Page 61 of Highlander Lord Of Vengeance

“You will learn not to challenge her,” Knox said and glanced at his wife. “Tell them where we go.”

“There is an abandoned keep not far from here,” Dru said.

“Purdom Keep?” Nug asked anxiously and nervous whispers began to spread.

“Aye, Purdom Keep, a place where no one will venture,” Dru said.

“And for a good reason,” Nug argued. “It’s haunted.”

They had barely seta good pace, everyone dividing to meet at Purdom Keep avoiding any chance of them being seen together, when Esme spoke.

“Was this meeting with your friends planned?”

“Aye, though it didn’t go as expected. I sent a cryptic message to someone who could decipher it and who could make sure Knox and Dru also got the message. I intended to see you safe at Clan Stott and then sneak away to meet with them. I knew once my friends learned of the betrayal of Torrance’s warriors that they would know enough to alter the plan. They knew I would do my best to be in this area near the specified time so all they had to do was wait.”

Her eyes lingered on his face, trying to see if she could spot the difference between him and Torrance. It was difficult to find one, they looked so much alike, though his features didn’t seem as harsh, his eyes as cruel but that could be because she knew he was Ryland. “You look identical to him.”

“And here I thought you would first ask about the haunted keep,” he said with a slight smile.

The light tease in his voice and a hint of a smile did much to ease her misgivings and speak bluntly.

“That can wait until later as can the reason you coupled with me knowing I wasn’t your wife. It is Torrance I wish to know about.”

He was relieved she would wait for that intimate discussion since he wasn’t prepared to hold it now with her. But he didgive her what she asked for. “That we looked so much alike was always a thorn in Torrance’s side. He assumed we were half-brothers, believing that my mother had an affair with Torrance’s father. As we grew older, the thorn dug deeper, and I believe he always worried that I would try to lay claim to Clan Glencairn.”

“Do you think it is why he went to war with you?”

Ryland tried to stay focused, but her lips, chilled rosy by the cold, were too inviting to ignore. Of course, it hadn’t helped that they had coupled and not the way he would have had it for their first time together. But since they had, he now was eager to share more with her and as Ryland, not Torrance.

He finally gathered his senses and nodded. “I believe it was part of it, but Torrance also had a thirst for power, wealth, importance. And he believed growing his holdings would bring him all that.”

She asked the question that she desperately wanted to know. “What happened to him?”

Ryland hesitated.

She rested her hand on his arm at her waist. “Please, Ryland, I need to know.”

He nodded and acquiesced. “Clan MacLeish was being defeated, far too many of my warriors dying. I called for them to retreat but, the mercenaries Torrance hired were relentless. I managed to get some of the wounded off the battlefield to start their journey home. I carried a badly wounded warrior to one of my warriors who was good at mending battle wounds. I returned to the battlefield to get more of my men when I came across Torrance out of sight of the battle, one of his own warriors having turned his sword on him. I could see Torrance was badly wounded, but he continued to fight, and he managed to deliver a fatal blow to his opponent before collapsing to the ground.

“I went to him and his first words to me were… ‘Though I die today, I will see victory and you will see me revenged.’ He thenwent on to explain that I was to become him, assume his identity and find out who in his clan wanted him dead. He warned me that there would be more attempts on his life… on me.”

“And he expected you to take such a dangerous chance, live such a lie?”

“He told me I’d be a fool to refuse and that it was my duty since no doubt we were half-brothers and though I am not a full-blooded Glencairn, at least a Glencairn would rule and that was all that mattered. He demanded I give him my word.”

Esme shook her head. “That makes no sense. Torrance would have no way of knowing that you would keep your word.”

“You underestimate him.”

“Sadly, you’re right,” she agreed, recalling her husband’s relentless determination.

“By assuming his identity, I could end the battle and keep my clan safe, which was what mattered to me the most, and he knew that.”

“But you would forfeit your own life to live the life of a cruel man.”

“My only thought at the time was saving more of my warriors from dying and my clan from suffering. There would be time to figure out the rest. But the attempts on my life, and yours, made me realize that if I was to protect my clan and you, I needed to survive and to do that I had to find out who wanted Torrance dead. And I did give him my word that I would revenge his death.”

“Why would they want me dead?”

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