Page 71 of Highlander of Steel
One day, when she was very little, their mother had taken her out to the woods to pick blackberries. Something had attacked—a wolf or a dog or a boar, it was never quite confirmed, only assumed from the savage wounds—and their mother had given her life to protect Ailis, who had been found hours later by soldiers that had gone out hunting, curled up at her dead mother’s side.
“Ye can leave now. I cannae do anythin’ until Murdock returns,” Ailis said, putting the box back into its hiding place and turning to her father. “But in the mornin’, I mean to visit the prisoner.”
And he had better be alive.
She knew her father was there, watching her every move. But if he tried to lock her in this time, she would climb out of the window if she had to.
Like Peter had said, she was notthe same woman who had left this place. She would never be locked in again.
Her father just shrugged, his mouth twisted in a grimace. “Ye ken where to find him.”
28
Killian lay back on the dewy grass, his arms tucked behind his head, his eyes closed, as the dawn chorus began. There was no point in retiring to his bedchamber; he wouldn’t sleep a wink.
In truth, he doubted he would ever sleep again, forever imagining the suffering and cruelty that Ailis must be enduring at the hands of her brother and father.
Why is Peter nae back yet?
He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, as if that would help dispel the thoughts. Of course, his man-at-arms wasn’t back yet. It hadn’t been long enough.
“Thisis what ye’re doin’ while yer wife is probably in danger?” a sharp voice cut through the chirp and trill of the birds waking up.
Killian cracked one eye open to find Paisley standing over him. “Coming from the lass who thought that she should return?”
“I was… in shock,” Paisley stammered, looking away. “I’d just seen Fraser’s severed finger. I wasnae thinkin’.”
Killian closed his eye again. “So, now that ye realized that I was right, ye’ve come to tell me to fix it?”
“Somethin’ like that,” Paisley mumbled.
“And ye thought an accusation was the best way to do that?”
Frustration bristled in his veins, his whole body tense with the sense of helplessness that had been forced upon him.
Hehad wanted Ailis to stay until he could resolve matters himself.Hehad tried to tell them that it was foolish to obey a madman’s less-than-subtle threat.
No one had listened when it would have mattered, and now he was in torment. Paisley suddenly changing her mind in such an aggressive fashion didn’t help things either.
The healer heaved a long sigh. “I shouldnae have agreed to her leavin’. I… should have heeded ye. But all I could think about was Fraser, and when I saw… his finger, I… was selfish and I couldnae see the grander scheme of things.”
“That Laird Ainsley will never let him go, now that he got what he wants?” Killian drawled.
He didn’t mean to be unkind, but he, too, wasn’t thinking clearly. Since watching Ailis hurry through the gates, his mind had been at war with itself, ricocheting back and forth between riding out after her and letting her do what she had insisted on doing. Not to punish her for not listening, but because she was her own woman who had the right to proceed however she pleased.
And he knew what Skye meant to her.
“Aye,” Paisley said quietly. “I wish that box hadnae found its way into me hands. I wish… I’d looked inside and kept quiet. But yehaveto go after her now, Killian. I feel sick just thinkin’ about what might be happenin’ to her.”
“I cannae,” Killian uttered bitterly.
Paisley scoffed. “It’s that attitude that allowed her to run off in the first place.” Apparently, she had jumped back to accusations. “If ye’d been firmer with her, she’d have stayed. Ye should have locked her up. Should’ve lockedmeup too, so I wouldnae say anythin’ so stupid.”
Killian sat up and stared at her. “How could I force her to stay with me when her niece might be in trouble? I believe with all me heart that it was a trick, but suspectin’ and kennin’ are entirely two different things,” he said crisply. “Ailis wouldnae have been able to smile, laugh, or rest unless she found out for herself. It wasnae me place to deny her that peace of mind. And her faitherand braither werenae goin’ to put her out of her misery, were they?”
Paisley stared back at him, dumbstruck. “So, ye’re just goin’ to let her…staythere with them?”
“Because Ihaveto think of the grander scheme,” he growled, getting up from the wet grass. “I willnae march me army to their lands for one person, even if that one person is me wife. I willnae shed all that blood for someone who went willingly, while kennin’ the risks. It doesnae matter if I want her back; I cannae sacrifice so many lives for one person.”
