Page 49 of The Chief's Wild Promise
A snort followed. “Not long,” Rae muttered. “This is a holding place … Campbell will have something else in store for us, I’m sure.”
Rae’s words were ominous, yet none of them contradicted him.
“Aye … this pit is for show,” Alec agreed. His tone was unusually subdued. “He put it in his hall for a reason.”
Bran swallowed a curse. “Who does that?”
“Black Duncan.” Captain Walker spoke up for the first time. “I’d heard the tales … but thought them exaggerations. Long have folk whispered of how he beheads prisoners for visitors.”
Alec harrumphed. “A bit of light entertainment, eh?”
Bran suppressed a shiver as he recalled the shallow stone-lined pit just a few feet from this one. “Looks like there was some truth to those tales.”
“Aye,” Walker replied, his voice grim. “It would seem so.”
Aodh, the second of the two MacGregor warriors who’d been captured, growled an oath. “Well, that’s it … we’re all done for.”
A brittle silence fell then as each prisoner wrestled with the knowledge they’d soon be executed. And as the moments slid by, Bran could feel the hope leaching from his companions.
Clenching his jaw, he fought the same despair. No, he wouldn’t resign himself to his fate. He’d fight until his last breath.
“So, lads,” Lloyd said finally, rousing them from their brooding. “Any regrets?”
“Regrets?” Aodh asked, his voice thin with barely disguised fear.
“Aye … we’re likely to meet our maker tomorrow. Is there anything ye’d do differently?”
Silence followed this comment, stretching out until Aodh made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. “I wish I’d had the balls to ask Elsie Grant to wed me.”
“Malcolm the blacksmith’s wife?” Mungo asked incredulously.
“Aye … I’ve been soft on her for years but was too proud to say so … andhegot in first.”
“I wish I’d joined the Bruce’s cause,” Mungo added after a brief pause. “My brother went, and I always felt like a fazart for not following him.” He halted then before asking, “What about ye, Captain?”
Lloyd gave a soft snort. However, there was no hesitation when he answered, “I wish I’d been a better husband.”
“Aye?” Rae asked.
“Aye.” There was an edge to the captain’s voice now. “Freya was a good woman … but I tried to change her. We fought like pit dogs as a result.”
Bran’s stomach clenched at this admission. Walker didn’t realize it, but that comment was a little too close to the bone. “She’s gone then?” he asked gruffly.
“Aye … two summers past. Life hasn’t been the same since.” Lloyd’s words were softly spoken, yet there was no mistaking the pain in them.
Silence filled the dark pit until, finally, Rae cleared his throat. “I had many regrets … once,” he murmured. “About my family, my first wife … my choices. I used to carry them on my back … but ever since meeting Kylie, I’ve let many go.” He paused then. “And ye, Alec?”
“A pirate doesn’t let himself have regrets,” Alec replied after a few moments. A wry edge crept into his voice as he continued, “Quickest way to get him killed.”
Bran pulled a face. Why wasn’t he surprised by his attitude? “So, ye regret nothing, do ye, Rankin?”He couldn’t help but make the dig. After all, he shared a pit with his father’s murderer and couldn’t bring himself to forget it.
“Ending yer father’s life, ye mean?” Rankin replied smoothly.
Bran flushed hot. “Aye.”
A pause followed, and when the pirate answered, his voice was serious. “There have been men I’ve killed over the years that didn’t have it coming … but yer father did.”
Bran glared at Alec’s dark form, seated directly opposite him in the pit.