Page 49 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

She and her guards made it only a few feet before a sudden crash rang through the sky. The impact threw them off their feet, and Ciara bumped her head on the deck. She looked up, disoriented, and saw that one of the ships had rammed into theirs.

Ciara witnessed what happened next with horror. Men from the breaching ship poured onto the deck of hers, and Aidan’s men met them with drawn blades and axes. They had made a barricade with their bodies at the point of the breach, and tried to hold off the invaders in that choke point.

Aidan’s soldiers fought bravely as the attack sparked, and they tried to hold their line. They quickly dispatched the first men off the invading ship, knocking several of them into the sea as they tried to board. More men kept streaming through the gap.

Ciara and her guards had started making their way again to safety, and she looked behind to see that the line had broken.

The leader ordered his men to defend the ship, opting to protect Ciara alone. The entire deck had turned into a battlefield, and shouts of fighting soldiers accompanied the cries of dying men. The deck had quickly turned into a sea of scarlet blood running in the cracks of the wood.

Two soldiers charged at them with bloody weapons lifted over their heads. Her guard twisted her behind him, grunting as he parried the blow from the first man with a backhanded block, and he threw a dagger into the head of the second man. He spun with the motion of his block, pulling the first man by his collar, slamming his head into the attacker’s, then punched him in the gut, making him crumple to the ground.

The guard captain stabbed the fallen man through his heart and pulled his sword back out, wiping the blood on his trousers, retrieving his dagger and replacing it in his sheath. He turned toward Ciara, who looked at him with shock. He had cold, empty eyes. He had just killed two men in seconds and acted as if it had been nothing at all, yet Ciara felt her insides coil.

Across the deck, the captain and some of his sailors were fighting against one group. On the other side, it looked as if Ciara’s guards had evened the odds. If they were anything like their captain, it was going to be difficult for the men to get to her.

These weren’t just any men, of course. That much had become clear. The insignia on one of the dead man’s breasts was that of Clan MacNeil.

Another loud crash came, the sound of wood splintering. She looked up to see that the second ship had collided with the bow, creating a gaping hole in the hull.

Moments later, grappling hooks with lines attached to them clinked onto the deck, followed by a stream of attackers boarding. The defenders lost heart at the sight of the reinforcements, whilst the attackers cheered loudly. Aidan’s men fought well but there was no end to the number of men they had to fend off. If you killed one man, two took his place and cut you down.

The arrival of the second ship cut off the escape down below decks. The guard captain hurriedly set Ciara behind a pile of barrels, out of sight temporarily, and she watched as he cut down another man from behind, running toward his men.

She couldn’t withhold her tears any longer.

She put her hands over her ears and shouted in frustration. So much carnage. So much bloodshed. What was the use of all this dying?

The cries of men and the clashing of blades cut deeply into her soul and the tears poured out harder. She wanted the fighting to end. She needed it to end.

And she knew the only thing that could end it. She had to turn herself over to her father.

Ciara steadied herself then dashed out from behind the barrels. Almost immediately, someone grabbed her arm. The boat rocked with a wave, and she rolled with the momentum, causing the man to miss and stumble. She kicked him between his legs instinctively, pushing him over the side of the boat.

Someone else yanked her hair, causing pain to shoot through her head.