Page 57 of Highland Prince of Darkness

Chapter Twenty-Two

May awoke feeling cold and incredibly vulnerable as she peered around the dark room. The last thing that she remembered was the sight of her own men being killed in an ambush that had surprised them all. She remembered the shock and panic that rose through her as she was pulled from her horse and the splitting pain that erupted on one side of her head.

There was no sign of life or any kind of movement around her, but she was still hoping for some kind of mercy. She swallowed thickly and held a hand to her head where she had been hit by someone. There was bound to be a bruise, but she considered the situation around her and realized that it was clearly not the most important thing at that moment.

She didn’t have any idea where she was and she certainly didn’t know how to get out of the dark room. She shuddered and wished that Iain was there to make the entire situation much better, but he wasn’t there.

She thought back to arguing with him about the safety of their clan lands. May had thought visiting the outskirts would have been fine, she thought she couldn’t have been safer while seeing some of her people. At that moment, May wished more than anything that she hadn’t been so foolish and that she had just let Iain come with her. But her advisors and even Bruce had suggested that going on her own would have been a stronger move for the clan. May wondered if things would have been different if she hadn’t listened to them. She wondered that if Iain had been there for her, she wouldn’t have been in that situation and they would have been able to fight their way out of it.

May could feel her heart sinking in her chest as she thought about the many men that had been by her side. She winced at the thought of them being dead while she was left to fend for herself in this prison that someone had brought her to.

Their clan wasn’t exactly known for having much money, so the idea of taking her as a hostage in exchange for gold wasn't something that May thought sounded reasonable. In terms of her clan, May wasn’t sure that she was worth much, and she was sure that it would be more efficient for the clan to simply leave her there than to pay her ransom.

The thought wasn’t a comforting one, and it left her with a large feeling of dread as she thought about how she was going to get out of there without the help of her clan. May went through the list of allies and enemies that her clan had made and lost over the years. Many of them dated back hundreds of years and didn’t have anything to do with the current people who ruled the clans. However, there wasn’t anyone who came to mind who would have a reason to capture her so suddenly. All she could do was hope that Iain would come for her, wherever she was. The idea of him not coming was one that left her with a heavy sense of dread.

She tried peering into the darkness, but all she could make out were the cold, metal bars of her cell. She was trapped, with no way out other than the way that was locked. May sighed and lay against the stone wall behind her, it was enough to make her infuriated with the situation that she had found herself in. One moment they had been visiting a village and had been showing how good and strong they were as a clan, and then the next they were overcome with men that seemed to be targeting her.

May wasn’t sure why the men had been able to recognize her so easily. It was still her father who ran the clan, and it was still her father’s name that ruled over the land until he would pass on. Only then would there be an announcement of hers and Iain’s names to the rest of the courts in the country. She didn’t understand why someone would target her, especially when she hadn’t done anything to anyone.

She hugged her arms close to her chest and prayed that she would be all right. May was freezing in her cell, but she quickly continued to talk to her God about her struggles so that she could at least find a small bit of comfort.

“Settling in well?” a voice spoke from the darkness behind the bars of her cell. May jumped at the sound of the deep male voice that she didn’t recognize. It made her shudder as she didn’t like the idea of eyes on her when she couldn’t see who she was talking to.

“Who’s there?” May asked, as she sat up and remained at the back of her cell, as far away from the figure that was obscured by the shadows of the dungeons.

For a while, the only response came in the form of the dripping of cold water and May’s own labored breaths as she squinted to try and get a better look at her captor.

“I’m the man who wants yer husband to pay.”

The voice that came from the darkness was gruff and blunt. There was no warmth in his tone and there was nothing about it that was inviting. May swallowed thickly as she struggled with how to respond to him.

“Do ye have a name?” May called out while trying to ignore the wobble of fear in her voice.

“Aye, Athol Cummings. I’ve been watching ye for a while.”

May thought as hard as she could, but she was certain that Iain had never said that name to her before. He hadn’t said it when they were younger, nor since they had been reunited all these years later.

“Why? What has he done to you?” May dared to ask another question even when her mind was telling her not to. The last thing that she wanted to do was to upset a dangerous man who was threatening her husband and had her captive.

“He betrayed me many years ago, he did something that I could never forgive. He got me arrested, but I managed to escape, I managed to get out.”

May swallowed thickly at the revelation, the idea of Iain doing something like that wasn’t exactly unimaginable. She knew that he could be capable of that, but it still shocked her that Iain had tried to enforce some kind of justice when he had been so far from abiding by the law himself. May knew that he would have only done it if he had a good enough reason to do so. It caused her to shudder as she thought about what this Athol must have done that was so bad for Iain to get the law involved.

“What do ye want with me?” May asked.

She hated that he wasn’t just telling her these things, having to ask questions where she didn’t necessarily know if she wanted to know the answer was getting tiresome.

“Ye’re his wife, and I’m going to use ye to lure him here.”

May had wanted Iain to come and get her, she had wanted him to burst into the dark dungeons and rescue her from the situation. But upon hearing Athol’s reasoning for kidnapping her, May suddenly didn’t like the idea of him coming to her aid. It was an obvious trap, one that Iain would easily see through, yet she knew that he would come to rescue her, nonetheless.

“He will nae forgive ye for taking me, and when he comes, and ye ken that he will, ye’ll regret it,” May said.

She was trying to muster up all of her courage to glare at the man who was still only a shadow to her in the darkness. May could make out his muscular outline through the gloom of the dungeon, but it only brought her more anxiety as she realized that this man was much like her husband. He was muscular and would clearly be able to fight well. May knew that Iain would have a difficult time trying to defeat him.

“I think ye’ll find that ye’ll regret saying that,” Athol chuckled darkly, “Ye’re going to watch as I end Iain once and for all.”

May didn’t respond to him, her heart was pounding so loud that she wondered if Athol could hear it beating. She was breathing heavily and hugged her knees to her chest in an attempt to make herself as small as possible.

“I will leave ye now,” Athol turned to leave the dungeon. “Rest while ye still can,” he said with a menacing smirk.

His last words left May with a strong sense of dread. She chose not to respond to him, and instead turned away from the figure so that she was facing the cold wall in the darkness. May was shivering from both cold and fear, but all she could think of was the danger that Iain was now in. She wanted nothing more than to be able to go to him and warn him of the man that so badly wanted revenge.

She didn’t realize it until the sudden drip of wetness splattered on her hand, but she was crying. May was relieved to be left alone by Athol, he had scared her a lot and she was terrified to think about what he might do if he changed his mind about waiting for Iain.