Page 9 of The Dark Highlander’s Heart (Thorns Of The Highlands #2)

8

A deep and dreamless sleep overtook Katherine, and when the sound of a knock at the door woke her, she felt oddly refreshed, even if it took her a few moments to remember where she was. The rays of dappled sunlight that came in through the window were more crimson than they had been earlier, and they had changed position as well, indicating that several hours had passed and it was now late afternoon.

Another knock, more insistent, this time, and she suddenly recalled her situation and knew that she had better answer at once to prevent the person at the door from assuming she had attempted escape after all. “Aye?”

The door creaked open and Bryan peered in. “I didnae mean tae disturb ye. Were ye able tae get some rest?”

“Indeed I was.” Katherine realized that she was still lying in bed—an improper way for a lady to greet a male visitor. She sat up sharply, clutching the bedclothes around her. “That is, er, it seems I got a bit too much rest! I ought tae be up, and making myself more presentable!”

His eyes surveyed her reflexively, and then he lowered them, grinning sheepishly. “If ye say so, Lady Katherine, though for what it’s worth, ye look more than presentable tae me.” He caught himself, and cleared his throat uncomfortably. “What I mean tae say is, where we’re going, yer personal grooming will nae exactly be judged too harshly. If ye still wish tae see yer sister?”

“Oh, aye, I do!” Katherine rose from the bed and smoothed out her dress eagerly. “And ye are right, I dinnae need tae waste another moment fussing over my clothes and such, when those are moments I could be spending with her.” She quickly put an arisaid over her shoulders.

“In that case, permit me tae lead the way.” Bryan offered her the crook of his arm, as though inviting her to dance with him.

She accepted his arm, and he took her to the set of winding stone steps that led down to the main floors of Castle Oliphant, and beyond, into its deepest dungeons.

When they crossed the threshold that took them beneath ground level, Katherine could have sworn she felt a chill press in on all sides, like the cool of the grave. She was also surprised to feel the muscles in Bryan’s arm swiftly tighten and quiver beneath her grip, as though he had been plunged into a barrel of ice water.

She reasoned that this might have had something to do with the screams.

The sounds of them echoed and collided with each other in the stone passages up ahead; shrieks of pain and groans of dread, curses, and blasphemies muttered and whispered and roared, like the damned cries of Hell itself.

Katherine found herself listening keenly, trying to determine whether her sister’s voice was among them. As far as she could tell, it was not.

She turned to peer at his face, and even in the encroaching subterranean gloom, she could make out the tightness of his expression. He had the look of a man who was desperately trying not to show emotion.

“Surely ye have been down here many times before?” she inquired, frowning with confusion.

The question seemed to almost startle him, as though he had momentarily forgotten who was with him or what their reason was for visiting the dungeons in the first place.

“Aye, many times,” he confirmed with a shaky nod. “And yet my wits seem to desert me anew each time, as ye have apparently noticed.”

Katherine patted his arm gently. “There is no shame in it. All men have things which they fear, and many are not nearly so reasonable or understandable as this dreadful place. Fear of captivity is common enough, particularly among those who inflict it upon others.”

His eyebrows went up, and he laughed in spite of himself. “Ye claim that my fear comes from some silly sense of guilt with regard tae Romilly’s imprisonment? As though she does not deserve such a fate for the vile acts she committed?”

She held up a hand placatingly, privately appreciating how easily she was able to provoke him when she had a mind to. She hoped this might come in handy later, but more than that, she simply enjoyed bringing a look of consternation to that self-confident face of his.

“I make no such judgments, and the very last thing I would wish tae do is insult or offend ye,” she replied smoothly. “I merely point out that the work of a jailer is difficult indeed. Tae subject yerself tae such heinous conditions.” She made a show of shivering. “My sister is lucky, indeed, tae have one as sensitive and caring as yerself in charge of her keeping.”

“So,” he said, firmly changing the subject, “how did ye pass the time? Were ye able tae find anything in the library tae take tae yer room with ye?”

“I was unaware that I was permitted tae do so,” she answered, “but now that I know, perhaps I shall avail myself of it before I retire for the night. With yer kind indulgence, of course. Now, will ye likewise tell me how ye have been occupied this afternoon? Plotting the downfall and demise of my people, I expect?”

“Quite the contrary,” he corrected her. “Considering every plot available tae me that might prevent any bloodshed between us whatsoever. Ye have had a chance tae see our lands and people, Lady Katherine. Do we appear tae be such warlike beasts tae ye? Do we sound, and act like animals, eager to maim and destroy our neighbor?”

She scoffed. “I have barely been here a day, Captain. And while this place and its people do seem pleasant, far more so than I might previously have believed, given all my father told me of the Oliphants. I would be a simple-minded thing indeed if I allowed my opinion of yer clan tae be swayed so easily.”

“Fair enough,” he conceded. “Come, we have almost arrived.”

They had reached a long corridor of dank and dripping stone, fashioned wide enough so that those who walked freely on the far-right side of it could avoid the grasping hands and flying spit from the prisoners caged on the left. The horrendous noise felt like ragged fingernails scraping Katherine’s eardrums, and it took all of her self-control to keep from clapping her hands to the sides of her head as tightly as she could.

There were over a dozen men occupying the narrow caged chambers. They were dressed in rags and tatters, their flesh was ghostly, their teeth were yellow, their hair was tangled and filthy, and their eyes were as wild and inhuman as those of a frenzied flock of bats in the moonlight. Their pleas and threats mingled together into a single howl that was at once pitiable and monstrous.

“Now ye see why I tend tae shudder whenever I have tae come down here,” Bryan remarked.

Katherine nodded slowly. The idea that her sister was confined in this awful place, surrounded by this terrible din all day and night—to say nothing of the noxious smells which filled the air—was almost more than she could bear.

At last, they reached the cell at the farthest end of the dungeon, where Romilly stood at the bars, waiting for them.

“Ye must pass all of these other cells to get to hers every time ye speak with her?” Katherine sounded horrified.

“Aye.” Bryan’s tone was grim. “I sometimes wonder if Laird Alex arranged it that way merely tae bedevil me.”

Katherine stared ahead at Romilly, her eyes still adjusting to the shadows of the dungeon.

Her older sister's condition was not quite as dire as Katherine had imagined; all of her teeth were still in place, and though her clothes were soiled and tattered, and her hair was a matted mess, her face was much the same as it had been the last time Katherine saw her. It was mostly Romilly’s eyes that had changed, for their sockets had turned deep and hollow, and what burned from within them appeared to be the worst sort of madness.

Had this place transformed her so grievously that it had infected her with that grotesque insanity which now seemed to hold her tightly in its grip? Or had it always been lurking within her, looking for an excuse to come out and show itself?

The thought was an ugly one, and Katherine did her best to push it aside, choosing instead to focus on her happiness at seeing Romilly again at all.

For her part, Romilly squinted through the bars of her enclosure at her approaching visitors. When she saw who Bryan had with him, several different emotions seemed to wage war across her face all at once; confusion, relief, happiness, and concern.

“What is this?” Romilly exclaimed. “Did our father send ye as some envoy, tae negotiate peace in exchange for my release? Or are ye captured now, as I have been? Oh, please dinnae tell me they intend tae lock ye in this ghastly place alongside me.”

When Katherine got close enough, she reached through the bars to embrace her sister. Romilly hesitated a moment. She and Katherine had not shared a hug in many years, and Katherine had no doubt that doing so in this place seemed to her to be the height of strangeness and absurdity.

Nevertheless, Romilly relented, allowing herself to be held and putting her own arms through the bars to return the gesture. Bryan looked on with a neutral expression on his face, but Katherine did not care, given how relieved she was to see Romilly alive again.

Even in these horrid surroundings.

“‘Tis rather more complicated than any of that, Sister,” Katherine began hesitantly. “I was riding back from one of the villages when this man swept me off my horse and took me with him.”

“So,” Romilly turned to Bryan and snarled. “Not enough, then, for ye tae serve a hateful tyrant and endlessly torment and berate a woman ye hold captive. No, now ye have become an abductor of innocents. Naught but a loathsome and underhanded kidnapper. This is what the supposed ‘honor’ of the Oliphants has fallen to!”

“Ye are not one tae talk tae me of ‘honor’ or ‘innocents,’ witch,” Bryan shot back. “Not after the depraved scheme ye hatched with yer father, tae butcher a woman who had done nothing tae ye!”

Romilly made a point of ignoring his comment, and returned her full attention to Katherine instead. “So it’s true, then! Ye are tae be a prisoner here. Well, fear not, my sister. I have endured all this time, and I shall do everything in my power to make sure this wretched place does not break ye down any more than it has me.”

“She is not tae be confined tae the dungeon,” Bryan spoke up again. “We do not believe there shall be any need of that, based on her good behavior thus far.”

Romilly scowled at Katherine in disbelief. “Surely, this cannae mean that ye intend tae betray yer own clan? That ye mean tae assist this lot in bringing down the banners of our father, our family, our people?”

“Nothing of the sort, Romilly, I assure ye!” But even as she gave this answer, Katherine’s stomach twisted and clenched. The possibility of doing exactly that had occurred to her more than once since her arrival, and she had not yet settled on the matter one way or the other.

“It is simply that they feel they can trust me with more comfortable accommodations during my stay with them, rather than force me tae exist down here.”

“Ye mean they intend tae keep the daughters of Angus McGregor separate from each other,” Romilly screeched. “Aye, well, that makes terrific sense. Ye wouldn’t want us plotting together or anything so dangerous as that. Nay, better by far tae try tae turn us against each other.”

“No one is attempting tae do any such thing,” Katherine tried to explain in her most rational tone. Inwardly, she was growing more apprehensive by the moment. “They know better than tae try tae drive a wedge between us. Indeed, it is out of respect for our closeness that they have allowed me tae visit ye.”

Romilly shook her head fiercely, and the dirty stands of her hair whipped around her face like a maelstrom.

“Oh, my poor little sister, do ye not see the depths of their scheming, their manipulation and treachery? They have not brought ye down here as any sort of courtesy, or because they respect our love for each other. Nay, they have allowed ye tae see me so that ye may be warned of what fate shall await ye if ye displease or disobey them. They want ye tae see for yerself the punishment for defying them. Katherine, ‘tis better that ye simply tell them now ye will have no part in their plans against our clan. That ye reject their offers of comfort and clemency, for they will never purchase yer loyalty. That they may as well confine ye here with me and be done with it, for all the good their sugared words and pretty gestures will do in winning ye over.”

“Ye merely wish tae share yer own misery with yer sister, ye spiteful hag,” Bryan spat. “Ye would deprive her of a warm bed and fine surroundings, and ye will do so in the name of yer family’s honor and her loyalty, merely so ye will nae have tae endure down here alone.”

“There, ye see?” Romilly pointed at Bryan through the bars, and it was the first time Katherine noticed that her sister’s fingernails were broken and ragged, as though she had been attempting to claw her way out of her cell through solid stone. “They think they can turn ye against me by saying such things. They believe that they can convince ye I am a madwoman.”

She drew nearer to the bars and gazed at Katherine imploringly. “But ye and I have known each other too well for them tae get away with that, isn’t that so, sister? Surely ye know that I am of sound mind? That I always have been?”

Katherine nodded reflexively, for the last thing she wanted was to add to her poor sibling’s torment.

Inwardly, however, she was deeply conflicted.

Yes, they had spent their childhoods together, but during that time, how close had they truly been? They’d been friends in the early years, but it was not long after that Romilly immersed herself entirely in their father’s tutelage, to the point of neglecting Katherine almost completely—when she wasn’t teasing her for being weak, or refusing to take part in Laird Angus’s mad schemes.

Could Katherine truly say that her sister hadn’t taken leave of her senses? That, indeed, she might not have been a bit of a madwoman all along, having been infected by their father’s unhealthy obsession with the conquest of the Oliphants?

“I do not claim that ye have taken leave of yer sanity,” Katherine assured her quietly. “I merely ask that, now that ye have a bit of distance from our father, ye ask yerself whether his motives have been worthy. Whether a war against the Oliphants has ever been truly necessary or warranted. These people have committed no crime against us. They dinnae attack our villages or set our farms aflame. Can our father make those same claims, or have we seen him carry out unprovoked assaults on neighboring clans in the name of strengthening ours? Can ye not see that it is madness tae continue these hostilities?” Katherine took Romilly’s hand. “All ye need do is reject his dreadful teachings and work with me tae make peace, and ye will no longer be forced tae rot in this awful place. We could go home together!”

Romilly yanked her hand away with a look of disgust, as though she had accidentally shoved it into something revolting. “Listen tae ye! They have already poisoned yer mind; made ye talk like some sort of traitor, eager tae turn on her own kin! But why should I have expected anything else from a soft little weakling like ye, eh, Katherine? Ye, who never showed a scrap of the dedication to our clan that I have. Ye, who rejected our father’s teachings at every turn. Very well! Be a coward and a disloyal whelp, and see where that gets ye.”

Katherine took several steps back from the bars, feeling the blood drain from her face. No, she and her sister had not been nearly as close as she would have liked these past years. But even so, she had still been under the impression that she truly knew Romilly.

She saw now, to her abject horror, that she had been mistaken.

For this twisted and grotesque parody of her sister that stood before her confounded and sickened her. There was no reasoning with her, no appealing to her better nature, for all sense and morality seemed to have deserted her entirely.

Still, she could not abandon her to this setting without one final word, in an attempt at reconciliation. “I pray that ye will reconsider, Romilly. And until ye do, I shall continue tae visit ye here, and try tae convince ye that abandoning this hatred for the Oliphants is the right thing tae do.”

As she turned and began to walk away, Romilly’s baneful shrieks followed her. “Ye may save yerself the bother and never come back down here again if ye intend tae join the chorus of Oliphant voices that insist I must relent! For I never will, do ye hear me? In the name of our father, in the name of the McGregors, I will remain defiant even if it means I am to be confined here for a hundred years! My very bones will defy the Oliphants as the rats gnaw the last of the flesh from them! And with my final breath, Katherine McGregor, I shall call ye a vile betrayer!”

Katherine walked back up the stone steps with Bryan at her side, but she felt as though the pit of her stomach remained behind in the dungeons, cold and clenched.

Was she a traitor?