I knew all too well what a walk with Jim Cleveland actually implied. I tried to get that no out that I had practiced long and hard back in my room over and over again, but instead, the dreaded yes came out, and I agreed. After all, what Jim says, goes.
He took the lead and escorted me out to the cobbled courtyard where a water well took centre stage. It was dark out; the moon and stars lit the sky so romantically, and the lights from the castle added an extra glow around us, enough that we could see each other perfectly. He put his hand behind my head and pulled me in close, then started kissing me. So I kissed him back. “Your tongue is so amazing,” he said as we played around inside each other’s mouths. “Oh how I have missed the touch of your lips.” He pulled away and looked me up and down. “Oh wow, you are so beautiful, you and I just fit so well with each other.”
I was melting with every word he said to me, believing and hoping there was truth in it somewhere. He was a smooth talker and knew how to get me to do what he wanted. A very unappealing trait of his, come to think of it. But it didn’t stop me saying what I said next. “I’m yours, take me now.”
As we started to kiss again, I began to unbutton his shirt as he pulled up my dress. He then dragged me from the bench we were sitting on and pushed me hard against the stone wall of the castle, lifting one of my legs and muscling in between them. It was about to get hot and heavy, and I was all for it and ready to go, until I felt a hand take hold of one of mine, and I paused. It wasn’t Jim’s hand; I knew this hand, it felt different. This hand felt safe and real, and like it truly belonged in mine.
“Aye, I canne have you be doing this to my Sassenach. I highly suggest you remove yourself from her this very minute.”
I turned around to see Scott, no longer dressed as a footman, but now wearing a kilt and all its trimmings.
Jim barely gave Scott a glance. “And why should I do that, footman? And why are you out of your uniform?”
Scott looked angry at Jim’s dismissive attitude. “Because I am Letticia’s man, I am not your footman.” Scott pulled me out of Jim’s way and into his arms, and I was suddenly confused. Did I want to be here or did I not? I had no time to decide, because here I went again, about to get chewed up, swallowed, and spat out by a man called Jim Cleveland, like he had done so many times before. He was about to discard me like a piece of rubbish.
Jim laughed and yelled to the guards who were standing outside the dinner hall on the second floor. “Guards, get down here and add these two to the dungeon with the others. I will deal with these two tomorrow, as I please.”
I was still in close enough range to slap Jim hard against his cheek.
He put his hand up to help with the pain, but then laughed. “Oh, Letticia, you always did like it rough and dirty, didn’t you. You liked a good slap, and a man who could take control of you and hold you down. You are nothing more than a whore, that’s how I have always seen you, and always will,” Jim said cruelly.
I was so upset and felt like crying, but no tears formed. I would not allow myself to cry in front of him. Then Scott released me from the safety of his arms and moved towards Jim, and slapped, or more like punched, him in the face. “You will never be a man worthy of Letticia’s love. You are a disappointment to mankind.”
By now the guards were here, grabbing us and dragging us down to the damp, dark dungeon of Torwood Castle.
Chapter Ten
We were marched down a long corridor in the bowels of the castle, past chambers, including where the kitchen was located. At the end of the corridor, there was a door. The guard pushed it open and another set of stairs appeared before us. We walked down the spiral staircase, the uneven cold stone wall brushing up against my arm as I followed the guard down, Scott behind me with the other guard.
At the bottom of the stairs was a big steel gate with solid bars. A guard unlocked it, and the gate opened with a squeal and a shudder. Could do with a bit of oil, I inappropriately thought, at a time like this. They discarded Scott and I like we were bits of rubbish into the locked cage—that’s how I saw it anyway—then locked the door behind them. The only light we had was a single lantern.
“Letticia, Scott? Is that you?” we heard a shaky, scared voice ask.
“Yes, it is, Sophie. Where are you?” I recognised her voice straightaway. “I can’t see you.”
Sophie came out from the shadows into the light. She looked hungry, tired, and dirty. I then spotted two more familiar faces in the dimly lit dungeon; James and Milla huddled in the corner like the two scared cowards they were. I choose to ignore them both, and instead wrapped my arms around Sophie.
“Where are we, Letticia?” Sophie asked, leaning her head on my shoulder. I could feel her trembling and held her even tighter against me.
“Torwood Castle. That’s all I know, and that we need to get out of here by the morning before that douchebag lord of this castle punishes us by death—”
Scott interrupted at this point, as he could see the look of horror on poor Sophie’s face. “Sophie, no need to worry, we don’t know for certain that’s what the douchebag lord of this castle is going to do to us. Letticia has just watched far too much Outlander.”
I peered over at Scott, my eyes narrowed. “Excuse me, but I have a pretty good idea what is going to happen to us tomorrow, Outlander obsessed or not.”
Scott looked over at James and Milla, who resembled two scared little mice huddled in the corner. “Makes you two look like complete and utter jokes now, doesn’t it?” he said. They didn’t answer.
We decided to get some rest while we came up with a plan of action; escaping from an 1800s castle dungeon was not going to be easy. Scott and I lay together in the corner, and Sophie was near us, while the two cowards stayed on the other side. The ground was covered in damp, smelly straw. On the bright side, though, it was a far cry from the floor in the back of the van where we had slept the night before.
Scott looked down at me. “Whatever happens tomorrow, I do love you, even though you take me to hell and back with these so-called adventures we go on.”
I glanced up at Scott, suddenly feeling ashamed of my recent actions. “I’m sorry, Scott. You just hurt me, you have never ignored me before, and our fight that morning made me so angry, I wanted to hurt you back.”
Scott laid a reassuring little kiss upon my forehead. “I know we are not your average couple, and we do things to the extreme, even fighting to the extreme, but Letticia, this was beyond extreme—even for your standards.”
I laughed. “Well, I do like to keep you on your toes.”
“That you do, my Sassenach,” Scott joked back.
“Why on earth are you two laughing at a time such as this,” Sophie asked, clearly confused.
“Get some sleep, Sophie,” I replied in answer.
“How on earth am I meant to sleep at a time such as this?”
“Goodnight, Sophie,” Scott and I both said at the same time.
“And where is my James at a time such as this?” Sophie continued.
“Over here,” a snarky voice piped up from the opposite corner.
“I meant my James, who is a real man, not a douchebag,” Sophie retorted rudely, and Scott and I gave a little snicker.
“She has your blood, that’s for sure,” Scott whispered in my ear.
Chapter Eleven
We woke the next morning to the sound of a key unlocking the gate of the steel cage… cell… dungeon, whatever it was we were in. We had all fallen asleep after our little snicker at Sophie’s comments the night before, and not woken up until now, resulting in no escape plan being developed. It looked like today was the day we would be meeting our fate.
The guard stood in the middle of the doorway, arms crossed, legs wide apart. His presence didn’t go unnoticed, he made sure of it. “You,” he said, pointing to me. “The lord wants to see you first, before you all get burnt at the stake.”
“No. What? No!” Sophie said, frightened and shaking. Scott put a suppor
tive arm around her as the guard led me out alone, locking the others back up behind me.
I was taken back up to the lord of Torwood’s—aka Jim’s—bedroom. The guard opened the door and instructed me to walk in, while he stayed outside and shut the door. It was now just Jim and I, alone in his bedroom.
“Well, Letticia, you find yourself in not a very appealing situation, do you now? The stake is being lit as we speak. The fate of your friends has been made, but for you, you can save yourself from being burnt at the stake. But, you must come lie with me first and let me have my way with you.”
I stared at him for a second or two, and within that short time, somehow my self-respect found its way back to me, and the word I struggled with so much when it came to Jim Cleveland flowed easily right on out of my mouth. “No, I will do no such thing.”
Jim looked at me, astonished that for the first time, I had denied him of my body and soul. “Very well, then, you can be the first to be taken to the stake. Guard!” he yelled and turned towards the doorway. “Guard, take her to the stake immediately.”
“What? No, I need to see Scott and Sophie first, you can’t take me so soon,” I said.
“And you can’t deny me so soon, as you just did,” he replied.
There was a crowd gathered around the stake, ready to see me burn off to hell, or wherever these people thought my soul would be taken to. As I approached the stake, there was cheering and clapping. I had no idea who these people thought I was, or what I had done, but they all agreed I should be here facing my fate head-on.
The stake was burning hard and fast; it looked more like a bonfire to me. I was about to become a toasted marshmallow. I never thought this was the way I would be leaving this world. I needed to escape this situation, but how? I scanned my surroundings—what did I have on hand that could help me get away from what was about to happen to me? My eyes focused on the fire. I had a very powerful element at my disposal. I decided I needed to take advantage of what I had on hand and use it wisely. Did I use it wisely, though? Well, that’s a matter of one’s definition of wisely. But what I did next got me out of the situation, so I confidently could say I used it very wisely indeed.
I grabbed the end of two burning sticks and swung them around, scorching the guard who was holding my other arm, resulting in him letting going of me as he cried out in agony. I then proceeded to use the sticks to catch everything else around me alight. Nobody could get close to me, in fear they might get burnt. If fact, most of the townsfolk ran in the opposite direction as I ventured to burn everything in my path, Even the castle was not safe from the destruction I was causing.
The castle caught alight fast, thanks to the huge amount of dry straw that was everywhere, and flames were licking at the stone walls and wooden beams within minutes as the fire started going out of control. I could hear Jim yelling from one direction but could not see him due to the amount of smoke around the place. All I could hear was him yelling, “Seize her, seize her!”
Nobody did, though. It appeared people were running for their dear lives instead of seizing me. I, on the other hand, felt like I finally had all the control back that Jim had so easily taken away from me. “This girl is on fire,” I sung at the top of my lungs. Jim was not impressed, but I had no time to stick around; I needed to go save Scott and Sophie, and maybe James and Milla—if I had to.
I headed back inside the burning castle, passing people heading out of it frantically. The smoke was heavy, I had to cover my mouth and nose with my sleeve, and visibility was poor. There was no way, by the time I got to the dungeon, that we would be able to make our way back out at the rate the fire was spreading. I was not even at the staircase yet.
Then out of the thick smoke emerged a man carrying someone in his arms. As they got closer, I recognised them. It was Scott, carrying Sophie. Just the two of them, though. I had no time to ask where the cowards James and Milla were, we just had to get ourselves out of this burning castle. We made our way back along the underground corridor past the burning kitchen, and finally reached the spiral staircase—well, what was left of it—just as that beautifully framed picture of one of Jim’s relatives came crashing down off the wall, the gilded frame turning black as the canvas bubbled and shrunk inside it. I gave a little salute to it as we passed it. “Nice knowing you,” I said. There was never a bad time to show a little respect, I thought to myself.
We made our way out of the castle, and I’m not sure what was more painful, the heat or the smoke that was filling up my lungs. We were only a few metres clear of the castle when we heard a loud explosion, then another. From the sound of it, the castle was about to fully explode.
“Run!” Scott yelled, still holding an unconscious Sophie in his arms. It was too late, though, and we were still too close to the castle to not feel the impact of the next explosion, which lifted us off our feet and threw us what felt like a mile in the air. Then all of a sudden everything went silent and slowed right down. It was just Scott and I falling back down to earth, my hand reaching out for his, but we were unable to connect. Sophie was nowhere to been seen, and I yelled out, “Scott, I love you!” My voice sounded muffled and the words came out as if in slow motion.
I could see Scott’s lips move and mouth back to me, “Letticia, I love you.”
All I could feel was the heat of the fire. All I could smell was the smoke of the fire. All I could hear was the ringing in my ears from the explosion, and all I could see was my lover, Scott, before me, being taken away just as we were about to meet our fate.
The fall was taking a long time, and I was waiting for the impact of the ground. I could no longer see Scott, it was just me alone now, falling into what felt like a black hole. The fire at the castle was no longer anywhere to be seen, and the heat had now turned to cold. I couldn’t see anything, it was black and icy-cold all around me—until suddenly I stopped falling. I was no longer moving, I was nowhere, in a place where there was no sound, no vision, no feeling. I just lingered there for goodness knows how long, until I felt something, finally. It was my eyes, they felt heavy, straining to open but refusing to at the same time. It took all the strength in my entire body just to perform the most simple task of opening my eyes.
When they finally did open, I found myself in the back of the van again, Sophie still asleep and snoring away beside me. I was breathing fast, my heart pounding. What had just happened? Had I just had another dream? A dream that had Scott in it. And if so, did I just pull Scott into my dream? Had he had the same dream as I just did back at Swans Cottage? And if so, does he now know where we are. Is he on his way to rescue us now? I had a powerful feeling Scott was on his way, and no doubt even angrier than he already was with me, after witnessing my dream, with Jim seducing me. I wasn’t looking forward to the consequences of my actions.
Chapter Twelve
Scott
* * *
“James, wake up. James, wake up.”
I was shaking James roughly. It was early morning, still dark outside at Swans Cottage. I had fallen asleep next to the fire the night before, having never made it up to bed. I had somehow fallen asleep while worried sick, and with the hope I would awake the next morning with my Sassenach beside me, or at least a clue as to where she could be. I awoke the next morning to one of my hopes being granted, at least. My Sassenach was not beside me, much to my disappointment, but nonetheless, I now knew where she was, and I needed to get to her fast. Not only to rescue both her and Sophie, but to have a few words with Letticia also. Who was this Jim guy she so obviously wanted me to know about, I thought to myself.
With one last giant shake of James’ huge, solid Scottish body, I managed to get James up and alert.
“Aye, what is it, Scott, are they home? Are they here?” James asked hopefully.
“No, lad, they are not, but I know where they are, and you and I are going to rescue them right this minute. Get dressed, I think this rescue calls for kilts. We need to kilt up.”
James looked at me like
I had lost my mind. “Are you okay? What is going on. How do you know where they are, and why do we need to kilt up?” James asked curiously.
“James, just trust me on this, would you? Do you want to find Sophie or not?” I asked.
“What sort of a question is that meant to be, of course I do,” James replied.
“Well then, get your big Scottish arse out of bed and into a kilt. I will explain everything on the way,” I demanded.
James decided to trust me and did as he was told and got kilted up.
I creeped into our room where my parents were still fast asleep in our king-sized bed. “Kevin, wake up. Kevin, wake up.” I used the same tactics I had used on James only moments earlier to wake my father-in-law; however, I didn’t shake him as hard, and thankfully there was no need to, as Kevin woke up a whole lot easier than James did.
“Oh, hi there, Scott, what’s up?” Kevin asked ever so casually, as if this were a regular routine of being woken up each morning.
“Can you look after the girls until James and I get back. We think we know—actually, I know where Letticia and Sophie are. There’s no time to explain, but I assure you we will be back with them both safe and sound.”
Kevin was still too sleepy to ask any more questions, and just said, “You go, Scott, and bring my daughter and Sophie back home where they belong. We will hold the fort down here until you return.”
I looked fondly down at Kevin. “You have my word… Dad.” This was the first time I had ever called my father-in law that.
James and I were kilted up within minutes. I had to lend James one of my many kilts, as James, for some reason, didn’t have one on him. And here I’d thought all Scottish men carried around a kilt for situations such as this. If this was the case, then James was not prepared at all, and I happily gave him one of my own to wear.
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