A scream broke through the dungeon’s relative quiet. A crazed Emily emerged and shoved Sheena out of the way. “Ye cannae release her! WHAT ARE YE DOIN’?!”
Harris grabbed Emily’s arm and nudged Grace forward with the other. “You don’t have to do this, but if you insist…”
“Nae!” Emily struggled. Harris clutched both her arms behind her.
“Oh, here,” Sheena said. She withdrew a sword and passed it to Grace. “Yer sgian dubh. Tis nae real, but this blade did murder ye faither. If ye can, finish the man.”
Grace stared at the girl holding a sword to her. “I… you’re letting me out.”
“Ye thought he killed yer faither. Ye slept with him an’ he still lived.”
Grace refused to look at Harris, filled with embarrassment for Sheena’s direct words.
“Ye love me brother. I ken it. And Emily might run to report this to me maither so I would rather avoid such issues and lock her here for now. Now leave, afore I change me mind!”
Grace did not know whether to laugh or burst into relieved tears. She hugged Sheena and followed her out. Sheena took one glance at Emily and locked her in with Harris.
“Sheena!” She screamed. “Unlock this door now!”
Harris held her back, “Don’t tell me, Highland women are wild, huh...”
“Dinnae touch me, ye feckin’ brute!” Emily fought off his hold easily as he was injured. “I will show ye what a lass can or cannae dae.”
Sheena chuckled at them, and Grace said, “She’s the one I told you about.”
“Go now,” he told Grace. She hesitated another moment, worried about his state. “Are you always this rough? I should teach you some manners then,” he then said to Emily. Grace’s eyes widened briefly at Harris’s tone. She’d never heard him use that tone and it was certainly out of place. Was Harrisflirting?
Grace had no time to think about it too much. She ran up the stairs, to catch her father’s killer.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Grace burst out into the courtyard. On her way, she grabbed a cloth from the line to hide her face, lest they try to arrest her again, and quickly traded her dress for pants. She was surrounded by a fleeing crowd. A child howling for his mother knocked into her knee. Grace grabbed him, while narrowly dodging a cart. Shoved from all corners, she held the child, in search of the mother. Three more children shot past her, faces covered in snot and tears.
The one in her arms could not be more than three. She climbed the highest stairs, in search of the face that’d claim him. He yowled louder, kicking his feet. Grace’s eyes clashed with a dark-haired woman’s. Her face was streaked with tears. She glanced at Grace’s arms and stumbled toward them.
Grace cut off her grateful words as she grabbed her son, who instantly stopped crying and glued himself to her. “Please help the others,” Grace charged her. She went into the crowd, stopping a warrior on the way. He was the same one she’d fought.
“What’s happening?! Where is Duncan?” Grace shouted.
“Outside the gates, holdin’ them off. Get back inside!” It was all the time he had to spare. He rushed back to coordinating the women and children into a safe hold.
Grace didn’t listen. She zipped past him, a sword she had pilfered in the armory in her hands. Thesgian dubhwas hidden in her attire. Grace intended to use that weapon on Ethan alone. There was a deluge of warriors swarming from the east side, most stationed atop the gates, from where they prepared archers and cannons.
All poised to shoot, waiting for Duncan’s commands. She reached the gates and exited through a small opening used to transport wounded warriors. Nobody had time to stop her. She slipped through. The first thing Grace felt was a blast of heat on her face. A dense wall of bodies fought in the wide expanse of land. She could barely see beyond.
They were falling fast. The blue uniform and feathered hats worn by the English were strewn all over the field, more than double the number of warriors currently struggling to hold their own.
With her sword raised, Grace pressed her back to the wall, sliding along the lines. Her heart struggled with on a new problem. It was harder than she thought to harm those soldiers in blue uniforms. And neither could she attack Duncan’s people either. She skimmed the battle, fighting defensively, arching her neck for a view of Duncan’s red head.
Still, she could not find him.
“Archers! Ready your weapons!”Ethanshouted. Grace halted, and her entire body grew cold. That voice had once been comforting. She still could not believe Ethan’s sheer hypocrisy and betrayal consoling her, knowing full well that he’d murdered her father. Fueled only by her bloodlust, Grace ran, fighting and dodging blows from all corners, toward that voice.
“Hold!” another powerful voice shouted through the melee. It was Duncan. Grace stopped, wiping her bloody and sweaty palms on her dress. She was torn between helping Duncan and finding her nemesis, but it did not take long for her to realize where her heart longed to be. She wanted to fight alongside the man she loved. She wanted to ensure his safety if she could. She would rather die by his side than fulfill her vengeful thoughts. What would her reason for living be without him? It was enough if she knew they shared the same sky.
Grace didn’t have to travel far before she saw Duncan, fending off soldiers. With a new surge of energy, she sprinted. Air was knocked from her lungs a moment later and she stumbled, crashing into a Highlander’s path. He steadied her and clashed swords with the person who’d hit her.
Owen dug the hilt of his weapon between the man’s legs, incapacitating him. Once Grace saw him, she tried to leave but he yanked her back by grabbing on to her clothes.
