Page 36

M acDonells? Aileana’s heart leaped into her throat, and everything slowed as if in a dream.

She saw Duncan scowl, saw him lean in while he and Kinnon murmured, their golden-brown heads close together.

Then, without a backward glance, Duncan turned and left the chamber.

Kinnon started to follow him, but Aileana grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“Wait. I must speak with you.”

Kinnon looked none too happy, and he shook his head, indicating his need for haste.

“It will only take a moment, I promise.” She clutched his sleeve. “Please.”

“All right, then. But you must hurry. I need to stand with Duncan.”

She nodded, releasing his arm. “You must help free me from this chamber, Kinnon. I—”

“Nay, lass. I cannot do that,” he interrupted.

“But more than anyone here, you know what such confinement is to me. After all of those years at Dulhmeny…I—I cannot go on like this.” A hysterical edge had crept into her voice, but she couldn’t seem to quell it.

Kinnon shook his head, though his expression was sad.

“I know your feelings, lady, and I sympathize with your plight. But I will not go against Duncan in this. It is his decision to make.” He grasped her arm, leading her to the bench and guiding her to sit.

“Do you not see the trouble you created for yourself when you locked him in the storage room?”

Bewildered, Aileana shook her head. “Nay. It was unkind, I admit, but I regretted it almost as soon as it was done. I was planning to return and undo the harm when Duncan burst into the hall and dragged me away. He gave me no chance to explain.”

“No explanation would have sufficed.” Kinnon stared hard at her.

“Do you not realize that when Duncan was captured and taken to the Tower, he was kept in the most vile, filthy dungeon that his captors could find for him? He endured thirteen years of cold, disease and abuse—all imprisoned in a tiny room without benefit of light. He was tortured almost daily, but in between they kept him locked in complete darkness.”

The shadow that passed over Kinnon’s face gave Aileana just a glimpse of the harrowing memories he described. “You sent Duncan back to that time and place in his mind when you threw the bar on the storage chamber. And you cannot imagine the hell that you forced him to relive.”

A sick feeling began to spread through Aileana’s body, lodging in the pit of her belly.

“Duncan needs the light,” Kinnon added. “He needs fresh air and freedom. Have you not taken note of the many windows he ordered built into the castle? Did you not remark on his frequent bathing, or wonder at the many wall torches he commands be kept lit, morn, noon, and eve?” He frowned, his expression stern.

“What you made him remember was beyond reasoning.”

Without waiting for a reply, Kinnon gave Aileana a curt nod. “Now I must go, lady. Fare you well. And when the burden of your confinement becomes too steep, remember what I’ve told you and be thankful it wasn’t the worse for you.”

He left, and the key turned to lock her in once more.

Aileana sat, stunned, the realization of what she’d done sinking in now with a vengeance.

It was awful. Even more terrible than she’d imagined.

Duncan had suffered horribly at the hands of her sister and the English.

Then she’d brought all of it back to him through her own ignorant act against him.

Be that as it may, a voice inside asserted hotly, he has no right to coerce you like this. It is evil to make you choose between the Ealach and the safety of your clan .

Her hands clenched, and she felt the satisfying sting of her nails digging into her palms. Aye, it was true. Whether she’d hurt him or not, it was Duncan who was in the wrong now. Keeping her confined and threatening her…it wasn’t right. And she didn’t need to accept his treatment with submission.

She had to find a way to warn her clansmen about what he planned.

If she knew her brothers at all, they’d not want her to give Duncan the Ealach , even if it meant a clan war to resist. But forewarned, their chances of withstanding a raid would be much better.

Aileana scrambled to the bed and knelt, running her hands along the cool, smooth wood of the bed frame.

She grasped a strip of knotted fabric there and pulled.

A thin rope, one that she’d been twining these past three days from strips of cloth from her bed coverings and underskirts, slipped to the floor with a thud.

She looped the cord around her arm, counting each length and estimating how much more would be needed to provide her means to scale the wall outside the chamber window. She’d have to work quickly if she wanted to get word to her kin before the group of them returned to Dulhmeny.

A noise at the casement made her jump. She shoved the rope back under the bed, stood and made her way to the wall.

Cautiously, she peered out the clear, wavy panes, and what she saw made her almost faint dead away.

A man was hanging alongside the window, swinging back and forth.

For a moment, she thought he was dead. When he jerked, suddenly, her doubt resolved, but the sight of his face made her heart surge with both fear and relief.

Frantically, she worked the latch, tugging until she opened the window enough to allow him inside. With a few grunts and curses he dropped to the floor of her bedchamber, then straightened and pulled her into a hug that threatened to break her ribs.

“Little sister! It seems a lifetime since I looked upon your beautiful face!” He cupped her cheeks in his hands, pulling back to examine her.

“How have you been faring these weeks? We’ve been nigh unto death with worry over you.

” He scowled. “Has that bastard treated you well, or do I need to gullet him for his pains?”

“Gavin. Oh, Gavin, I’ve missed you!” Aileana’s breathless whisper escaped her in a rush, and she gazed into sparkling, laughing brown eyes that were so much like her own.

“I see your wounds have healed.” She ran her finger along the reddened creases above his brow and across his chin.

“But how did you get here? And where is Robert? Is he well?”

Gavin chuckled, then put his finger to his lips to indicate that they should be quiet. “If we keep asking each other questions with neither answering, we’ll never hear what needs to be said.”

A noise sounded from below, and his gaze swept nervously around the room, pausing at the door as if he feared someone might open it and come upon them.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “The door is fastened from the outside. We’ll hear it being undone and hide you before anyone can enter.”

“The cur has locked you in?” Gavin looked indignant.

“Aye, but only for the last few days. It is a long tale, and of little matter.” She shrugged, trying to lighten his mood. “Besides, it’s not as if I’ve never been confined to a chamber before.”

“That is beside the point,” Gavin mumbled as he pulled her down to sit next to him on the bench.

“I’m fine, Gavin. Truly. But why didn’t you send one of the others to come to me here with news?” she scolded. “Why risk coming yourself, when you know how Duncan feels about you?”

“Ach, it’s no danger. The MacRae doesn’t know that I’m anywhere near Eilean Donan.

” Gavin fixed his laughing eyes on her again.

“I’ve sneaked past many a wall in my day, little sister, and this one was no harder than any of the others.

Easier, actually, because of my purpose.

I’m here to spring you to freedom, Aileana. Just like when you were a wee lass.”

Before she could respond, he continued proudly, “It was my idea alone. I let it be known that I’d be joining the group to come here, once we healed and gathered enough strength to ride out again.

But I told Robert I’d wait behind in the woodland.

He’ll be surprised to see you, I warrant, when he returns with news and our plan of attack! ”

“Attack?” Aileana choked. “You’re planning to attack Eilean Donan?”

“Aye, of course.” Gavin got up and began to pace.

“But not until Robert decides our method. He and the men will be leaving the castle shortly, and we’ll discuss options in the glen after I’ve figured how to get you down the wall with me.

” He stopped pacing, glancing at her with concern.

“What is it, lass? You look a little green. Do you need some water?”

Shaking her head, Aileana pulled him to sit beside her again. “Nay—just tell me what foolishness you’re planning.”

Gavin frowned. “We won’t be attacking in the usual sense, if that’s what worries you.

Robert didn’t want to risk harm to you, and there aren’t enough MacDonell men that’s fit to do it right now.

” Gavin tapped his finger to his temple and winked.

“But leave it to your brothers, lass. We’ve a few ideas yet.

If he was going to be living long enough, the MacRae would curse the day he brought shame on you. ”

Aileana felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. “Dragon’s breath, Gavin MacDonell, just what is it you’re planning to do?”

“Why, we’re going to kill the MacRae, lass,” he said slowly, as if she lacked the wit to follow what he’d said. “Honor demands it. From the moment he took you, Duncan MacRae was a marked man.”

She shook her head, too horror-stricken to utter a sound.

“What? Why are you looking like that?” Gavin tipped her chin to look at him. “The bastard ruined you, little sister, and I mean to make him pay for his crime.”

“But you cannot kill him. I—I won’t allow it.”

“Ach, feel no tenderness for the scoundrel! He’s not worth—” He stopped suddenly, and shook his head in denial. “Don’t tell me the bastard’s got his child growing in you, already?”

A strange pang shot through her. “Nay, I don’t carry Duncan’s babe.”

“Then why are you so hell bent on saving him?”