Liam smirked, and for a moment, she saw their da in his expression. How could he have been like this? Their da had stood for fairness, for justice, for peace. What had happened to her brother along the way?
“Of course not. Mah warriors searched ye.” Motioning to his men, he took the outstretched dagger. “Here,” he said, holding it toward her. “This should suffice.”
Ainslee eyed the dagger before accepting it, balancing it on the palm of her hand. She debated throwing it at his heart and catching him off guard but knew the moment she did, there was a chance she would miss and then die anyway.
Nay, she had to draw this out as long as possible. “Aye,” she said, grasping the worn handle. “This suffices.”
Liam nodded and rolled up the sleeves of his tunic. “Come then. Show me wot ye have.”
Fighting off the swarming blackness from the knot on her head and the lack of food, Ainslee started a slow circle around her brother, mostly to distract him. It had been years since they had done something like this, and never to the death.
When Liam lunged, however, Ainslee was ready for him, dodging to her right to keep him from slicing her side open. “I see ye are still fast,” he remarked, gaining his footing once more.
“And ye are still flat-footed,” she smirked, moving the dagger to the opposite hand. Her palms were sweating, mostly because of what she knew she had to do to her brother.
She just needed a chance to do so.
His eyes narrowed, and he lunged again, this time nicking her arm before she could pull it away. Ainslee hissed at the cut but attacked with a vengeance, the daggers clashing with each other as she moved him backward in the dirt. Liam laughed hollowly before Ainslee was the one to move backwards, deflecting her brother’s advances as quickly as she could.
Her arms were growing weary with every thrust, her dagger moving too much in her hand because of the growing dampness. If she lost her grip on it, she would be as good as dead.
“Tiring?” Liam asked as she dodged another jab of his, barely missing the tip this time.
“Never,” she challenged, her legs wobbling with each step.
He smiled. “I didnae think ye had this much fight in ye. Perhaps I should have kept ye around longer.”
He was baiting her now. Ainslee took her dagger and successfully sliced his forearm, feeling the same in return. Hastily she retreated, but he kept coming, her feet getting tangled up in each other, and before she knew it, she was on the ground. Her dagger bounced out of her grasp, and she cried out as it moved out of her immediate reach.
She scrambled backward across the dirt, but there was nothing she could do to keep her brother from advancing.
“Tsk, tsk,” he said, leaning over her, his blade gleaming in the firelight. “I could have sparred with ye all night, but ’tis time tae focus on what is important. I’m afraid I will have tae kill ye this time and ensure yer death.”
Ainslee glared at him defiantly. “Ye may kill me now, but I will always haunt ye, Liam.”
He leaned forward, and Ainslee closed her eyes, whispering goodbye to Arran, wishing she had met him earlier in her life so their time together could have been longer.
Death would be swift.
Shouts caught her attention, and Ainslee’s eyes flew open as she realized that Liam was no longer over her but shouting out orders as the entire camp was suddenly in an uproar.
Surprised, she sat up, nearly avoiding being trampled by her brother’s warriors as they ran past, their swords drawn. No one seemed to care what she was doing, their attention on an unseen force that was coming from the woods that surrounded the clearing.
Somehow Ainslee found herself against the tree. Her heart wrenched in her throat as she caught a flash of familiar tartan.
It couldn’t be.
She gripped the tree as she watched the Mcaiwn warriors start to battle the McDougal warriors, their swords clashing in horrifying fashion. Her husband was somewhere amongst the warriors.
He had come for her.
Drawing in a stuttering breath, Ainslee dashed out and grabbed her dagger from the dirt, wishing she had a sword instead. She had to protect her family, and it was not the clan for which she had been born into.
Nay, it was the clan that had taken her in and declared her one of their own. This would not end until her brother was dead. Now that she had been given yet another reprieve from death, she was not going to give up in her desire to end this.
They had to keep the warriors well away from the keep.
19
