Page 70 of The Cursed Highland Bride

“Ye would do this tae yer daughter?” Dunn asked in disbelief.

“She will nae kill herself for the sake o’ ye or yer gypsy whore. I will nae allow ye tae have what ye want. Ye will die as yer grandfaither, yer faither, and yer maither did, alone and at my bloodline’s hands.”

“Nae if ye die by mine first,” Dunn growled. He knew that Morgan meant every word and that he would not tell him anything, but he took hope in the fact that Morgan had left his wife out of the list of Dunn’s dead loved ones. “Where is my wife?”

“If ye kill me ye will never ken for certain whether she is dead or alive. It will haunt ye until the end o’ yer days. That is a pain far worse than anything that I could do tae ye.”

“But ye will nae be alive tae see it.” Dunn prepared to deliver the final blow.

“Dunn!” Katarina’s voice cried out from the battlefield below. “Dunn!”

Dunn’s heart leapt in his chest at the sound. He eased his way over to the edge of the battlements, taking Morgan with him for protection against his men. He looked down over the side to find three women and two men standing below amidst the fighting. “Katarina?”

“Dunn!”

“Katarina!” Dunn felt as if his heart and mind might explode with the joy and relief that flooded him. “Yer alive!”

Dunn felt a sharp pain in his side and looked down to find Alistair Morgan’s sgian dubh sticking out of his side, his blood dripping down Morgan’s hand. “Die like the beast that ye are.”

“I am nae the beast,” Dunn growled, taking the knife from his side. “Ye are.” He put pressure on the wound in an attempt to get it to stop bleeding.

Morgan rolled away from Dunn and shouted for his men to kill him. “Kill them! Kill them all!”

“Dinnae move!” Andrew’s voice boomed out across the courtyard, and everyone turned to find him holding a blade to the Lady Katherine’s throat. Dunn’s sword fell from Katherine’s fingertips to clatter down to the battlements below. “If anyone attempts tae harm my laird or any o’ my clansmen or women, I will bring the Lady Katherine’s life tae a swift and painful end.”

“Andrew,” Dunn cautioned his clansman. “This is nae the way.”

“This is the only way. They killed Bran, and I will nae allow them tae do the same tae ye. Take Morgan and go. Tell the king what he has done. Do what is right, and set us free.”

“I will nae leave ye tae die.”

“Go now, before I am forced tae do something that we would both regret!”

Taking Morgan up by the scruff of his neck, Dunn dragged him over to the stairs leading down to the courtyard. “Open the gates,” he instructed the men standing guard.

When they refused, Morgan nodded his permission. “Do as he asks. Protect the Lady Katherine.”

The men moved to do as bidden. They opened the gates, and Tor met him on the other side. His arm was hanging at an awkward angle and looked exceedingly painful, but he was still able to wield a sword with the other. Katarina followed behind with Ewan protecting her back. Two other women that looked like Katarina stood with them. “Katarina,” he breathed in relief at the sight of her.

“We must go away,” Tor informed him. “We are losing too many men tae continue.”

Dunn looked over his shoulder one last time at Andrew in the window holding a blade to the Lady Katherine’s throat. He spoke to the nearest Morgan clansman. “If Andrew dies, so does yer laird. Once we are away, ye will allow Andrew tae leave unharmed. Dinnae follow us. If ye dinnae obey what I have said tae ye, yer laird will die. Do ye understand?”

The soldier nodded. “Aye,” he growled but did not make a move to stop them.

“Bring us horses,” he commanded, and with a nod from Morgan, they swiftly obeyed.

“I expect them tae be returned,” the stable master barked as he released the horses to Dunn’s care.

Dunn tied Morgan to one of the horses, then mounted one of the others himself, as did the rest of his company. He pulled Katarina up onto his horse with him while Tor and Ewan each took one of her sisters. “Call yer men back tae the castle. I dinnae want them interfering.” Dunn rode through the gates and out into the field beyond.

The guards at the gate sounded a horn, and the Morgan clansmen retreated back to the stronghold as Dunn shouted orders to his men to retreat back to where they had left their horses. Not waiting, for fear that something terrible might once again befall his wife if he did not get her free of Morgan lands, he turned his horse back toward Orkney.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Katarina rode northeast securely wrapped in Dunn’s arms and wondering what would happen next. Nothing had gone how she expected. She had hoped to save her sisters and leave Scotland with all haste. Instead, she had found Dunn and his men attempting to save her. Now, they were racing for home and safety. Dunn had passed the reins of Alistair Morgan’s horse to Ewan for safe keeping, as Tor’s dislocated arm was not up to the task. He had also dispatched a messenger to Edinburgh to deliver a letter to the king. It was imperative that Dunn’s message reached him before anything that Morgan’s people might have sent.

Pressed against Dunn’s torso, she could feel his blood seeping through the back of her dress. Her heart raced with fear that he might not make it back to Orkney if he could not get the bleeding under better control. She turned to speak to him about it but saw the stormy look on his face and thought better of it. She knew that they had much to discuss, and she was not looking forward to the conversation. If the look on his face was any indication, it was not going to go well.