“So, MacKenzie agreed to this so readily because he needed the coin of Elizabeth’s dowry?” Kaid surmised.
Donnan grinned. “Exactly. Which explains why we’ve no’ had any more raids.”
Kaid nodded to himself and braced his chin on his folded hands. “If his clan is not around him, they dinna support him. But if Torra can be found…”
A door opened and a woman with honey-colored hair walked out into the sunshine.
Kaid’s heart stuttered to a stop.
Delilah.
How he wanted to call out to her, to capture her in his arms and kiss the lushness of her mouth, revel in the sweetness of her voice, bask in the beauty of her joy.
He’d drawn her almost as soon as she’d left Ardvreck Castle, but it wasn’t the same.
How he’d longed to let his hands skim over the luxurious softness of her skin.
But now, her posture was stiff, her gait uncertain.
Something was wrong.
“What’s happened?” Kaid asked.
“There was a coach last night.” Donnan shook his head. “I dinna know what that meant then.”
“I mean with Delilah.” Kaid indicated Delilah.
Donnan gave him a hard look. “That’s no’ Delilah.”
Kaid’s gaze snapped to the proud back facing him from far away. How could Donnan be so sure?
Before he could ask the question, Donnan spoke again. “Because that’s no’ Leasa.”
Kaid noticed, for the first time, the woman at Delilah’s side. No, not Delilah. His heart clenched around the realization.
The woman’s maid had auburn hair that shone like copper in the sunshine. Donnan was right—she was not Leasa.
And the woman…
As if in compliance with the demand of Kaid’s thoughts, she turned toward him and his heart plummeted to the ground.
She was not Delilah.
His skin prickled with the cold fear of his realization.
She had to be Elizabeth.
Then what the hell had become of Delilah?
• • •
The rising sun had cast light into the dismal cell of Delilah’s existence.
Torra lay in slumber on a narrow bed in the corner. The meager mattress she slept upon hung down in clumps and threads from the bed ropes. Her gown was smeared with grime and so torn, it looked more like rags than anything once considered fine.
Her filthy thumb was properly lodged in her mouth, and she sucked at it like a child.
Leasa stared down at her with a slight frown. “How long do you think she’s been down here?” she whispered.
Delilah looked around the room. There was a crooked desk with a dirty, curved mirror and a stool missing a leg, as well as a table which appeared as well-worn as everything else.
“I’d say for several years,” Delilah replied quietly.
Heavy footsteps strode in a slow rhythm toward their cell. A guard peeked through the bars, his brows lifted with purpose, before turning away. Delilah followed his departure as far as she was able to see. There were more guards around the cell, which was why she hadn’t at least freed Leasa by now.
MacKenzie would realize too quickly if the maid had escaped, and then Torra and Delilah would never stand a chance to flee.
And of all of them, Torra was the most important.
The woman’s red hair fell down her back in dark, greasy waves. She’d combed it repeatedly with the brush now sitting on the scarred surface of the desk. She’d then tied a ribbon of mostly fraying silk at the back of her head.
Though Delilah and Leasa had tried, Torra could not be persuaded to speak any more than her name before finally falling into an exhausted sleep.
It would be a long journey to recovery for the heiress of the MacKenzie clan.
Something gray darted through the bars of the prison and Delilah jerked away. She’d never had the nightmare encounters some had with rats, and had no wish to start now.
But it was no rat threading between Delilah’s ankles.
A gray and white cat peered up at her with beautiful blue eyes.
Delilah stroked the familiar smooth gray fur. Fianna purred and rubbed her fuzzy head against Delilah’s palm.
It was then she noticed the harness on Fianna’s back. The one Percy had fashioned for the small cat to use when passing messages between the women.
Delilah slid her hands into the seam of the harness. Her fingertips met the crackle of folded parchment.
Her stomach dropped. She knew what the correspondence would say before she even read it.
Delilah turned her back to the cell door in case a guard happened past, and unfolded the note. A slim bit of charcoal rolled out onto her palm.
The means to reply.
A quick skimming of Liv’s missive revealed exactly one word which sucked Delilah’s heart into her stomach.
Explain.
To the point and without judgement until detail had been provided. Perfectly Liv.
Delilah balanced herself on the stool and wrote out the admission of her betrayal, all the while hoping she would not lose the only allies who might truly see Kaid’s people safe.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was long past noon when Kaid finally woke. He hadn’t thought sleep would be possible with all the worry thumping around in his mind. In fact, his eyes were heavy with want of more.
Donnan was crouched beside him, staring at the castle.
Something skittered past Kaid several feet away from where he slept. He cut a questioning look at Donnan who nodded for him to rise.
Kaid sat upright and turned toward the castle as another stone skipped through the forest, missing them by far.
Lady Elizabeth’s maid, the woman with bright copper hair, stood near the fence, her gaze intent on the foliage around them. She shot a reassuring glance behind her before hurling another stone in their direction.
It was obvious she knew of their presence in the forest, but not their exact location.
Perhaps she had seen them before and wanted to lure them out.
But why?
The woman stepped toward the fence where several slats were missing. After another cursory glance at the garden behind her, she spoke in a low voice: “I know Delilah.”
Hearing Delilah’s name was all the confirmation Kaid needed. He and Donnan rushed to the edge of the fence and crouched at the perimeter, hiding as best they could.
“Where is Delilah? How is she?” Kaid couldn’t stop the questions from tumbling from his mouth.
The woman knelt on the ground before several flowers and pulled a pair of large shears from a basket at her side. Her gray gaze settled on him, her expression shrewd. “There was supposed to be only one of you.”
“I’m Donnan,” Donnan offered in introduction. “This is Laird MacLeod. He came out of worry for the lasses.”
The woman looked between the two of them before finally nodding. “Very well. I’m Liv and have been working with Delilah for years.” She glanced over her shoulder once more. “She’s been found out. They don’t know she was working with Elizabeth’s father and assume she was working with you.” She pinched the delicate stem of a large yellow flower and snipped its base. “Not that she should be working with you in the first place.”
Kaid ignored the comment. “Where is she now?”
“In the dungeon.” She snipped another flower. “With Torra.”
Kaid’s heartbeat pounded harder in his chest.
Torra was still alive, and Delilah had found her.
“We have to use any means necessary to get them free,” Kaid said.
Liv selected another flower and nodded without looking at him. “I’m already coordinating with Delilah to get them out. When that happens, she will need to see a woman in Killearnan.”
“What can I do to help ye get them out?” Kaid asked.
She slid him an icy glare. “I think you’ve done enough already. She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”
“You’ve put every one of us in danger.” She snatched up the basket and rose so abruptly one of the flowers fell to the ground. “Tonight. Wait for them to be freed a little past midnight.”
Without another word, she turned and left. The abandoned yellow bloom lay on its side, the fragile petals cradled in the long grass.
She was right, of course. He had put everyone in danger. But he’d also seen no other way.
“Well, she seems nice.” Donnan gave a wide smile.
The familiar gesture couldn’t even draw a smirk from Kaid’s lips.
“I’ll make this right.” Kaid spoke with vehemence.
Donnan’s expression didn’t fade. “Ye’ve no’ done anything wrong. The lasses made their own decision, and we’ll get them to safety tonight.”
The most treacherous part would be getting them from the dungeon to the forest. Then again, getting them through the forest wouldn’t be easy either. While there weren’t as many guards at night as Kaid had initially assumed there might be, it only took one seeing them to ruin everything.
Kaid’s palms prickled with sweat, and he had to focus on his breathing to keep it steady.
This was not Ardvreck.
This was not that day in the village where everyone had been slaughtered.
There would not be so much blood.
The forest seemed to blur in front of him.
Kaid closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, the world had stopped whirling.
His breath came easier, and his mind was clearer.
“No matter what, we’ll get them free,” Kaid promised.
And he meant every damn word.
• • •
It’s time.
Delilah’s heart leapt at the words gracefully curling over the slip of parchment. She bent and stroked Fianna’s glossy back. The cat arched her body and curled her tail toward Delilah’s fingers.
An emphatic purr filled the air and made Torra clasp her hands in delight. While Torra refused to pet Fianna, she took great pleasure in the cat’s recurring visits.
Delilah sat beside Torra on the sad little bed. “Torra,” she said. “We’re going to be leaving.”
The woman’s eyes went wide.
“You’re going to be free,” Delilah whispered. Her skin prickled with the eagerness to liberate Torra from her confined hell.
But it was not gratitude so plainly visible on Torra’s face—it was fear.
She shook her head emphatically. “No. No. No. No. No. No.”
Delilah glanced toward the cell door to ensure no guards were nearby. “Shh, Torra. It’s a secret.”
“I can’t leave.” Torra’s voice pitched in a wail. “I’m no’ allowed to.”
“It’s only for a bit of time,” Delilah said in what she hoped was an encouraging tone.
Leasa knelt at the woman’s side. “I’m scared too, but if we stay together, it’ll make us braver.”
Torra pursed her lips and grasped Leasa’s hand with both of hers. Black showed around Torra’s nails, but Leasa did not appear to care.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Delilah’s body tensed, every muscle tight.
It was time.
Delilah watched the door to their cell and removed her daggers. The one from her bodice, she gave to Leasa. The one hidden in the hollow sole of her shoe, she twisted free and passed to Torra. “To make you feel safer,” Delilah offered. Torra finally removed one of her hands from Leasa’s and took the blade with a tentative nod.
Delilah recovered the final dagger, the largest and most wicked of the three, from where it was strapped to her thigh.
Torra watched her with large eyes. “Where else have ye got those things stashed?”
Delilah winked at her. “Just know I’ll not let anything happen to you.”
The tension in Torra’s shoulders seemed to relax, and she shared a trusting nod with Leasa.
A quiet rustle sounded outside their cell, like a sack of flour falling to the floor.
Or a body.
Delilah slipped the pin from her hair and made her way to the cell door. She unfolded the lock pick from where it lay against the hairpin and made quick work of the lock. The door creaked open to freedom.
The hallway was silent and dark.
Delilah motioned to the other two ladies to remain in place before she crept out into the hallway.
Liv was crouched beside the body of an unconscious man, holding a length of rope. Fianna hopped gracefully atop the man’s slumped back before bounding toward Delilah.
“Is anyone there?” Delilah whispered.
Liv shook her head.
Delilah motioned for the other two women to come forward. They moved as one, their hands each clasping one another as well as a dagger.
If nothing else, they would be able to defend themselves. Though Delilah truly hoped it would not come to that.
They stalked up the dungeon stairs in a silent group. All four guards who had been stationed there lay unconscious on the ground, bound with a secure rope.
Their sleep was too deep, and Delilah knew Liv must have given them the sleeping draught Percy had concocted. It left the person hazy when they awoke and uncertain about the minutes leading up to their unconsciousness.
It allowed the women to remain anonymous without having to take lives.
Liv led them to the right rather than the left when they reached the next floor. Escape was so close, Delilah could almost smell the wet, sweet air of the overgrown garden.
They were halfway down the hallway when the baritone of multiple voices and the heavy tread of boots echoed around them. One of the women behind Delilah sucked in a gasp.
Delilah turned to them and indicated they remain quiet. The two nodded in unison.
“Go on ahead,” Liv whispered. “I’ll distract them.” She didn’t wait for a reply before slipping down the hallway toward the sound of the men.
All the women who worked together under Sylvi were experienced and confident enough that they could each handle her own.
Liv would be fine.
Delilah motioned for the other two to slip into the shadows of an alcove.
“I can’t find where the kitchen is.” Liv’s smooth Gaelic sounded in the distance. “Could you help?”
Someone said something indiscernible and Liv gave a giggle.
They were sufficiently distracted.
Delilah led the women to the door leading out to the garden. Her heart tripped a frantic beat.
Had Liv not been there to distract the men, they might have been caught. Even now, they still could be.
They were so close to freedom that it made her skin prickle with the prospect.
She pushed against the door and found it open, Liv having already picked the lock in anticipation of their escape.
Delilah charged into the garden and held the door for the other two, whose movements were more hesitant.
Torra stopped and stared up at the sky where the moon shone bright upon them. She drew a shaky gasp and pulled Leasa closer to her. “It’s beautiful,” she said in a choked whisper.
Delilah let the door slip closed with great care to ensure it remained silent.
Something hard gripped the back of her neck and squeezed.
Delilah’s body acted on instinct, grasping blindly for her assailant while she ducked her body forward and sent him sprawling over her.
One of the women gave a sharp squeak while another shushed.
The man looked up at Delilah in shock before her elbow came down hard on his temple. She didn’t have any rope to tie him with, but the draught tucked in her waistband would work nonetheless.
After quickly dumping the contents into his mouth, she gathered the other two women against her with Leasa at her left and Torra at her right. Together, the three of them ran toward the fence at the forest.
Donnan would be waiting for them. Freedom would be waiting for them.
But it w
as not just Donnan’s face which emerged from the shadows of the trees. Another man stood beside him, his skin had been darkened like Donnan’s to aid in making him invisible within the forest.
Perhaps that was why it took her a moment before she recognized the man in one pulse-pounding second.
Kaid.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The moonlight became brighter when she appeared.
Delilah.
Kaid’s soul was awash in her light, flooded with the relief of her safety. And damn proud of how she’d put down her attacker without a moment’s hesitation.
The lass could fight.
She ran toward the forest with two women huddled against her, but her gaze was fastened on Kaid. There was a fierceness there, something protective and determined, and he locked the image in his mind to capture in his book later.
She would be with him soon.
But not soon enough.
He was moving forward before he realized what he was doing, eager to scale the fence to get to her faster. Something hard and solid pushed against his chest.
“Nay, laird.” Donnan’s voice. “More movement will only draw attention.”
Kaid gritted his teeth against the logic of his friend’s words, but held his place.
An eternity passed, and finally the women were clambering over the fence. First Leasa, and then a red-haired woman with a look of wild fright about her. Torra.
She allowed herself to be pulled over by Donnan long enough to have her feet set on the ground before lurching back from them all. The odor of greasy hair and unwashed body hung thick in the air around her.
Delilah came next, deftly hurtling over the fence.
Kaid caught her in her midair leap and let her topple them to the ground together so their breathless laugh tangled into a breathless kiss.
The passion of their kiss was explosive, stoked into a fevered longing with the threat of danger swelling around them. She sighed into his mouth, and her body arched against him.
Donnan cleared his throat.
Kaid pulled back from Delilah, and they shared a laughing look before getting to their feet. Torra watched them from the veil of her thick hair, her eyes wide where they flicked back and forth between him and Delilah.
Highland Ruse: Mercenary Maidens - Book Two Page 19
