The healer stood and stretched her body before grabbing her pouch. “Rest, Scot,” she told him as she moved toward the door. “I will see to the particulars of the plan, and when I return, be ready to run.”
He inclined his head, and she pounded on the door, which opened moments later. “Eh, wot do ye want?” the guard asked, his gaze narrowed.
Arran watched as she held up her pouch. “I must get more herbs. The Scot’s stomach is brewing something awful from the food.”
The guard looked over at Arran, and he quickly grabbed his midsection, grimacing. “Aye, mah innards are on fire!” When he went as far as to make retching noises, the guard quickly opened the door.
“Hurry, healer. I’m not cleaning it up.”
The door shut behind the healer. Arran straightened, his jaw clenched. If this did not work, he was as good as dead anyway, and so was Malcolm. He would rather die trying to get home to his family, to his clan, than sit here and await his death. He owed it to the men he lost, to the friends he would mourn once he was home.
It was time to avenge their deaths.
6
Ainslee hurried down the familiar halls of her childhood home, hoping she would not come face-to-face with her brother as she did so.
Why had she agreed to help the Scot? She should just go to her brother, declared her services were no longer needed, and go back to the privacy of her hut, where she was safe.
But his story about his brother, about his own impending death, had tugged at her heart, and she could not allow for another person to die because of her brother’s cruelty. It was clear that the laird would lose everything, including his family, if she did not help him escape, but she would also put herself in danger by doing so.
Well, it mattered not. She was tired of living in secret, tired of doing her brother’s bidding and have him destroy their family name. Once the captured laird was free of danger, she would pack up her things and find another part of Scotland to settle in, one where she would not be forced to wear this disguise. She had only stayed because of her cousin, but now she was going to ask Katherine to join her so they would both be free of Liam.
Finding the door she was looking for, Ainslee gave it two sharp raps, hoping Katherine had not changed her dwellings since the last time she was there.
The door opened a moment later. “Ains! I mean, healer,” her cousin corrected, her eyes wide. “Just in time. Please come in.”
Ainslee stole inside the room, and Katherine shut the door, pressing her body against it. “Wotever are ye thinking?” she hissed. “Ye could have been seen!”
Ainslee grasped her cousin’s hands. “I’m leaving, and I need for ye tae come with me.”
“Ye are going back tae yer hut?”
She shook her head, her heart racing in her chest. “I am releasing the laird, and once he is free, I will be leaving this place forever.”
Katherine’s eyes rounded. “Ye are leaving the clan?”
Ainslee gave her cousin a soft smile. “It has been a long time since I have been part of this clan. I can finally be free of Liam, and so can ye, if ye come.”
Katherine dropped her cousin’s hands and pushed past her, pacing in front of the fireplace. “Ainslee, I cannae just leave. What if he catches us? We will be doomed tae die!”
“He wilnae catch us,” Ainslee said gently, seeing her cousin’s panic. “We will wait until he is deep in his cups. Think of the freedom ye will have.”
Katherine bit her lip. “I cannae. Meredith is increasing.”
Ainslee’s lips parted in surprise. “But, I dinnae know.”
Katherine shook her head. “She is hiding it from Liam for now. The babe will be born before the end of the year.”
Meredith was Liam’s current wife and a frail one at that. She had been trying desperately to give Liam an heir, and knowing that she was increasing meant that her brother would be overjoyed with the news.
Unless…
“’Tis not his, is it?”
“Nay,” Katherine whispered. “There is a guard, a kind man, who she has fallen in love with. They had plans tae leave together the moment that Liam went off tae battle, but the victory was swift and Meredith...she is not well.”
“He will kill her,” Ainslee forced out, the words sour on her tongue. Her brother would see it as a betrayal, and Meredith would suffer because of it. Ainslee believed in holding to the church’s marriage vows, but no one could fault her sister-in-law for seeking love and comfort after the cruelty her husband had shown her. She was stronger than most.
