Page 53 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

Is it possible that Ciara has returned?

Aidan looked on as the men filed into the courtyard, and he tried to make out Ciara in the group, but it was too dark to see clearly.

“What’s the matter?” Lilly asked Aidan as he took off after Darragh.

“The captain of Ciara’s guard has just returned to the castle,” he said over his shoulder to his sister as he got to the stairwell, heading down.

Aidan took the stairs two at a time as he headed down. He knew it was unlikely that Ciara was with the group, but the hope of seeing her was a burning brand in his chest. He would give anything to set eyes on her just once more.

Aidan arrived in the courtyard and the first thing he noticed was how worn all the men looked.

There were about a dozen soldiers, and he recognized six of them as part of the group who had been her honor guard earlier in the day. Several of them were missing, and worse, Ciara was not among them.

All the men bore marks of battle, and their eyes were grim. Aidan felt his body coil with fear as he got closer. He shoved Darragh gently but firmly to the side and stepped up to the guard captain who bowed his head to him.

Aidan strongly took the man’s shoulder, squeezing it calmly, although his heart felt like it was going to explode. “Speak.” Aidan ground out the word like a blade on a grindstone.

“My laird,” the leader started, still refusing to meet his gaze. “It was an ambush, my laird. Keir MacNeil must have kent that we had plans to move the lady today. We were attacked on the sea by two of his ships. The men fought bravely, my laird, but we lost many a good man. There were just too many of them. It was a slaughter.”

“And Ciara? Tell me what happened to her.” Aidan’s voice had grown soft as he listened. This had all been his fault. How could he have been so naive?

“The lady was taken by her father, my laird,” the leader answered, shaking his head. “My laird, I ken it’s nae my place to say this, but Laird MacNeil didnae treat the lady like his daughter at all. She was hit and rough handled by her father’s men. In his presence, someone had threatened to break her bones and he had done naething in return.

The man took a shaky breath and continued. “She is to be wed in two days’ time to Laird Morrison. I am sure this marriage will prove cruel to her, my laird.” He paused. “We were outnumbered, injured, and surrounded, but we kept fighting when we saw how she had been handled. It was the lady who asked us to stand down, my laird. She negotiated for our lives with her father, begging us to drop our weapons and jump off to safety.”

“What?” Aidan reeled back.

“She chose to go willingly with her father to save us from a meaningless death. I failed in my duty to protect the lady as ye had instructed. Please forgive me, my laird.”

The lead guard bowed his head before Aidan, his voice shaking, and Aidan felt his heart shatter to bits once again.

Is the laird capable of killing his own daughter?

Aidan turned and rushed back into the castle, beckoning for Darragh to come with him. He was working up solutions in his head, and needed to come up with something quickly. He now knew he could not bear another second without her.

“Summon the council immediately,” Aidan instructed his brother as they entered the castle. “Inform them about the recent developments. Tell them that I intend to retaliate and recover Ciara in the process. Be warned, they may nae like this, and many of them might push back over us getting in the middle of clans MacNeil and Morrison. I dinnae care. Tell them my will is unshaken in this, and that I intend to ride at first light for MacNeil lands.”

* * *

Ciara opened her eyes slowly. With a soft groan, she lifted her limp upper body from the cold floor, provoking a piercing pang in her head. She gasped immediately and desperately clung to the debris on the floor with the tips of her fingers to stop herself from collapsing.

About two minutes passed before the swirling and pounding in her head dissipated. She lifted her head slower this time and took a look around her surroundings. She tried shifting upwards a bit more, and suddenly felt a thick restriction on her body. She paused and took a look down to see what the problem was. Her brows arched in confusion.

Her eyes were met with thick, heavy lengths of rope tied tightly around her wrists. Her gaze roamed further down her body, and she saw that her feet were tied too, and red bruises were scattered all over the places her blood-stained dress did not cover.

Ciara sighed as the fog in her head cleared and everything came rushing back to her.

She had been locked up by her father in the castle tower.

Ciara thought about how she was supposed to be back home, but this place was nothing but a prison. This was where she had lived basically all her life, but she had never even been to this tower in the castle. She couldn’t help but compare how different things were at Aidan’s home.

This tower as well was nothing like the tower in Aidan’s castle. There were no rooms, nor any source of comfort. Since there was only one way in and out, it made it the perfect prison. It would be extremely hard for her to escape, not that she could really even consider escaping anyway, as she could hear guards stationed at the doors, down the stairway, before the exit.

She hadn’t been given a morsel of food to eat nor any water to drink, but she understood why, and it didn’t faze her too much. This was her father’s usual method. He was trying to make sure that she starved so she would not have the energy or strength to react. It was the same thing he had done to Lillie.

Ciara shut her eyes tightly to stop the sudden wave of tears she felt coming.

She truly wished this wasn’t the end, but it was what it was. She knew that even if Aidan ended up wanting to save her it would be too late. He most likely didn’t know she was missing yet or didn’t care, and she had barely any more time. Even if he had a change of heart and came after her, by the time he arrived on MacNeil soil, she would have already been sent away and would be another man’s wife.

All of a sudden, Ciara’s ears picked up the sound of a scuffle outside her door. It sounded like some men were yelling, but they were swiftly quietened. She pulled herself to sit more upright and her heart began to pound uncontrollably. Had Laird Morrison finally come to take her away?

Thinking fast, she shifted her weight to her legs and sat on her behind. She pushed her legs forward and prepared herself to kick him hard, right in his family jewels immediately he walked through the door.

Right at the moment she was prepared, the door swung open, and her fierce glare quickly dropped, leaving her mouth open in complete shock.