“One time, I’ll let ye get away with challenging your father,” Sean said, pointing his finger in Ragnall’s face. “But if ye ever raise your hand to me again, I’ll teach ye a lesson ye won’t soon forget.”
Moira heard the low rumble of a growl and turned to find Sàr approaching with his teeth bared.
“But as punishment, you’ll get rid of that dog,” Sean said.
“Please don’t,” she said. Ragnall loved Sàr. It would break his heart to lose him.
“Enough,” Sean said, glaring at her.
“I won’t do it,” Ragnall said. “Ye can’t make me.”
Oh, no.“Sean, he’s just a bairn,” she pleaded, “He doesn’t mean to challenge ye—”
Sean jerked Moira’s head back by her hair so hard that tears sprang to her eyes. Despite the pain, her first thought was that she had succeeded in diverting him from taking his wrath out on Ragnall. But renewed panic flooded through her when Sean began dragging her across the rocky shore to the water.
“Let me go! Please!” she cried as he pulled her into the frigid water.
Ragnall was trying to follow, but the wolfhound blocked his path each time he got close to the water.
“Make a choice, Ragnall,” Sean shouted. “Your mother or that dog?”
The weight of the water dragged at Moira’s skirts as Sean hauled her into the surf. She stumbled over the rocks and fell to her knees, then gasped as an icy wave caught her full in the face. When Sean jerked her to her feet, her headdress fell off and was carried away with the next wave.
She could hear Ragnall screaming over the crash of the surf as Sean dragged her out farther still. When he finally halted, they were waist-deep, and the waves crested over her head.
“Shall I give her the witch’s test?” Sean called out to Ragnall. Then he grabbed Moira by the back of her neck and said, “We’ll see if ye are lying to me about Colla.”
Witch’s test? Did he mean to drown her?
Moira barely had time to take a deep breath before Sean plunged her head under the water. The shock of the cold nearly caused her to suck in seawater in a gasp. He held her under so long that her lungs were screaming for air. In sheer panic, she flailed her arms and scratched at him, but to no avail.
When he finally pulled her head up, she coughed and wheezed. She could not get enough air. She felt as if the cold had frozen her lungs, allowing her to take in only short breaths. Her hair streamed over her face, blinding her, as she choked and shook uncontrollably.
“Stop! Stop!” Ragnall’s wails came to her over the water. Through rivulets of seawater and strands of wet hair, she saw her son crying on the beach. He was still trying to come in after her, but the wolfhound barred his way.
“I’ll give Sàr up!” he shrieked. “I will, I will!”
“Are ye certain?” Sean’s voice boomed beside her. “I don’t want to find you’ve changed your mind later.”
Ragnall darted past Sàr and into the water.
“Ragnall, no!” Moira cried out just before Sean plunged her head underwater again.
Chapter 2
DUNSCAITH CASTLE, ISLE OF SKYE, SCOTLAND
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The rain pelted Duncan’s face as he fought back-to-back with Connor against the ten warriors encircling them. Not good odds, but their opponents’ number made them far too sure of themselves. As Duncan blocked one blade after another, he watched for the first man to make a fatal mistake.
He did not have to wait long. The instant one of their attackers swiped at the rain running into his eyes, Duncan swung his claymore so hard against the man’s shield that he landed on his arse and bounced off the ground.
“Have ye paid no mind to what I’ve been teaching ye?” Duncan leaned over and shouted at the man sprawled at his feet. “You’d let yourself get killed over a wee bit of rain in your eyes?”
Duncan rammed his shoulder into another young warrior who was gawking at his friend on the ground when he should have been swinging his sword. Duncan’s mood was as foul as the weather.
“Do ye think the MacLeods will wait for a dry day to attack us?” Duncan asked as he struck another man with the flat of his blade. Then he forced a pair of them back, shouting, “Or the MacKinnons? Or the Macleans? Or the—”
