Jamie’s brows narrowed thoughtfully. “You dinna like the idea of my marrying your sister?”
“Why should you?”
“Because your father willna let me out of this hole until I do.”
Niall sucked in his breath. “But your clan will come.”
“He intends to hold them off by threatening my life. He has it all planned. Your father has made certain I will marry your sister.”
“But she’d rather die than marry you,” Niall groaned.
Jamie laughed. It was obvious that the father’s favorite was also the son’s. Let him think his beloved sister was the one Jamie was to marry. He deserved to suffer, if only for a short while.
“She will indeed wish for death once she ismine…but I’ll make sure she lives,” Jamie said ominously.
“You wouldna really hurt her, would you?”
“Aye, I would. For ’tis forced I am to marry her, and I dinna like being forced.”
“But ’tis no’herfault,” Niall insisted. “She has no say in this, either!”
“Your father is no’ considering that, so I willna, either,” Jamie said darkly.
Such vindictiveness was beyond Niall, and he was getting more and more frightened. “You have no’ seen my sister, MacKinnion. She is a rare beauty. Truly, you would be pleased to have her for your wife.”
“Lad, you dinna ken,” Jamie replied coldly. “It doesna matter if she is the most bonny lass in all of Scotland; she’s her father’s daughter, and I’ll make her suffer for being that. After I wed her and take her home with me, she’ll never leave my castle. She’ll be locked in a tower forever. I’ll visit her twice a day, once to beat her and once to rape her. That is the life she will live.”
There was only silence, and after a while Jamie said, “You’ve naught to say, Niall Fergusson?”
“If I thought you’d really treat my sister so, I’d have to kill you.”
Jamie laughed. “You’re welcome to try, if you like. But you ken you’ll be cutting your own throat and your sister’s and even your whole family’s. You won’t kill The MacKinnion and live long enough to tell about it.”
The trapdoor slammed shut. Jamie’s mouth tightened in a snarl. Taunting the boy had not relieved his smoldering rage.
Before an hour had passed, the trapdoor opened again, and Niall poked his head over the opening. Jamie shrugged. He had known the boy wouldn’t keep the story to himself. He was too frightened.
“So you’ve confronted your father, have you?”
“Nay. ’Twill do no good to try to change his mind. And I told you, he’s no’ happy with me right now. He’d no’ listen to me one way or the other.”
Jamie relaxed. The boy had not come back to call him a liar. He still didn’t know the sister he feared for was safe from Jamie.
“So what has brought you here again, lad?” he asked.
“I canna face my sister tomorrow, knowing what I know,” Niall said miserably. “I canna bear it that she’ll be suffering. You’ve confirmed what she already believed about you. ’Tis why she’d rather die than go to you.”
“You think I’ll let another wife of mine kill herself?” Jamie snapped. “She’ll no’ die. I’ll see to that!”
“I wonder which is better,” Niall responded brokenly.
“You’ve a lot to learn, lad,” Jamie sneered. “Where there’s life, there’s hope.”
“You dinna givememuch hope,” Niall said, but plunged ahead anyway. “I’ve come to plead withyou no’ to hurt my sister for what was none of her doing. Please.”
Jamie was touched. The boy had courage. And he loved his sister.
“You listen to me, lad, and listen well. I’ve no sympathy for this sister of yours. ’Tis your father you’ll have to plead with. I’ve no choice in this matter, not really.”
