Sawny swallowed back the fear-induced bile that burned at the back of his throat and yanked the warped wooden door open.
Then he entered the very stronghold that had been his prison.
“Where would the letter be?” Reade inquired as they entered, followed by several other MacDonalds, all with swords drawn.
Sawny flicked his head to the stairs. “Third floor. But ‘tis little up stairs and I can sneak up easily alone. Make sure this floor and the second remain clear for when I come back down. And if ye see a frightened-looking brown-haired lad with a button nose and Cameron plaid, stop him for me. He’s the lad who helped me escape, and I’d free him from the shackles of this hellish keep.”
Reade nodded and pulled his pistol.
Sawny spun on his toe lightly and leapt up the stairs two at a time.
He was coming for Kelso.
And he would not leave until the man’s blood stained the ground.
A flickering light poured past the study door and onto the wood plank flooring. Stepping quietly along the wall’s edge to avoid any squeaking floorboards, Sawny reached the door and peeked inside. Kelso stood by the small hearth, staring into the fire.
Nay, staring at something in the fire.
Panic, hotter than the fire in the heart, surged through Sawny and he shoved his way inside, his blade leveled at Kelso’s belly.
Kelso was burning the letter.
Feck. They had waited too long and now were too late.
Sawny glanced at the flames to see if he might nab it, but what remained of the parchment had curled into orange-tipped ash.
Kelso turned his bony face to Sawny and grinned. “I knew ye would return for the letter. One of my guards or my pathetic excuse for a foster son must have mentioned it to ye.”
Sawny’s grip on his sword tightened at how unbothered Kelso appeared. “But ye read it. Of course, ye would. The information is too rich, too important to burn before ye read it.”
“I memorized it,” Kelso sneered. “Better to share it by spoken message to Campbell than let that letter fall into MacDonald hands. And that message is already on its way, and the Campbells and the king will be able to take action against whatever it might have read. Ye will never know what it read.”
Sawny rushed forward in a swift move, catching the sickly grinning man by surprise. Sawny’s blade easily slid to the man’s gullet, scoring the skin under his tunic.
“I will torture ye for it, just as ye tortured me. What did the letter say?”
He wiggled the blade, tearing into Kelso’s wame, and Kelso blanched whiter than summer heather. But he stiffened and did not appear frightened, merely pained.
“Only a great fool would ever share that information with ye. I am no’ a great fool and ye must suspect this. Ye MacDonalds have nothing, and now ye must sign your Oaths.” He spat a wad of mucous at Sawny’s face, who wiped it away slowly with his sleeve. “No’ that I see any value of a MacDonald in service to the king. But now ye have no choice.”
Sawny groaned. The letter was destroyed and the only people who knew its contents were on their way to tell the Campbells. The MacDonalds would never obtain the information they needed to upend the king.
Yet that did not mean Sawny couldn’t torture the man for that knowledge, or take him to Keppoch House or Glenachulish under lock and key until the man sang like a wee warbler. The tip of Sawny’s sword pressed harder into Kelso's belly and a flower of crimson bloomed against Kelso's shirt.
“Go ahead and finish,” Kelso taunted. “Do ye really think I will let you take me as a prisoner and torture me for information as I tortured ye? Ye must be a feckin’ fool.”
Sawny froze where he stood, his blade at the ready, his jaw tight. Kelso read his mind and his words rang true. It would be too easy to kill the man, and God knew Sawny had every reason to do it. Nobody would judge him for slaying the man who had captured him, abused him, and stolen from him.
Kelso had done more than abuse his body – he had been a thief of time. He has stolen precious time from Sawny’s life that he could have spent with Adaira.
For that alone, Kelso deserved to die. But Sawny was a good Highland son. Since Kelso had knowledge of what the letter contained, killing him would destroy the opportunity for the McDonalds to use that information and bring down an empire.
As much as Sawny hated to do it, he had to keep Kelso alive. He had no other choice, not when the Highlands hung in the balance. The man seemed weak, and Sawny presumed Kelso would break easily under the right inducement.
“Ye deserve to suffer as much as I,” Sawny told him. “And perchance ye shall be a wee bit smarter than I was and share the information before we hurt ye too badly. But I will no’ kill ye.”
Sawny stepped forward to grab Kelso's tunic when another, lighter voice spoke up behind them.
