Page 31 of Highland Prince of Darkness

Chapter Thirteen

Iain gritted his teeth holding onto the letter until the thin parchment folded and crumpled in his hand. He didn’t care. He’d received the message he needed and he wasn’t at all happy about it.

He started to pace around his chambers and shook his head every now and again as he thought about what the news would mean.

“What is up with ye now?” Bruce asked with a heavy sigh, as he stepped into the room to see his seething ward.

“This is what’s the matter,” Iain spoke back to his guardian in a tone that he instantly regretted. He let his tense body relax slightly to show that he hadn’t meant it, he was just incredibly angry at the fact that there was now something else that he was going to have to deal with. He handed the letter to Bruce and let him read it.

“Athol Cumming?”

“Aye,” Iain nodded, and felt his nostrils flare at even the mention of his name, “He was an old… friend, but now he is probably one of the most dangerous men that I ken out there.”

“Another mercenary?” Bruce asked, and looked up to search Iain’s face.

“Aye,” Iain confirmed, after a slight moment of hesitation, “He was a good friend, which wasn’t common in our line of work, there’s nae too many men that ye can trust. But I had thought Athol was different, I thought that he was kind and that he was a good man.”

“Ye were wrong?”

“Exactly,” Iain spoke with gritted teeth. Even to his guardian, he didn’t like to admit that he was wrong. “I found out that he had been in the trade of selling women and children, and I could nae stand to think of the pain he had caused the world.”

Iain knew that it sounded ironic coming from a man who was hired to kill people. However, his services involved a quick ending, not the kind of torture and torment that Athol’s did.

“What did ye dae when ye found out?”

“I fought him,” Iain replied simply, “I fought him until he was on the ground and begging for mercy.”

“Did ye grant it to him?”

“Aye, I let him up, but only so that I could turn him in without him putting up much more of a fight,” Iain spoke with little remorse, “He was convicted for his crimes and was supposed to be executed.”

“Then how is he back in the country?” Bruce asked with a frown.

“He escaped right before he was due to be executed,”

The letter that Bruce now held onto detailed that Cumming was back in Scotland, he had arrived two days prior and Iain was more than concerned.

“This man is a big threat, then?” Bruce questioned.

Iain was sure that he must have told his guardian that story before, but the old man clearly hadn’t retained the impact of that conversation.

“He’s more than a threat. They may call me Diabhal, but this man is the real devil. He makes your worst fears seem like mercy, believe me, he’s become more dangerous.”

Iain often wondered if he hadn’t saved Bruce from death and had continued on the path that he had created for himself if he too would be like Athol. He thought of the power a position like that held, where just his name brought a sense of dread through entire towns. But Iain had come to realize that he didn’t like the fear too much.

“And ye say that ye were once friends with this man?”

“Aye, I’ve been keeping tabs on him ever since. I always feel like I have to ken where he is and what his movements mean, that way I can prepare myself if he ever does wander back into my life to get revenge.”

Bruce nodded and pursed his lips as he thought about what this information meant for him and his clan.

“So ye would consider yerself a target in Cumming’s eyes?”

“Aye, of course. I once beat him until he was half-dead, I dinnae think that’s the kind of thing that a man like him will forget. I left him and if he sees how I’ve managed to turn things around in my life, I dinnae think that he will be too happy,” Iain admitted and clenched his jaw.

“But news of the wedding has already spread so far. Dae ye think that he will try and sabotage the event?”

Iain thought about the question. It was something that he knew was going to be keeping him awake, something else for him to worry about. He rubbed his weary eyes and shook his head.