following Duncan’s instructions. It was all he could do not to lose the respect of his clan and his family. To Bryce, he said in a low voice, “Get yer men here. Use the tunnels.”
Bryce nodded, and with his sword out, he raced to the hidden exit out of the castle. Just as Duncan turned to go outside, Grace came racing up to him. The guards ran behind her, unable to catch up. He caught her, before she could crash to the floor. “Please, let me stay. After this is done, you can take my life and do whatever you will. I have to be the one who fights Ethan.”
Duncan held her away. Unspoken words swirled between them as he looked at her. Did he fell in love with a lie? It couldn’t be. Even if her name was Grace, he knew who she was, how her nose scrunched when she laughed and how her eyebrows indicated when she is angry. It could not all be a lie. Duncan felt hurt and betrayed and for a moment he thought about how things would have been easier if he had not fallen in love with her. But despite all the confusing feelings towards Grace, he did not want her near any danger. The idea of her meeting Ethan repulsed him. Ethan was a trained soldier. She would be dead before shemade the first move. She had betrayed and embarrassed him, but he could not let her be killed. He could not let her make that reckless move.
He spoke to the guards, his tone cold and firm, “dinnae let her escape or yer head’s on the damned line.”
“NO!” Grace yelled. “I have to do this! Let me go!”
Grace grabbed his arms, begging him. Duncan stopped her and held her skirt. In her pocket he put thesgian dubh.
“Just in case…”
Grace wanted to smile at him and say thank you, but Duncan’ face was cold. He stilled himself and walked from the hall, listening to her despairing cries.
“Let me go!” Grace cried as the guard threw her in with Harris. Having been untied, she rushed to take him in her arms. The dungeons were buried deep under the main castle. The cell had a single window located high above and protected with metal rods. It would be impossible to claw up the dirty brown walls, break the rods and escape.
The front was lined the same rods, only longer and narrower. The floor was covered with grime, possibly left behind byformer prisoners. The air was consumed by the smell of human frustration. The frustration that was currently filling Grace.
“Easy, easy…” Harris said. She remembered his wounds and promptly went back to checking him as he checked her. “You are truly okay?” He asked her.
Grace’s lips quivered. How could she be? All she could think of was the look of betrayal on Duncan’s face, his cold voice. In the end, it hadn’t even seemed like him. And she would not even get to punish the real culprit.
She gave a weak smile. “Yes.” She placed a soft hand on his cheek. “I’m so sorry for putting you through all of these.”
Harris grunted. “What are you talking about? You would do the same and more for me. There is no need to apologize between us.”
A single tear slipped past Grace’s restraint. “Oh, everything is such a mess. I wish I had never gotten involved!” She slid to the floor, on a bed of fresh hay laid there.
Harris sat beside her. “Why would you think that? What you did was incredibly brave.”
Grace whimpered into her sleeves, remembering how serious her father had looked the last time she had seen him, before he left for the battle.
“And you certainly could not marry Ethan. Our fathers always held Ethan in high regard. But it was not a stretch to see how crooked he is, with the likes of Owen as company. The swiftness with which he demanded to marry you put me on high alert and I had to know more.”
“But I still don’t understand. He shared drinks with my father, they traded secrets and laughter. He became a trusted friend. Why…?”
“I look into his accounts, frequented the gambling houses he frequented in London. There, I discovered the mistresses and a mountain of debt. Had he not been a high-ranking officer, they might have already killed him. He placated the gambling patrons with promises of coming into wealth once he married the commander’s only child.”
“I was a pawn for him,” Grace cried.
“He did his best to hide his rotten side. It is not the fault of the people he deceived.”
Anger wound up Grace’s innards, so dark that it bittered her mouth. Bloodlust, wilder than anything she’d ever experienced, filled her. “I have to get out of here.”
Harris was quick to stop her, “No. Think of your father, he would not want you to be reckless. Allow the Highlanders to decimate their numbers. Is it true, do you really love that man?”
