Love Beyond Time (Morna's Legacy Series) (26 page)

After what seemed like ages, she pushed me away and smiled. “If you weren’t going to come back to me, I decided I was just going to have to come to you.”

“Oh, I’m so glad. Is Blaire with you, too?” I didn’t miss Arran, as his eyes grew wide at the mention of my look-alike. “I placed the ring on the spell book, hoping it would possibly transfer to her.”

Mom shook her head, and Arran quickly masked his expression, doing his best to hide the pain that only I could see. “She didn’t want to come. She allowed me to go in her place.”

“Oh.” I was unsure of what to say and was glad when my mother interrupted, easing the tension in the room.

“Bri, honey. I can certainly see what made you decide to stay. Which one’s yours, and is it okay if I touch them both?”

Chapter 43

After taking a few brief moments to introduce my mother to everyone in the room, Eoin hushed us all, taking his place as leader among us so that we could make a plan of attack.

“It’s nearly dark, and we must decide how to act quickly.”

Arran gave him little chance to continue before interrupting. “I doona see why we need to decide anything. The best thing to do would be to cut the bastard down, at once.”

“Nay. I want to allow him the opportunity to change his mind. Perhaps, he will take it, and no blood will be shed.”

It was Edana’s turn to speak up, albeit nervously. “He willna do it. Once he’s set his mind to a task, doona expect him to back down only because he’s been found out.”

“Ye may be right, lass, but I will no kill a man for something he’s yet to do. Mary, do ye think tis too late to prepare a meal?” Eoin looked in Mary’s direction, smiling at the irritated expression on her face.

“Do ye really think that’s what we should be speaking of now, lad? I know I’m no warrior, but that seems a shoddy battle plan.”

“Aye, Mary. Ye are quite right about that. But if Ramsay willna change his mind, he will call his men to battle when I confront him. If we are sitting down for a meal, at least it will take them a moment to gather for a fight. It will give us an advantage. Ramsay will wonder why I would have us sit to eat when we should be preparing for battle. It will make him nervous, and I’d like him to be so.”

Mary crossed her arms and looked exasperatingly in his direction. “Aye. I expect he shall think ye’ve gone and misplaced yer brain, and I’m no likely to disagree with him. But if ye want food, ye shall have it. I know better than to try and change yer mind, ye stubborn fool.”

Eoin smiled. “I’d ask something else of ye, Mary, as well. We canna let Ramsay see Edana again. Give yer kitchen maid instructions as to the meal, and then make yer way up to the top tower to hide with Adelle and Edana.”

“Aye, o’ course. Where do ye expect Bri to be?” Mary glanced in my direction as if she thought he’d forgotten me.

“Ramsay will expect to see Bri at the table. He knows that at Conall Castle, the laird dines with his wife. He thinks it mad, but he knows tis our custom. Twill arouse suspicion if she is no there.” Eoin paused and turned his gaze to Arran. “If fighting begins, ye are to take Bri away at once. Doona let anyone harm her. I must handle Ramsay, myself.”

Arran nodded. “Aye, she will no be harmed, Eoin.”

Once everyone knew our plan of action, we all dispersed into our positions. Mary quickly attended to dinner and then escorted my mother and Edana up to the castle’s top tower. It was difficult to get to and was certainly the safest place for them to stay.

Arran left to ensure that men would be waiting outside every door of the dining hall, ready for entry into battle if it came to that.

I sat nervously in our bedchamber, waiting for Eoin to come back from his talk with Ramsay. He’d left shortly after making plans to invite Ramsay to dinner. I glanced up as Eoin made his way into the room.

“What did he say?”

“Well, I doona think he believes I suspect him. He only said I was a fool to worry over my stomach at a time such as this, but if I wanted to spend the last moments eating before Laird MacLyrron’s men arrived, then he’d no stop me.”

“So he’s coming?”

“Aye. It’s of no concern to him when Laird MacLyrron’s men should be arriving, since it is he who shall start the bloodshed.”

I walked over and leaned gently into his side. “When is it starting?”

He took my hand and made for door. “Now, lass. I’m eager to end this; I doona like waiting for the unknown. And the sooner ye are truly safe, the better.”

Chapter 44

Tension laced every inch of the dining hall as Ramsay made his way to seat himself on Eoin’s right hand side. I sat on his left, and as we positioned ourselves at the table, I could see in Ramsay’s eyes that perhaps he was more suspicious of this impromptu and poorly timed meal than Eoin had thought.

Ramsay’s dark, blood-shot eyes, consistently glazed from too much drink, made my skin crawl as he glared at me across the table. I’d angered him earlier, and he was not one to forget someone crossing him.

I met his gaze head on, determined not to flinch from his sight. Finally, he tore his eyes away from my own and turned to speak to Eoin.

“I see no much has changed under Conall Castle’s new laird. Ye have yet to learn that meals should be shared in the company of men.”

Eoin’s face was hard, no longer concerned with placating him for the sake of maintaining him as an ally. “It is ye, Ramsay, that have yet to learn that the company of women makes everything more pleasant.”

He reached over to squeeze my hand, and it immediately released some of my tension, if only momentarily.

“Aye? If that be the case, why doona ye have my daughter join us as well?” Ramsay gestured with his hand at the other empty chairs at the table.

I could see by the way he glanced around the room that Ramsay knew something was off. His hand rested uneasily to his side, giving himself quick access to some sort of weapon concealed from my sight.

“She wasn’t feeling well. I had Mary take food to her bedchamber.”

Ramsay ignored me, offended that a woman dare speak in his presence. “Yer wife speaks verra strange, Eoin. I dinna notice it before when ye came to visit me.”

Eoin was finished putting off the confrontation; I could tell by the way he shifted in his seat, leaning forward so that he could leap into action at a moment’s notice. “Ramsay, before I tell ye what I have to say, I’d like to remind ye that our two clans have been allies for generations long before us. We have both come to the other’s aide, and I know my father considered ye a friend. It would be a shame for that alliance to come to an end, aye?”

Ramsay had an unsettling ability that made the words coming out of his mouth drip with sincerity while his eyes oozed poison. “Aye, lad, that it would. Good thing we have come together to fight our shared enemy.”

“I doona know if that is so, Ramsay. I have reason to believe that it is ye who plan to attack us—that perhaps Laird MacLyrron is no on his way here at all.”

Ramsay stood quite suddenly, throwing his fist violently down on the table. I could hear shuffling outside the dining hall doors, and I knew the action had been his signal to his men. Outside these doors, the sound of battle was already ensuing.

“Do ye now? And why would I do that?”

Each door to the dining hall swung open as both our own men collided with Ramsay’s in a horrific dance of death. Metal clashed around us as I stood watching the interaction between Ramsay and Eoin, neither of whom had yet to draw a sword.

“I doona know, Ramsay. Perhaps, ye could explain it to me. Surely there’s no reason for bloodshed.”

“Ye are wrong, Eoin. There is a need for bloodshed, and there will be plenty of it this night. Ye are a damned fool, just like yer father. He knew that it was expected that ye wed Edana. Instead, he married ye to this ignorant whore! Our clans would have been made stronger by such an arrangement. Without it, I’ve no desire to stay allies. Instead, I shall claim the Conall clan and castle as me own.”

Eoin didn’t have a chance to respond as I screamed at the sight of a sword swinging in his direction. Eoin unsheathed his own just in time and, as he sliced the man across the middle, there was no doubt that battle had begun.

I knew my life was in danger, but every swing of a sword and every horrifying sound of a man groaning as he met his death seemed to slow down in my mind as I kept careful watch on Ramsay.

I could see Arran making his way toward me out of the corner of my eye, but he was delayed as he worked to cut down two of Ramsay’s men. I’d expected Laird Kinnaird to head straight in Eoin’s direction, but instead I watched as he snuck away from the crowd.

I knew he could be headed in only one direction.

Chapter 45

I ran as quickly as I could, damning floor-length dresses with every step. I was unsure if he knew that they would be in the tower, but I knew from Eoin that Ramsay was familiar enough with the castle for it not to take him very long to figure it out.

I was worried for Eoin, but at least he had the means and skills to defend himself. Edana, Mary, and mother were defenseless, and I was not going to allow him to hurt any of them. With each step I feared I was going to be too late. I was still a good distance from the tower, but when I passed the small hidden door at the end of the corridor, I knew I could take the shortcut Eoin had shown me on that one stormy night.

I stumbled up the stairs in the darkness, ripping off the wooden door that concealed the window entrance, slicing open my fingers as I threw it aside. Though it was dark, I could still make out the castle wall, and it was thick enough that I knew it left me plenty of space to walk along it.

As I scooted along the outside perimeter of the castle, I counted windows until I was almost sure I stood in front of the window that would place me in the tower staircase. I didn’t have time to second guess myself. Unable to pry the window open, I reared back and shattered the glass with my heel, cutting wide gashes down my leg as the blood spread over the end of my dress.

It was the right window, and as I made my way up the spiral staircase I could hear Ramsay fumbling with the lock.

“Edana, it will be far worse for ye if ye doona let me in. Now open this door, ye wee bitch!”

I could hear all three women screaming on the other side of the door as Ramsay budged it open a half an inch with the impact of his shoulder. I screamed at him as loudly as I could to draw his attention away from the doorway.

“Stop! Leave her alone!”

He spun toward me, sticking a finger in my direction. “Doona ye tell me what to do with my daughter. I shall slit yer throat after I’m through with hers!”

I ran, throwing myself in between his oncoming shoulder and the door.

His shoulder hit me square in between the breasts. I cried out as all the air in my lungs rushed out of my body. Gasping for air, I struggled to speak. “No . . . take me! Eoin will surrender, if you have me! You’ve won the battle if you take me captive.” I hoped to God I was wrong, but I could think of nothing else that might tempt him to leave Edana, Mary, and my mother in peace.

“Aye, lass. Ye are right.”

I didn’t struggle against his arms as he pulled me against him. Holding the edge of a dagger across my neck so tightly that it broke the surface of the skin, he dragged me back down the stairs and into the ongoing battle.

* * *

Arran scanned the room in between swings of his sword. He’d lost Bri in the crowd, and he was certain his brother would never forgive him. Not that it would matter. He couldn’t find his brother or Ramsay in the crowd of fighting men.

They were losing too many. He glanced around to see men he’d known his entire life open and bleeding onto the stone floor as their lifeless eyes gazed upward. With each lad he watched fall, his hope of their success waned.

Just as one of Ramsay’s men narrowly missed sending a sword straight through his stomach, a surge of men from all surrounding doors shocked Arran into dropping his own sword.

The room suddenly filled with men he knew not to be Ramsay’s or their own, and he smiled as he watched Donal MacChristy walk into the center of the room, his booming voice successfully slowing the pace of men clashing their swords against one another.

“Clan Kinnaird, if ye doona wish to die, ye should lay down yer swords at once. For we fight for the Conalls, and ye are far outnumbered now.” Donal paused to scan the room, and Arran knew he was looking for Ramsay. “Look around, ye laird is no even fighting with ye. Doona lose yer life for such a cowardly leader.”

It only took moments for Ramsay’s men to see the wisdom in Donal MacChristy’s words. They’d lived under fear of Ramsay for far too long, and there were not many willing to give up their life for his.

Arran smiled as he allowed it to sink in that the battle was over. Laird Kinnaird must have fled in an act of cowardice, but that mattered not. He was no threat without an army of men at his side.

Arran’s relief at their survival was short-lived as he scanned the room twice more, still unable to locate his brother or Bri.

A strange hush settled over the room as men who’d only just been engaged in battle stood unsure of how to now act.

Just as Arran was about to leave the dining hall to go in search of Bri and Eoin, a figure shouted from a shadowy corner of the hall. Ramsay stepped into the light of the room, his arms wrapped around Bri, his knife ready to slice her throat.

* * *

It had only taken Eoin a few short moments after the battle had broken out to register Ramsay’s and Bri’s absence. He’d not hesitated to set out in search of them. Arran could lead the men. He would not lose her again.

He’d just made it to the bottom of the stairwell leading to the back tower when he heard someone moving down the stairs. He silently slipped around a corner, unseen, as he watched Ramsay drag his beautiful wife out of the stairwell with a knife at her neck.

It had been all he could do to keep from launching himself at Ramsay that instant, but he knew that once the devil entered the dining hall, Ramsay would expect to see him fighting the battle. When Ramsay realized Eoin was not in the room, that was when he would be at his weakest.