"It"ll be all right, Nora," Ewan a.s.sured her.
The doubt in her eyes tore through him.
"Aye, Princess Nora. It"ll be just fine." Graham laughed evilly and kicked his horse forward.
"Why are you taking us?" Ewan asked.
Graham"s younger brother, Rufus, was the one who answered him. Shorter than Nora, Rufus might have been pa.s.sably handsome had he ever taken a bath and if he could get the distasteful smirk to leave his lips.
Ewan had met the man only once, years ago when Rufus had stopped with Isobail and their father to visit with his father at the MacAllister castle.
"For the sake of justice," Rufus snarled. "You ruined our family and so we ruin yours."
Graham laughed again. "And here I thought the best revenge would be in just taking the woman you wanted and making her my own. Little did I know who she was. Just imagine how her father will react when he learns that she was killed by Ewan MacAllister. He won"t rest until he"s destroyed every single member of the MacAllister clan. There won"t be a single member left standing."
Ewan was aghast at their plan.
Surely they weren"t serious.
"Are you mad?"
"Not at all," Rufus said. "We lost everything when you ran off with Isobail. Robby MacDouglas demanded her dowry and then when our father failed to give it to him, he killed Father and banished us."
"Aye," Graham said, his lips twisted cruelly as he rode. "We"ve been struggling just to live only to find that none of our family will even admit they know us. "Us time for the MacKaids to be regaled again while the MacAllisters get what they deserve... humiliation."
Ewan clenched his teeth to keep from telling them who was really to blame for what happened.
Reminding them of the fact that their sister was a faithless, lying wh.o.r.e wouldn"t accomplish anything.
They blamed his family, not Isobail.
And he doubted if they would ever listen to reason where she was concerned.
"If it"s vengeance you want, then kill me and let Nora go."
"Oh nay," Graham said. His eyes glowed with cruel mischief. "See, here"s where we regain our position.
Who better to fall into the king"s good graces than the man who tried to save his cousin and who killed her murderer."
Nay! the word screamed through Ewan"s mind.
Ewan was appalled at the man"s plan.
He should have known Graham MacKaid was insane. He should have killed the man in the pub when he had the chance.
Why had he ever allowed Graham to leave the pub without killing him?
d.a.m.n!
Nora"s heart pounded as she listened to the men brag to one another what they intended to do to her and Ewan. She was terrified of their insidious plan.
Guilt, horror, and anger warred within her. Over and over she saw Ryan in her mind.
As soon as she saw Graham, she"d known something was wrong, so she"d tried to run.
Rufus had caught her.
And Ryan, G.o.d have mercy on his soul, had finally found a moment of bravery. Seeing her threatened, he had reached for his sword.
But it hadn"t even cleared the scabbard before Graham ran him through with his dagger.
Ryan had staggered back, holding his stomach as blood poured from his body.
Nora had tried to help him, only to find Graham in her way.
"Do as I say, or I"ll give you worse than that."
Ryan had reached out to her with one bloodied hand, then he"d fallen to the ground, dead.
Nora sobbed at the memory.
Ryan was dead because of her, and now Ewan was taken. If she didn"t come up with some way to free him, he, too, would die.
And so would she.
Nay. Nay, she would never submit to these brigands. She was Eleanor"s niece. She was her father"s daughter. Ruffian Alexander Canmore might be, but no man had ever defeated him in battle or practice.
She would get them out of this.
And heaven have mercy on the MacKaids when she did.
They rode for hours until they came to an abandoned keep that appeared to have been burned down.
The skeleton of the building remained, but it looked far from safe. Weeds and vines covered the fallen and charred stones.
It was an evil place. An aura of death and decay clung to it.
Nora had never tasted real fear before, but she tasted it now. The place looked like a crypt. A place that had no purpose except to house dead remains.
The MacKaids dismounted, then carefully pulled Ewan from his horse.
Ewan glared at the men. Though he didn"t know how at the moment, he was determined to get them out of this.
And once he had Nora safe, all three of the brothers would pay for this. He would make sure of it.
Graham kept his dagger at Nora"s throat the entire time.
"One move," he warned.
It was a threat Ewan heeded.
They led him into the crumbling great hall and roughly forced him to kneel by the hearth. The only thing that made him obey was the knife at Nora"s neck.
Ewan didn"t take his eyes off it or her while Sean and Rufus tied him to an iron ring that was buried deep into the stones by the hearth.
Only then did the dagger come away from her neck. Ewan took a deep breath in relief.
Now the real fun could begin...
Graham smiled evilly at him. " "Tis a pity I can"t kill you now. But I have to make sure you stay alive until her ransom comes to us. Tell me, how would you kill her? Would you choke her? Cut her throat?"
Ewan eyed him with all the hatred he felt for the man. "You harm her, and so help me, I"ll defy death itself to rip your heart out."
Sean sucked his breath in sharply. "I can almost believe the rumors that say you"ve sold your soul to the devil when you look like that."
Ewan turned his black stare toward the man. "You can more than believe it, MacKaid. Harm her and I"ll introduce you to the devil myself."
"Leave them be, Sean, Graham," Rufus snapped. "Let us write the note to her father and see about putting this into motion. The sooner we get the message off, the closer we"ll be to having us a home again."
Graham shoved Nora toward Ewan and sheathed his dagger.
Nora fell to her knees by his side. The sight of her there, trembling, made him want their blood all the more.
"Don"t fret, Nora," he hastened to a.s.sure her. "I won"t let them hurt you."
"They killed Ryan," she said, her voice shaking as she cuddled up to his side like a child needing comfort.
Ewan winced at the news and wished his arms free so that he could hold her and soothe her worry and fear. "What happened?"
"After you left, I was talking to him when they came in. Ryan tried to keep them from taking me, and Graham stabbed him dead for it."
Tears were s.h.i.+ning brightly in her eyes, but to her credit, she held them back. "Oh Ewan, what have I done? I only wanted to go to Eleanor"s. I never meant for anyone to be harmed. The saints know I never really wanted Ryan dead. I just didn"t want to marry him, but I never truly meant for evil to befall him. He didn"t deserve to die like that. Not over me. Whatever will I tell his parents? His poor mother lives for him. She"ll never recover from this."
He nuzzled her head with his cheek, offering her what solace he could while bound to the wall. "Shh, love. None of this is your fault."
"Aye, it is. All of this is my fault. I never meant for Ryan to die. He was an annoying pest, but still..."
"He loved you."
"Nay," she said, holding on to his waist as she buried her head against his chest, "not really. We were childhood enemies in that our parents were always putting us together. We never got along."
Ewan glanced to Graham and Sean, who were arguing over what the letter to her father should say and over how much money they should ask for.
He had to find some way to get them out of this.
He wrenched at the ring that held him to the wall. It wiggled only enough to make him think that maybe he could work it free. Provided the MacKaids didn"t turn around and see what he was up to.
Nora saw him twisting at his ropes. She pulled back from him. "You"ll hurt yourself."
"I"ll heal."
She shook her head, then glanced around the overgrown floor where weeds and rocks were scattered.
She looked back at the MacKaids, who were still arguing, and motioned for Ewan to be silent.
He watched her go to a small pile of stones. After a few minutes, she returned with one.
But before she could hand it to him, Sean saw her.
"Give me that," he snapped, rus.h.i.+ng over to them and pulling it from her hand.
"What is it?" Graham asked as he joined them.
"The little tart was trying to help him escape."
Rufus came forward with a snarl. "I say we tie her up with him while we write the note."
"Aye," Graham agreed. He pulled his belt off and handed it to Sean. "Then after we finish with the note, what say we have a bit of fun with her?"
Ewan went cold. "Don"t even think it."
Graham smiled evilly. "Why not? She"s going to die as soon as we get the money. The only one who"ll ever know we tasted her is you, MacAllister. And you won"t be able to tell anyone after we cut your throat."
His smile widened as he eyed Ewan with malice. "That bothers you, doesn"t it? The thought of us using her? Aye. You used our sister and cast her off. The least we could do is return the favor."
"Your sister left him."
Ewan flinched at Nora"s words.
Graham drew back to hit her.
Ewan slung his leg out, knocking Graham away from her. "You touch her, and by all the powers of h.e.l.l, I"ll see you pay for it."
Graham walked over to Ewan. He raked a cold glare over his body, then kicked him hard in the ribs.
"Ewan!" Nora screamed.
Sean held her back.
Ewan grunted at the pain as he tried to shrug it off.
Graham would pay for that. When he got free, he was going to make sure this was the last mistake Graham ever made.
"You"re worthless, MacAllister," Graham sneered. "There"s nothing you can do to me now."
Ewan laughed at that, and the sound of it made all three MacKaids back away.
"You"ve no idea what I"m capable of, Graham MacKaid, because if you were, you"d be on your knees praying right now for the Lord to send His angels to protect you from me. I will see you dead." He looked to each of them. "All of you."