Page 54 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

Ciara blinked. “Darragh?” she asked.

Her voice croaked as she called out to the familiar figure before her. Was she seeing things? Could it be that she was so starved that she was seeing visions, now? She shifted backward slightly in confusion. Was he really there?

“Ciara, it’s me.”

Instantly as she heard his voice, she burst into tears. She was being rescued. She had been holding back from crying over her hopeless situation, but now that it seemed she might be saved her emotions tore through her defenses.

“How?” She managed to rasp through her tears of joy, a wide smile on her face.

“Is it nae obvious? I have come to take ye to yer husband,” he responded with a small smile.

Ciara’s eyes widened and she fell back on her haunches. Her husband? Could it be…?

Darragh smiled.

Ciara’s smile returned to her face and her tense body relaxed. Her eyes watered again, and her face scrunched up as more tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

“Alright, let me get ye out of here,” Darragh said as he quickly turned around and peered through the door. As he must have seen no one approaching, he hurriedly moved toward where she was tied up on the floor. In an instant, he drew out a knife from his belt and squatted in front of her.

“Stretch yer hands out to me.”

He quickly cut through the thick rope binding her wrists and swiftly did the same to the rope around her ankles, casting the rope aside.

“Alright. I think we’ve got it,” he said, gently helping her, as she was already lifting herself up off the ground with a struggle. He steadied her as she swayed, almost falling right back down. “Are ye alright?” He asked after a couple of seconds passed, peering at Ciara. “Dae ye need me to carry ye?”

“Nae, I’m alright, thank ye,” she responded, drawing in a deep breath.

“Are ye sure?” he paused as she nodded.

Ciara took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A moment passed, and just as Darragh was about to say something else she said, “Aye, aye. I can,” before she steadied herself and opened her eyes, feeling a sudden burst of energy envelop her, stemming from new determination.

Darragh gave her one last look of uncertainty, and she nodded her head back at him, a bold expression on her face.

“Well, alright then. We have to move fast,” he said. He walked back toward the door and took a look outside. “My brother and his men are outside standing guard and waiting for us. We just have to make it out of the castle, and then freedom is yers.”

Darragh turned back around and stretched a hand out to Ciara, who quickly moved forward to catch up with him.

A million thoughts began to race in her head as they quietly stepped over the pile of knocked-out guards lying on the ground near the door. How was Aidan able to notice that she was gone so fast? Why was he coming to save her now? Did that mean he had forgiven her?

Ciara felt her heartbeat speed up as they quietly moved further down the hall.

Suddenly, before she could stop herself, she tumbled forward slightly, having stepped on her dress, and tripped over to the side. Her eyes widened as she collided with a statue by the wall. It came crashing down with her, making a noise loud enough to wake a dead man.

It was as though time froze.

Darragh’s eyes were wide in shock and his jaw hung open. “I cannae believe this. Ciara, what have ye done?”

Ciara looked up at him and made a small, shameful whimpering noise, but right at that moment, there was a loud shout from the other side of the floor.

“Oi, what’s going on there? Who is that?”

“Well, there goes stealth. We’ve been caught.” Darragh grabbed Ciara by the arm, who had already started standing up from the floor. “Run!”

The two ran as fast as they could down the stairways and out to the back of the castle, yet the footsteps behind them seemed to get heavier and closer with every inch that they took. Ciara could feel her heart pumping almost out of her chest.

“Hurry, we’re almost at the wall!” Darragh’s voice sounded in the echoing halls as they ran.