Page 62 of Highland Prince of Darkness

“But ye escaped,” Iain fired back, glaring daggers at his old friend.

“That is true, but I couldnae stay in Scotland after that. Ye drove me from my home, ye drove me across the sea when I didnae want to go.”

“Ye did it to yerself,” Iain spoke, as he managed to wriggle into a sitting position, “Ye did all of this to yerself when ye started getting into the business of selling people.”

“After all this time, and ye still talk as though selling yer sword was the mightier option,” Athol shook his head as he spoke. His tone was laced with heavy conviction and even in the darkness of the stable, his eyes were glaring back at Iain.

“Where is my wife?”

“Bring her in,” Athol spoke into the darkness.

Iain snapped his head in the direction of the movement from the other entrance to the stable. His heart was beating so fast that Iain was anticipating it would fail before he even got to see his wife.

“Iain?” her voice sounded different from normal. It was filled with the kind of desperation and hurt that he would expect from the prisoners they kept after battles had been won. He could feel his anger rising up at the thought of Athol hurting her; it was causing his fists to clench until his knuckles turned white.

He tried to work out how they were going to get out of this situation, it seemed impossible to anticipate what Athol would do next to them.

“Are ye all right?” he asked in a hushed voice as she was pushed down next to him.

Iain’s eyes had been adjusting to the light, and he could now see the large bruise that had formed on the side of her forehead where someone had struck her. May’s eyes were red around the edges and there were dark shadows under them from a lack of restful sleep.

“I’m fine,” May whispered. However, the fresh tears and pain in her eyes were telling Iain that she was clearly lying.

“I’m going to get us out of here,” he spoke in a soft voice. Iain wished that his hands weren’t bound behind his back so that he could hold her in his arms. She was shaking and trying her best not to cry, seeing her so broken was crushing him.

“Ye should nae have come,” May sobbed, “Ye should nae have surrendered to him. Why did ye do that?”

“Because I couldnae leave ye here,” Iain said, “I couldnae leave the woman that I love at the mercy of this man.”

May looked up at him as the tears rolled down her cheeks. She was looking to him for help and support, and Iain was starting to wonder how he was going to give that to her.

“What a heartfelt reunion,” Athol spoke in a mocking tone.

Iain could instantly feel his anger returning as he glared up at him. He wanted nothing more than to shoot the smug smile right off of Athol’s face.

“I just want ye to ken that I’m going to kill ye today,” Iain spoke as he looked up at Athol. There was no waver in his voice and his tone was thick with a deep hatred for the man who had hurt his wife.

However, in response to his threat, Athol merely laughed and shook his head.

“Ye’ll nae be doing anything today but watching yer wife be killed before ye’re.”

Iain spat at Athol’s feet and continued to glare at him until Athol lunged forward. Before Iain could do anything, Athol’s fist connected with his jaw, producing an unprecedented amount of pain.

Iain groaned as he heard May cry out for him, his anger was boiling over but his face was now throbbing in response to the impact. He could taste blood.

“Dinnae hurt him!” May cried as he turned to look for her.

However, one of Athol’s men had taken her by the arms and was pulling her away from him.

“Nay!” Iain shouted.

“Please, dinnae!” May tried squirming away from the man who had once been Iain’s best friend. Fear was ripe in her eyes and her legs were moving to kick him away from her.

“Leave her alone!” Iain protested as he moved forward to grab him.

But Athol’s heavy boot quickly made contact with his chest, knocking all of the air out of his lungs and sending him sprawling on his back.

“Iain!” May was crying out for him, but he was having trouble recovering from the blows. Athol’s fist landed on his face once more as he tried to turn and get away from the attack.