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And then he heard it. The sound floated up to him, raising the hairs on his neck and sending a shudder of foreboding up his back.

Eerie . The wailing howl rose in pitch, until it trailed off into the shriek of wind that whipped round the castle walls.

It came again, followed by an answering shout, and Duncan stilled.

Sweet Jesus . The second voice was Aileana’s. She’d reached the cliffs.

Racing to a window at the end of the hall, he looked out, frantic, searching for a sign of her. What he saw made his heart skip in his chest. Aileana and Morgana struggled on the ocean bluff.

They were too close to the edge, damn it. At any moment one or both of them were going to careen over it.

God help him, but he couldn’t lose Aileana like that again. He wouldn’t.

Mentally gauging the distance between the window and the ground, Duncan pulled himself up onto the ruin’s open stone ledge and jumped down.

The impact shook his bones, though he had foresight enough to tuck his legs and roll when he hit the earth.

Still the force of it stunned him. A thousand new hurts sliced through the old, and his arm felt as if it had been ripped from his shoulder.

But he pushed through the pain, surging to his feet and racing across the salt-encrusted grass to reach them—to reach Aileana before Morgana hurt her any more than she already had.

Something glittered on the ground a few paces from them, and Duncan lurched to a halt.

The Ealach lay untended, its chain bunched from the way it had apparently been dropped during the women’s struggle.

Its opalescent surface beckoned him like a siren’s song.

Leaning over, he scooped it up. It fit in his palm as if all of the years without it had never passed, but its weight failed to bring the comfort, the sense of completion he’d been certain he’d find once he held it again.

And he suddenly knew that nothing but the feeling of Aileana in his arms could do that for him now.

“Hold, Morgana,” he shouted, holding the amulet aloft so that it dangled from his hand. “Hold or lose the Ealach forever!”

He could see the madness in Morgana’s expression.

The wind whipped her hair in a wild fury, accentuating the aura of evil that surrounded her.

When she heard his voice, her gaze snapped to him, and had he not been a man of courage, a man who’d faced the horrors of hell and lived, he might have flinched at the unadulterated malice she leveled at him.

Her pupils were narrowed down to pinpricks, lending a supernatural appearance to the icy glaze of her eyes.

In one, fluid motion she twisted Aileana around, her arm circling Aileana’s neck. Duncan saw the gleam of a tiny blade in her grip. It pressed against Aileana’s throat, and he saw a shadow of fear pass across the precious, beautiful face of the woman he loved.

“How dare you interfere with me?” Morgana hissed.

Her grip tightened around Aileana’s neck enough to force a choking sound from her.

Duncan took a step, and Morgana jerked Aileana back.

“Don’t think it will be so easy, Duncan.

I’ve fought too hard to give up now.” Unblinking, she looked past him, her expression wary and cold.

She obviously sought something. Or someone.

“Colin won’t be coming to aid you, Morgana.”

She met his gaze again, and her eyes narrowed. “You’ve killed him.”

“Nay.” Duncan approached cautiously, trying to get close enough to pull Aileana away. “He’s not dead. Only wounded. I’ve secured him where he cannot hurt anyone else.”

Morgana sneered. “I don’t believe you.” Pressing the edge of her blade harder against Aileana’s neck, she snarled, “Come no closer. I’ve no more fear of dispatching my dear sister than you had in murdering Colin.”

Impotent rage churned in Duncan as he watched a trickle of blood slip from beneath Morgana’s dagger to slide down Aileana’s throat. He raised his palms as if in surrender, the Ealach still clasped tight. “He was alive when I left him, I swear it. Go and see for yourself if you doubt me.”

Morgana laughed, and Aileana flinched as she felt the knife bite deeper. She tilted her head up, trying to shrink from the stinging pain, but it only made Morgana tighten her hold.

“Be still, sister.” Warm breath burned Aileana’s ear, and fear pounded in her veins, making her feel faint.

Duncan’s blank expression only reinforced the understanding that she teetered on the edge of a terrible death.

One flick of Morgana’s wrist, and she’d either go spinning off the cliff or have her throat slit like an animal at slaughter.

“Duncan, take the Ealach and go while you can,” she called out hoarsely.

“You must keep it from her now more than ev—!” She sucked in her breath and winced as Morgana dragged her closer to the edge.

With skittering scrapes she heard stones and pebbles falling, pushed over the precipice into the narrow line of rocks and crashing waves below.

The dizzying height swung suddenly into her vision as Morgana shoved her so close that her toes tipped over the brink.

She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned her weight back onto her heels.

“I don’t think you’ll want to be doing that, Duncan.

Not unless you’re craving the sight of your beloved lying broken on the rocks below us.

” Morgana gave her another shake, and this time Aileana couldn’t prevent the moan of terror that escaped her.

She saw Duncan start forward, and in a panic she twisted her head to look at him, silently pleading that he stay back.

Their gazes locked, and in that instant, Aileana felt calm descend on her.

It was as if Duncan spoke, but not aloud.

His message sang to her heart alone. It seemed to say that all would be well, that together they would conquer this evil.

He lowered his hands slowly to his sides.

His gaze reassured her, and love shone through the silvery depths of his eyes.

Aileana barely breathed as she watched Duncan slowly lift his right hand to eye level again, the Ealach dangling from his fist. Strands of hair blew into her eyes with the wind, but she dared not try to push them away.

Duncan’s gaze swung to Morgana, intensity and leashed power sculpted in every inch of his taut frame.

“Here.” He spoke in a calm, deadly serious voice. “I’ll give you the Ealach . Only you must release Aileana to take it.”

Morgana stilled behind her, and the pressure of the blade at her throat lessened. Duncan took one step closer, then another, all the while holding out the amulet as an offering, a treasure to be exchanged for the prize he sought himself.

Morgana’s left arm fell from Aileana’s waist so that she could reach for the powerful talisman. She nudged Aileana from behind, pushing to get closer to what she wanted. Closer…

At the moment that Morgana’s fingers touched the Ealach , Duncan lunged to the side, swinging his arm and uttering a growling curse. He flung the amulet, and it spun through the air, up until it formed a silhouette against the crimson sky.

With a bloodcurdling howl, Morgana lunged. Aileana used that instant of distraction to push away, and Duncan caught her against his chest as Morgana fell from the bluff in a vain effort to recover the vanishing talisman.

Burying her face in Duncan’s chest, Aileana tried to block her ears to the sound of her sister’s fading scream.

It ended abruptly, and she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling Duncan’s warmth and the steady pounding of his heart against her cheek as she tried to slow her breathing.

They were both filthy, covered with blood, dirt and sweat, but she’d never felt so relieved, so safe in her life.

He pressed gentle kisses to her head, and she clung to him, wanting to anchor herself to his strength as the tears finally came.

They spilled down her cheeks, wetting his skin.

Tipping her face to his, Duncan brushed his thumb over the liquid tracks. “It’s finished. You’ve nothing more to fear, I swear by my life.”

“But the Ealach —you’ve lost it forever now—”

“Far better that I lose it than you, Aileana. Nothing is more important to me than you. Nothing.”

She looked at him in silence for a moment, overwhelmed by the feelings coursing through her.

Love swelled, warm and life-giving, driving out the cold that had been gripping her so tightly these past hours.

She nodded, blinking back her tears and reaching up to cup Duncan’s cheek in a tender caress before stepping back.

Still holding his hand for support, she peered over the ledge, needing to be certain that it was really over.

A bitter ache unfurled in her belly as she stared down at Morgana’s broken body on the rocks below.

So pointless. Perhaps it had been inevitable, after all that had happened, but she couldn’t help remembering earlier times.

Times when she was still a child, and knowing Morgana had been good and happy.

Her beautiful sister, so full of adventure.

She’d adored her, then. Wanted to be like her.

Aileana stepped back into Duncan’s embrace. “God, I just want to forget that all of this happened. I want to go home and never look back.”

Duncan’s eyes clouded. “Home…?”

A shout came from the castle ruin, making them turn to look. Kinnon and several MacRae clansmen charged into the open area, claymores drawn. Duncan stepped away from Aileana for a moment to intercept his cousin.

“What happened? Where’s Morgana?” Kinnon’s breath came hard, and when his gaze flicked to Duncan’s wounded shoulder, to the bruises on Aileana’s face, he clenched his fists. “We charged the fortress not long ago and took a handful of men and two women as prisoners.”

Nodding toward the cliff, Duncan said, “She’s dead. She leapt from the bluff trying to get the Ealach .”