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She said the last bit with a tone of superiority that brought Aileana to her feet. She faced her sister, trying to stand firm against the wave of dizziness that swept over her. “Duncan may be many things, Morgana, but tyrannical is not one of them.”

“How touching. Such faith in a man. I would not have deemed you quite so naive, despite your years of seclusion.”

“Believing in Duncan is not foolish.”

“I’m so glad that is how you feel. It will make everything that much more…

satisfying.” Morgana’s brow arched wickedly, and she paused, the silence pregnant with an emotion Aileana couldn’t name.

Then, as if she’d suddenly decided to tell a secret, Morgana murmured, “Did you really think I’d waste my time keeping you alive without profiting by it? ”

Aileana made a scoffing sound, then groaned as the effort sent a stabbing ache behind her eyes.

“I don’t know what game you play, Morgana, and I don’t care.

You disgust me, with your plans and plots.

It is all for evil.” She straightened, determined to show a strong front.

“Didn’t your spies tell you that I’ve spent the last decade trying to be sure that everyone realized I’m nothing like you? ”

“Mayhap it would have been better for you if you were,” Morgana snapped.

“As it stands, your stupidity has made you a lure for catching the one person you’d most wish to keep safe.

” She grinned. “But now I have him and you, too. It’s only a matter of what I’m to do with you both after I’ve had my fun.

” Swinging a key on a silken rope, Morgana swayed to the door.

“Wait!” Dread filled Aileana as Morgana stopped, turning to her with a smirk.

“Ach, I’ve finally gotten your attention, have I?” She shook her head and made a clicking sound.

Aileana kept silent, driven to let the taunt pass by her need to know if what she feared was true.

Morgana’s expression took on a diabolic light. “I think you know what I’m saying to you.” A slow smile spread across her face. “The truth is that your beloved Duncan is here as we speak. Secure in the dungeon below and suffering the torments of the damned.”

When Aileana sucked in her breath with horror, Morgana laughed. “The greater beauty of it is that I got him to surrender without a fight. He came in alone, without Kinnon or any of the others.”

“Why would he do something like that?” Aileana breathed the question, not wanting to believe Morgana’s lies, not wanting to hear any more. She knew better than anyone that Duncan would never have attempted Morgana’s castle alone. Not without good reason. Not unless…

“I offered you as bait, of course. It was why I took his betrothal ring from you, as proof that I had you imprisoned here. I told him that if he wanted to keep you alive, he would go willingly into my dungeon.” She scoffed. “Of course he did. A lamb to the slaughter, it was so easy.”

Sinking to the pallet again, Aileana threaded her fingers together. “Nay,” she whispered. “It cannot be.”

“Aye, Aileana. Revenge is in my blood, as much as any man’s in the Highlands.

” Morgana yanked open the door, pausing for an instant to take hold of the bar she would use to lock it from the outside.

“Now all of my plans are complete. After today, I’ll have my vengeance on everyone who tried to stop me,” she skewered Aileana with her gaze, “including you, little sister.”

A shadow passed over her features, then, but vanished before Aileana was even certain she’d seen it. “Enjoy your remaining moments of solitude. You’ll be having a visitor soon enough, while I’m working with the Ealach .” A flat smile contorted her face again. “I’m sure you understand.”

And then she was gone, the door locking with a hollow thud of the bar dropping home. A shudder rippled over Aileana, caused by a chill deeper than the temperature of the damp chamber. It was something else…

A tingle of shock shot through her. Samhain! Memory snapped back into place, and with it a quick calculation of days. There was no mistake. Today was Samhain —the sorceress’s high holy day. The day Morgana would invoke the Ealach ’s power.

Heaven help her, but she had to free Duncan and stop Morgana before it was too late.

Wrapping her arms round herself, she let her gaze sweep the room.

It was empty, but for a small table with two candles and the pallet.

A single window broke the monotony of gray wall, its view facing west, if her sense of direction held true.

Hurrying over to it, Aileana un-latched the shutter to peer out, hoping to find a means of escape.

Chill wind rushed at her through the casement, almost robbing her of breath with its bite.

It forced her to squint to see what lay beyond the castle boundary.

She crossed her hands to her shoulders for warmth, gritting her teeth as she stared at the barren landscape of rock and salt-crusted sea grasses that stretched to the edge of a cliff not thirty paces from the wall.

Beyond that she saw waves, their white tips curling above the gray surf.

They seemed to pull back and crash, again and again, into the ragged rock that formed the land here.

It was as cold and unforgiving a landscape as her sister’s black heart.

Another shiver tore through her, but when she tried to pull the shutter closed, the brittle wood snapped in half.

Securing what remained of it over the gaping hole, Aileana stepped away, looking at the sun through the broken portion.

It was at the edge of its arc, preparing for final descent on the horizon.

Her time was almost up.

If she couldn’t escape, find Duncan, and stop Morgana before the sun set, all would be lost. When darkness fell, Morgana would cast her spell with the Ealach . And heaven help them all, but no one knew what damage Morgana might be able to wreak with the amulet at her will.

Panic twisted her heart, followed by guilt. Duncan . His name ripped through her with a vengeance. She remembered his torment the day she’d locked him in the storage chamber. Morgana’s dungeon would be much worse, surely. Like the Tower all over again, and it was all her fault.

Shaking her head to stop the voices, Aileana wrapped her arms round her waist. Recriminations weren’t helping. She needed to find a way to get to Duncan and—

“That worried pose becomes you.”

Aileana whirled to face her intruder; the bar must have been lifted so quietly that she hadn’t heard it.

Colin leaned against the door, his large, muscular shape filling up the entire opening.

He’d crossed one foot over the other, and his bulging arms folded across his chest. Tilt ing his head, he smiled, but the expression failed to reach his gaze.

The black patch covering his missing eye added to his sinister aura.

“Why have you come here?” she asked. Her voice sounded strangely loud in the empty chamber.

Colin’s smile deepened. “My reasons are personal.” He pushed off the door and took several steps into the room, making Aileana move back until she felt the wall behind her.

Fear rose in her throat. She swallowed, pressing her palms flat to the cool stone.

Her heart thudded painfully in her chest, struggling, it seemed, against the confines of her ribs. She felt trapped.

“What do you want of me?” She fought to sound normal, to keep her tone calm.

“I don’t want much, Aileana MacDonell. Only to know you better.” He moved a step closer, and a smile flirted over his lips. “In the same way that my dear brother does.”

He stood less than three paces away now, and Aileana sensed the energy, the coiled strength that rippled beneath the surface of his massive frame.

She feared him in a way she’d never feared Duncan.

Even at the beginning, even that first day with Duncan, when she’d stood naked in the glen…

even the first night at Eilean Donan, she’d known that he would never take pleasure in hurting her. She’d sensed that in him.

But Colin would; she could see that clearly. He’d enjoy every second of pain and terror he could make her feel.

Mustering the tattered remnants of her bravado, Aileana pulled back her shoulders, balling her hands into fists at her sides. She called upon a haughty stare, reminiscent of Morgana’s, and leveled it at Colin. “I’m in no mood for conversation. I’m tired, and I wish to sleep. Leave me.”

For an instant she thought her ploy had worked.

Colin’s mouth slackened, and a shadow of doubt darkened his eye.

But then he scowled and made a low noise in his throat, and Aileana knew she’d failed.

Glaring at her like a wild boar preparing to attack its prey, Colin narrowed the distance between them.

“Do not think to toy with me, wench. You’re no Morgana.

” He pierced her with his gaze, his stare hard and dark.

“And I am no Duncan. Haven’t you unraveled it yet?

You’re to serve as your sister’s peace offering to me—a boon to repay my efforts on her behalf.

You’re my prize, to sample at my leisure.

So if any commands are issued between us, they’ll be coming from me. ”

Aileana couldn’t stop the nausea that rolled up from her stomach. Her mind spun through what he’d just said, but his words jangled like music out of tune. “Morgana gave me to you?”

“Aye, she did.” He grabbed her by the upper arms, pulling her to him. “And I never turn my back on a gift.”

Struggling to keep his mouth from finding her own, Aileana twisted and writhed. It was like struggling in the grasp of a demon. His chest felt immovable, his arms clamping her into position. Only she sensed that Colin didn’t plan to kill her right away. Nay, he intended to play with her first.

Frantically, she wedged her foot against the wall, trying to gain enough leverage to push him away.

But he was too strong. He grasped a handful of her hair and yanked, making tears spring to her eyes and forcing her to arch sideways.

Then he pressed his mouth to her exposed neck, lavishing her with wet, brutal kisses, and pulling back his lips to nip her with his teeth as he got closer to her ear.

“You’ve the taste of a glen breeze, wench,” he whispered, the sound grating harsh into her brain.

“And your skin feels of silk. I wonder if it is as smooth elsewhere.” Without further warning, he dipped his hand into her tunic to clutch crudely at her breast. His fingers found her nipple with practiced skill, and he twisted the tender flesh, sending a lancing pain deep through her.

She stiffened. A burst of anger spiraled past the hurt, dispelling the shock she’d been feeling since this nightmare began.

With a hiss of rage, she snapped herself upright, struggling and scratching like a wild cat in his grasp.

She fastened her teeth onto his wrist, biting down hard, intent on gaining her freedom from his loathsome touch.

Colin shouted and released her, but before she could dart away, he swung his arm and struck her a backhanded blow across her cheek.

A wall of agony fanned from her cheekbone into her head, making the chamber explode into fragments of colored light.

She was only vaguely aware of the hard stone floor rushing up at her face before she landed against it with a dull thud.

Her breath burst from her, and she tasted blood in her mouth.

She lay on her belly, her palms splayed on either side of her head, as she gasped for air.

Black warred with the sparks of color, threatening to overwhelm her and send her into blessed dark.

To a place of escape, where she need not think. Where she need not feel.

But a tiny voice prodded, urging her to get up. To stay awake and fight the demon who assaulted her. It continued, relentless, until she could ignore it no longer. With a blast of pure will, Aileana pushed with her arms, trying to force herself to her knees.

Nothing happened.

A low, sinister breath fluttered soft against her ear, making the hair on the back of her neck prickle.

For the first time, her mind cleared enough for her to notice that Colin’s thickly muscled arms were positioned on either side of her, pressing her into the cold floor.

His groin pressed into her buttocks, and he began to grind himself lewdly against her.

Bile surged into her throat. With a whimpering cry, she writhed in a renewed effort to escape.

“That’s good, lass. Fight me. I like a wench with spunk, though I wasn’t sure if I’d get such pleasure from you.”

As if from a distance, she heard her own cries. She struggled harder, feeling her thighs scrape along the rough stone beneath her. He began to yank her skirt above her hips.

No! Her mind screamed for salvation from this degradation. Her nails clawed at the unyielding stone, and the muscles of her legs burned as she fought to keep her thighs together. But Colin only dug his fingers deeper into the tender flesh there, forcing them wider apart.

His knees took the place of his hands, the heel of his palm pressing with unbearable pain into her back, keeping her pinned and helpless.

Sobs ripped from her throat as she felt him position himself.

She squeezed her eyes shut. An instant more and he’d accomplish his foul deed. He shifted, and then…

The weight was gone. Aileana heard a growling roar and a thump.

She rolled instinctively to her side, her knees tucked to her chest. Her eyes flew open, but tears blurred her sight.

Through the haze of hurt, she blinked, disbelief filling her as she stared at the man who stood between her and her attacker—the avenging god of destruction that towered over Colin.

Duncan stood primed for attack, his chest heaving.

Shocked, Aileana realized that chains dangled from both of his wrists, still attached to manacles that had cut into his flesh so deeply that blood stained both of his arms like some kind of primal Celtic war markings.

But it was the look on his face, the silver ice of his eyes that made her cringe and push herself back against the wall, out of the path of that gaze and its unfortunate quarry.

And when he finally broke the silence, she couldn’t help but shudder again at the doom in his voice.

“Prepare yourself for hell, Colin MacRae…because brother or no, I’m going to kill you for this.”