Numb with the pain of his beating, her bruised and battered body still managed to chill.Torture! Oh God, give me strength. Though she’d known the danger from the outset—and had known something like this could happen—she had hoped never to face it.
The priest must have read the fear in her eyes because he smiled. “I do hate to deprive him of his fun.” He looked at Randolph. “See what you can find out. If she doesn’t tell you what you ask, kill her.”
Janet’s heart leapt to her throat. “Wait. You can’t do this. You are a man of God.”
“And you are a traitor. The man you call king is a murderer and excommunicated by the pope. God has no mercy for rebels.”
Janet turned to the soldier who’d spoken for her before. “Please.”
But he turned coldly away, ignoring her pitiful plea. Chivalry had ended with the discovery of the missive.
A moment later, the priest, his oafish minion, and the other soldiers were riding away, leaving her with her torturer and executioner.
“Do not take too long,” the priest said over his shoulder right before they disappeared from view.
The brutish soldier started to drag her back into the trees. Janet’s heart was slamming against her ribs—her probably broken ribs—and every instinct urged to use what remaining strength she had to fight back. But she had to be patient and wait for the perfect opportunity. She would have only one chance to take him by surprise. So she forced the fight from her muscles, becoming as floppy as a poppet of rags.
When they reached a small clearing, he tossed her unceremoniously on the ground. She looked up at him looming over her and tried to push back the panic crawling up her throat.
Her stomach turned.
He reached up under his habergeon of mail and started to work the ties of his braies. “Don’t move, you stupid bitch. I’ve never fucked someone into telling me what I want to hear, but then again I’ve never questioned someone as pretty as you. Or as pretty as you used to be. Your face doesn’t look too good right now.” He laughed.
Janet tried to shut out his words. Tried not to hear what he was saying as she concentrated on the hand reaching slowly for her boot.
Just a few more inches…
She gasped when stepped over her. He would have crushed her legs with his foot if she hadn’t reacted by separating them. But unknowingly by spreading her legs, he helped her. Her hand found its target.
She grasped the hilt of her dagger in her hand as he knelt down on the ground before her.
All she could see in the moonlight was the cold gleam of his smile. “Aren’t you going to fight me? It’s much more fun that way.”
Her heart was in her throat. She held her breath, waiting for the perfect moment.
He lifted his habergeon. Her eyes went to the protruding mass of flesh, and she shuddered with revulsion.
He saw her reaction. “Aye, it’s impressive isn’t it.” He dropped his gaze and wrapped his hand around himself, giving it a hard stroke.
That was when she struck.
She slid the blade from the scabbard and plunged it into his leg.
He cried out in shock and pain. His eyes widened and then his hands circled around her neck, squeezing…
She screamed until she ran out of air.
Ewen took what the boy had told him—that the priest had caught sight of the lady in the village and had sent to the castle for soldiers to arrest her, but the lady had run away before he could catch her—and was able to pick up her tracks at the place the horses had chased her into the forest.
Leaving the boy to watch the road, he and Sutherland followed the tracks through the forest. As it was dark, he had no choice but to use a torch.
He came to the place where another set of tracks appeared from the road, and a dank chill raced through his blood. A few feet later his fears were confirmed: whoever had been following her had caught her. He had just started to follow the tracks where the man had dragged her, when he heard a sound that stopped his heart: a woman’s scream.
He didn’t hesitate. Even after Sutherland bit out a warning to him to be careful, he plunged into the trees. The sound had been close. Torturously close. He prayed as hard as he’d ever prayed in his life.Please let me get there in time. Don’t let it be too late. Just a few more seconds…
He burst into the clearing, sword raised. When he saw the small figure struggle to her feet from beneath the body of a prone man, everything inside him seemed to come to a sudden halt.
His hand fell. “Janet?”
