Chapter 25
Ailis shoved Killian away and scrambled off the bed, sliding to her knees to pick up the shorn lock of hair. Her thumb gently caressed the silky ribbon, running over the bumps of the embroidered ‘S.’
“This was a mistake,” she rasped, terror rising as if she were back in the night-dark sea, being swept out of the cove. Helpless to stop it. “This was all a terrible mistake.”
Paisley hung off Peter’s arm, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Aye, it was.”
“I need to go back,” Ailis said, her legs shaking violently as she closed her fist around the lock of hair and lumbered to her feet.
“Since we didnae consummate the marriage, we can say it isnae binding. We can undo this! It’s nae too late.
I can still save her. And… and I can bargain to get Fraser released before they do anythin’ else to him. ”
She had been a fool to think that nothing would happen.
Yes, her father hadn’t attacked the chapel or marched on Castle MacNairn, but she should have known better than to trust the lack of action. She should have known that her father was up to something more devious than an outright battle.
“Please…” Paisley murmured, breathing hard as if she might faint.
“She’s nae goin’ anywhere,” Killian interjected, striding across the room to pick up the severed finger and put it back in the box. “It’s a trick.”
Paisley glared at him. “It’s Fraser’s ring!”
“Aye, but we daenae ken if it’s his finger,” Killian pointed out. “This is what he wants. He wants Ailis to go runnin’ back, and I’d wager he’ll punish her worse than anythin’ he’d dare to do to Fraser. Nay, nay one is goin’ anywhere until I’ve dealt with this.”
Ailis was shaking from head to toe, the lock of hair burning a hole in her clenched fist. “I have to fix this.”
“And I cannae protect ye if ye go there,” Killian shot back. “The moment ye set foot in that castle, there’ll be nothin’ I can do to help ye. I willnae let ye do this.”
Ailis met his gaze. “I’m nae askin’ for yer permission, Killian.
Me niece is everythin’ to me, and if she’s hurt or scared or…
worse, then I have nay choice but to go back to her.
” She opened her fist to show him the ribboned curl.
“They’ve done somethin’ to her, Killian, and I willnae stay here, pretendin’ that all is well.
I made a mistake by lettin’ ye take me from the castle.
I made a mistake by nae goin’ with me braither when he commanded it.
I have to return now, before this gets any worse. ”
“Nay,” he growled. “Ye willnae play into that madman’s hands.”
“And ye cannae keep me here!” she barked, her heart breaking as she thought of her niece locked in a cell or a chest, terrified of what might happen to her.
Her father wouldn’t protect her. No one would, except Ailis, and she didn’t care what it cost her as long as that little girl was safe.
“Can ye nae see?” she cried. “I must leave. Aye, it’s what me faither wants, and he’s played a foul trick to get it, but I will return there. Tonight.”
Killian’s eyes flashed. “They’ll kill ye. They daenae want ye back; they just want to hurt ye.”
“I’m well aware,” she said, her voice cracking.
“But it’s nae like ye wanted me here either.
Aye, ye wouldnae hurt me, but I’d be in dire pain, every day that I stayed, kennin’ somethin’ bad had befallen me niece.
This way, I can help her and help ye. I can stop the sufferin’—for me, for Skye, for Paisley.
This isnae a discussion, Killian. I’m leavin’, and I willnae be comin’ back. This… this was such an awful mistake.”
With that tuft of hair gripped tight in her fist, the back of her dress still unlaced, she hurried out of the room before her husband could follow her father’s lead and lock her in.
Did ye ken that I was just startin’ to feel happy?
She cursed her father as she walked, her heart in her throat.
Did ye ken that I was fallin’ in love?
He had always known how to hurt her the most with the least amount of effort, but this might have been his finest act of torture yet: to make her leave the place where she could be happy of her own accord, to return to the dismal hell of her family home, back under his iron rule.
From the guard tower by the gates, gripping the stone of the battlement wall until it scraped the skin from his fingertips, Killian watched his wife leave the castle.
What are ye doin’? Ye ken what will happen if ye let her go back there, a voice whispered urgently in the back of his head.
Let her leave if that’s her choice. She’s right; ye cannae keep her here, and ye shouldnae. She’s doin’ what she must for her niece and Fraser, another voice countered.
He had misjudged Laird Ainsley. He had truly thought that this marriage could bring about a fragile peace, confident that two clans bound by marriage wouldn’t want to kill each other anymore. It went against every law of the land to shed the blood of one’s kin.
Laird Ainsley had only needed to sever a finger and cut a lock of hair to undo it all, so against peace that he would threaten his own granddaughter. Killian should have known that a man like that wouldn’t care about honor and the bonds of marriage.
“Paisley drank a tonic.” Peter’s voice intruded on his silent fury. “She’s sleepin’ now.”
Killian watched Ailis’s small, shadowy figure grow smaller as she hurried down the hill.
She hadn’t paused to say farewell to anyone.
She hadn’t even waited until it was light or thought to ask for a horse and some supplies.
She had just taken off. Probably before Killian could stop her from leaving.
“I’m sorry, me Laird,” Peter said grimly. “I’m sorry I couldnae get to the lassie or yer braither. I did me best, but we’d have been massacred.”
Killian shook his head. “When there were nay Ainsley soldiers at the wedding, I should’ve guessed they’d all be surroundin’ the castle. Laird Ainsley likely thought we’d attack.”
“I’m sorry, regardless,” Peter insisted. “And I’m sorrier still that ye have to be parted from the lass. She was good for ye, and I daresay she liked ye a great deal.”
Those words stung like a wasp to the heart.
I cannae just let this happen. I cannae just let her walk off into the night, where anythin’ could befall her.
“Go after her,” Killian said thickly.
Peter raised an eyebrow. “Me Laird?”
“I cannae stop her from returnin’ to that wretched place, but I can stop anythin’ from happenin’ to her on the way,” Killian replied, his tone bitter. “Take two horses and go after her. Keep her safe.”
Peter bowed his head. “And when we get to the castle?”
“I’ll leave it up to ye,” Killian said. “Just… see to it that she’s safe for as long as ye can and then come back. If she imparts any words to ye, I’d like to hear them.”
His man-at-arms offered a reassuring smile. “I’ll do me duty to Her Ladyship. She’s one of us now; how could I nae?”
With that, he walked off to execute the order, leaving Killian alone on the guard tower, watching Ailis until he couldn’t see her anymore.
Even then, he didn’t move, hoping against all hope that she would change her mind and turn back.
“Tell me, what was it like, bein’ raised in a place like that?” Peter asked, munching cheerfully on an apple and sharing bites with the horse he rode.
Ailis, awkwardly swaying on a horse of her own, shot him a disapproving look. “I already told ye, we daenae have to talk. It’s better if we daenae.”
Killian’s man-at-arms had caught up to her at the riverbank, where she had hopelessly been struggling to pull the rope to get the platform to move across the fast-flowing water.
She had forgotten about that particular hurdle, and though she hadn’t shown it, she had been rather glad that Peter had shown up when he did. Otherwise, she would still be on the platform, inching across until dawn, most likely.
“Have I done somethin’ to offend ye?” Peter asked.
Heaving a weary sigh, Ailis shook her head. “Nae personally, but I didnae want an escort. It’s nae safe for ye to be on this side of the river with me.”
“It’s nae me first time on this side of the river, me Lady. I was just here today, ridin’ this same path,” he replied with a sad smile. “I wish, more than ever, that I could’ve rescued the little lassie. Ye’d still be in yer chambers with the Laird, enjoyin’ yer weddin’ night, if I had done more.”
Embarrassment flooded Ailis’s face, her gaze fixed on the woodland they were passing through so he wouldn’t see her shock at his remark.
Still, at least she had had her clothes on when he had burst into the room.
She couldn’t imagine how awful—more awful—it would have been if she had been naked, tangled up with Killian, already too far into their wedding night to nullify their marriage.
It wouldnae have been awful at all, her heart whispered, yearning for something she would now never experience. Her father would make sure she never saw Killian again.
“Apologies, me Lady,” Peter said. “That was discourteous of me.”
“I forgive ye,” she murmured.
Her mind was torn in half. One half wishing she was back in her bedchamber with Killian, the other half wishing she had never met him at all. For what would her punishments be like, now that she had experienced what it felt like to be welcome somewhere?
How would her mind cope with isolation and torment, when she knew there was a joyful alternative across the river? How was she supposed to face the lonely years, now that she had found someone she adored? And not just Killian, but Paisley too.
But at least I’ll ken that Killian is alive. If I daenae do this, Fraser will be sent to Paisley in pieces.
She couldn’t and wouldn’t be selfish; the thought of Paisley’s agony and Skye’s fear hardened her resolve as they rode on. If she had to sacrifice her chance of happiness, so be it. It wouldn’t be the first time.
All too soon, the night still dark with the hours creeping toward autumn’s late sunrise, the lights of Castle Ainsley appeared through the trees. There was no whisper of the sea here, only the rustle of the forest and the rush of blood in Ailis’s ears as she realized that this was it.
Life as she had begun to know it was over.
“Ye should return,” she said to Peter. “I can continue the rest of the way on me own.”
The man-at-arms shook his head. “I’m nae leavin’ yer side.”
“Did Killian tell ye to do that?”
“Nay, he asked me to return, but I made the decision to escort ye inside about an hour ago,” Peter replied. “I wouldnae be able to live with meself if I just abandoned ye here. Ye’re me mistress, after all, and it’s me duty to protect ye in yer husband’s absence.”
A lump formed in Ailis’s throat upon hearing that sweet word, ‘husband.’ And knowing that, despite being on the wrong side of the river, she still belonged with Clan MacNairn.
She was Lady MacNairn, whether she ever set foot on that territory again or not.
So she allowed Peter to escort her the rest of the way, her heart thundering so hard that her ribs hurt as they finally reached the gates of that terrible place.
The guards took one look at her and raised the portcullis, the shriek of metal doing nothing for her nerves. As she waited for it to open wide enough to allow the horses through, she saw something that made her stomach sink: her father, striding out into the courtyard to greet her.
“Keep yer head up,” Peter whispered. “Ye’re nae the lass ye were when ye left here. Show him that ye’re nae afraid.”
Swallowing thickly, Ailis did just that, squaring her shoulders and tilting her chin up, ready to start making demands.
As the horses plodded through the gates, their ears twitching anxiously, she raised her hand in greeting. “I received yer gift, Faither,” she said, her voice icy cold. “And I’m here to inform ye that it wasnae necessary. I’m nay wife of Laird MacNairn. I’ve returned of me own accord.”
Her nerves spiked at the sound of the portcullis closing behind her, trapping her and Peter inside.
“Nay, daughter, ye’ve returned a disgrace,” her father replied, his hand moving in a strange gesture that she registered too late.
From the battlements, arrows flew with fatal precision and pierced through Peter’s back.