Page 53 of The Icy Highlander’s Virgin (Highlanders’ Feisty Brides #4)

CHAPTER TWO

“ C ome on, ye beast. I ken ye can go faster. Ye would race with me faither on yer back and fly like the wind. We need ye to be that grand again. Please,” Lavina begged the horse as if it could understand.

But the truth was, she needed the encouragement. The chances of leaving unseen were slim to none. If they were to make it through the night, they’d need speed and distance.

Lavina glanced up at the sky, and for the first time in her life, she was grateful for the heavy clouds. Although the rain was icy and pricked her bare hands like needles, it was better than the lashing she’d get if they were caught.

“Come on, ye mule,” she grumbled.

“Ye cannae talk to it like that,” Maisie protested as she leaned closer to the horse and stroked its neck.

Lavina couldn’t hear what her sister spoke over the wind that wailed like a woman in mourning, but whatever it was, the horse responded.

In a sudden flurry of excitement, the beast picked up its pace. The low-hanging branches of the pine tree whipped at Lavina’s cloak and hair. They felt like blades scratching her skin as the horse charged onward.

The forest loomed on either side of the narrow trail, dense and unforgiving. The moonlight struggled to pierce through the thick canopy above. Twigs cracked beneath the hooves of their mount, but even the rhythmic pounding of the stallion’s hooves could not drown out the pounding of Lavina’s heart.

She clung tighter to her sister. Maisie’s small form shivered before her, wrapped in nothing but a thin cloak.

Lavina’s breaths were shallow and quick, and her fingers were numb as they curled around the saddle’s edge. Her hands were raw from the cold, but she dared not stop. Not now. Not when the fate of her sister—no, their very lives—depended on how far they could ride.

“Lavina…” Maisie’s voice was barely a whisper, lost beneath the rumble of thunder overhead and Lavina’s troubling thoughts.

“Hold on, love,” Lavina murmured into her ear. “We’re almost there.”

But in truth, she didn’t know where there was.

Every shadow in the wood looked like a guard. Every gust of wind whispered of Micah’s wrath. They had sped past the old bell tower an hour ago—or had it only been minutes?

Time was warping around her, drawn tight with dread and tainted with uncertainty. The terrain had grown rockier, more treacherous, and the horse was beginning to tire.

“Oh, please, ye cannae give up now,” Lavina moaned as a bolt of lightning split the sky and illuminated the woods in a ghostly flash.

For a heartbeat, the entire world glowed silver. Then, darkness slammed down once more, thicker and deadlier than before. The heavens opened and spilled their contents over them.

Lavina pulled the hood over her sister’s head and bent low, steering the horse to the left, where she prayed she remembered a path to shelter.

Somewhere to hide. Somewhere safe , out of the rain and out of sight. But where? The moors were hostile to anyone unfamiliar with their secret paths.

“I cannae feel me toes,” Maisie whimpered. “Lavina, we cannae keep goin’ like this.”

“I ken. But where?”

“The ruins? On the eastern border,” Maisie suggested.

Lavina froze. That part of the land butted against McGowan lands, and there was no way in hell she would go near such a place. The mere thought of it caused her blood to run cold.

“We’re nae goin’ to the ruins.”

“Then the mill. If we’re on the western side, we can take shelter in the mill. It hasnae been used in years,” Maisie said, her voice barely carrying over the storm.

The mill. It wasn’t that far now, was it?

“Please let it still be standing,” Lavina whispered, not sure if she was speaking to the Lord or her own desperate heart.

She remembered the stories her father told of a crumbling watchtower hidden near the cliffs at the edge of the Lewis lands. A remnant from long before their time—weathered, forgotten, and possibly shelter enough to keep them alive until morning.

Her prayers were answered a few moments later when she spotted the jagged silhouette rising like a blackened tooth from the hillside.

The stone tower leaned as if it had grown weary of holding up the sky, and one side had collapsed into rubble. A crooked wall still stood, wrapped in moss, as though nature had taken pity on the structure and tried to clothe its shame.

Lavina urged the stallion forward as she tried to tame the wild thumping of her frantic heart, which soared with hope.

The path narrowed as they climbed toward the ruins. The grass was slick under the horse’s hooves, threatening to send the sisters tumbling into the muck and mire.

“Easy there,” Lavina soothed, holding onto the reins for dear life.

The horse’s footing was unsteady, causing her blood to freeze along with the rain. Maisie let out a frightened gasp.

“Just a bit more,” Lavina promised, more to herself than the horse. But the rain was heavy and relentless, making it nearly impossible to see to the top. “Just a little more.”

“There,” Maisie said, her bony finger trembling in the mist and rain. “I see it.”

“Nay,” Lavina gasped and shook her head. “It cannae be.”

“What’s wrong?” Maisie asked. “It looks like a place we can rest for a moment. If nae for the night.”

“We cannae go there,” Lavina said. “We’ve been goin’ the wrong way. Oh God, we’re on the wrong side of the land. I thought we were goin’ north, but we’ve been travelin’ east.”

“Lavina, what does that mean?” Maisie asked, her teeth chattering fiercely. “Are we nae goin’? Lavina? Please, we need to rest. The horse needs to rest.”

“I ken, but…” Lavina glanced at her sister before her attention drifted to where she had last seen the ruins. It was the only shelter for miles, the only haven they could go to. “We cannae stay long.”

When they reached the crumbled archway, Lavina dismounted, her boots squelching in the mud. She helped Maisie down, her arms trembling from the ride and exhaustion she didn’t have time to feel.

The interior of the old tower was dark, the roof mostly gone, allowing rain to fall freely on the cracked stone floor. One wall was half intact, offering some shelter from the wind. It wasn’t much, but it was more than they’d had minutes ago.

She found a corner where the wind didn’t bite so fiercely and pulled Maisie down with her, wrapping her cloak around them both. The air inside the ruins was damp and smelled of mildew and moss, but at least it offered stillness. Stillness and the illusion of safety.

Maisie huddled close, her lips tinted blue. “Ye ken he’s goin’ to come after us, right? Chances are, he’s already sent out men to search for us.”

“I didnae see any sign of the gates bein’ raised, or the horses bein’ mounted.

We have a few hours to rest. I suggest we try to do that.

” Lavina pressed a kiss on her sister’s forehead.

“Now, dinnae fash. We’ve got a way to go still, and we’ve got to be smart about it.

Besides, he’d never think to look this far into the hills in the middle of a storm. ”

But even as she said it, a shiver crawled down her spine—something deeper than the cold. The kind of instinct she couldn’t ignore.

A sharp snap sounded outside the ruin and echoed through the area. Lavina froze, and her breath caught in her lungs. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Maisie stiffening against her with the same expression of terror on her face.

A heartbeat later, a voice rang out—gruff, accented, and dripping with contempt. “Ye can stop hidin’; we saw ye come in here. Ye’ve led us on a merry chase, but we found ye. If ye dinnae want to experience the full force of our ire, I suggest ye both crawl out. Now .”

Lavina’s blood ran cold as her hand fell into Maisie’s.

She slowly turned her head, her eyes searching through the rain-drenched dark beyond the crumbling wall. And then she saw him. A tall man, broad-shouldered, wrapped in a dark cloak soaked through with rain.

He stepped through the broken arch like a specter summoned by fear alone. His beard was dripping with water, and his drenched hair was plastered to his face. But it was the jagged scar that split the skin beside one eye that struck fear into her heart.

Maisie whimpered, pulling Lavina’s attention off the scarred stranger and to the left. There, a second man approached.

Lavina rose, stepping protectively in front of her sister.

“Step away from the girl,” the first man commanded, his voice low like rolling thunder. “She’s nae for ye to shield.”

“And if ye think ye can take her, ye’ve got another thing comin’. I’ll nae let ye lay a finger on her. Ye’ll have to kill me first,” Lavina snapped, gathering every ounce of courage she possessed.

The scarred man tilted his head, amused. “Oh, we were told ye might put up a bit of a fight. Nae that I mind one bit. I like it when they squirm. Get them.”

Lavina’s stomach twisted. “ Run. And dinnae look back . ”

“Dinnae let them get past,” the scarred man snapped as more men came out of the shadows like demons. “Round them up. Our orders are nae to harm the youngest. But the eldest sister, we can do with her as we please.”

“The more ye resist, the harsher the punishment for ye, lass. Give up yer sister, and I promise I’ll go easy on ye… the first night,” another man said. The mockery in his voice was as thick as the mud around their boots.

Lavina glanced at her sister as Maisie climbed over the ruins in a mad dash for the deep shadows of the forest. “Ye tell that snake that if he wants me, he can come drag me back himself.”

The third man laughed, the sound cruel and taunting. “He doesnae have to, Me Lady. That’s what we’re here for.”

Lavina pushed Maisie, trying to help her over the rugged ruins and scattered boulders.

“Maisie, I’m goin’ to need ye to get goin’. We’re runnin’ out of space here. He’s right there,” Lavina hissed.

Maisie struggled for a bit but managed to climb over the last of the ruins.

Quickly, Lavina scrambled up after her, but the men were right behind them.

Lavina started breathing hard as she realized she might not get over the ruins in time.

Just as Micah’s men reached for Lavina’s dangling foot, Maisie helped pull her up over the ruins.

Lavina winced as loose stones dug into her flesh, but there was no time to check for bruises or scrapes, not when their lives were so close to being altered in ways Lavina didn’t want to think about.

Lavina grabbed Maisie’s hand. “We need to go.”

“Aye,” Maisie panted.

Lavina pulled her sister behind her as she taunted her uncle’s men. “Ye’ll have to kill me before I let ye touch her.”

“Oh, now ye’ve gone and made things dramatic,” the scarred man sneered, before he lunged toward her, nearly snagging her in his arms.

The horse, still tethered nearby, neighed and stomped the ground, sensing the tension.

Lavina’s mind raced. There had to be a way out. The ruins offered no weapons. She had no sword, no dagger, not even a sharp stick. But she had fire. Not literal flame, perhaps, but something inside her that refused to break.

“When I tell ye, ye need to go,” she whispered to Maisie. “Ye see the trees over there? Ye’ll run to them and hide in the shrubs. Whatever ye do, dinnae come out until I give ye the all clear. Do ye understand?”

Maisie gripped her hand. “But?—”

“Now, Maisie!”

Lavina lunged forward, straight toward the larger man. It startled him, giving Maisie the precious seconds she needed to bolt through a gap in the stone wall. The smaller man cursed and gave chase.

The scarred man grabbed Lavina by the wrist, yanking her close.

“That was foolish,” he growled, rain dripping from his brow onto hers. “We were told to keep the young one unharmed, but ye , we can do with as we please. So ye had better nae tempt me if I were ye.”

“Let go of me!” she spat, twisting in his grasp and kicking at his shins.

The thunder overhead cracked like cannon fire.

In the chaos, the horse reared, its hooves striking out. The man flinched, and Lavina used the moment to wrench free and dash into the shadows beyond the tower wall.

She didn’t know where Maisie had gone, didn’t know if the guards would catch her. All she knew was that she had to find her sister before they did.

She ran.

Branches slapped her cheeks. Roots clutched at her feet. She scrambled through mud, soaked to the bone, her breath coming in sharp bursts.

Then, just ahead, she saw a flicker of movement.

“Maisie!” she cried.

The girl was crouched behind a fallen log, her eyes wide with fear. Lavina reached her just as footsteps pounded behind them.

Too close.

Too fast.

She grabbed Maisie’s hand, and they took off, ducking under low-hanging branches, weaving between trees, until they reached the edge of the ridge. Below them, the forest opened into a wide valley—one she recognized.

They were near the old shepherd’s trail. If they followed it, they might reach the lowland lochs by dawn.

“Come on,” Lavina urged. “We cannae stop now.”

Behind them, a furious voice shouted through the storm, “Ye’ll nae escape, lass! We’ll find ye, and when we do?—”

But Lavina didn’t wait to hear the rest.

She tightened her grip on Maisie, pulled her cloak tighter against the wind, and ran down the trail, vanishing into the night.