Chapter 31
"Execute him."
Killian's heart pounded in his ears as he gripped the hilt of his dirk. The blade felt strained in his inexperienced, trembling hand. Killian glanced over at his father. The man loomed like a dark cloud, blotting all light and warmth.
"Do it."
"Nay," Killian screamed at the top of his lungs as he lunged forward. The blade now wielded like the weapon it was. He slashed through the shadow and mist.
"Killian, ye must come back to me."
"Leah?" he stopped. His heart throbbed in his ears as he hunted for her. Leah. She was the calm to his storm. "Where are ye, lass? Why can I nae see ye?"
"Kill him, now," his father's voice boomed, interrupting the tranquility of Leah's presence. Just as swiftly as she came, she was gone, and Killian's feverish nightmare droned on. In and out of consciousness, he fell until his memories and his nightmares blended into one.
"Killian, ye need to wake up. Ye cannae stay asleep all day."
"But I want to," Killian pleaded as he glanced over to find Leah in the garden with only the glass of the Study window separating them.
"I ken, but ye cannae, ye have to get up," she whispered, her voice painted with a mixture of adoration and fear. It was the fear that pricked Killian's ear.
"Leah?" He called for her only to be greeted by silence. The image of her faded into dark ink.
"I think he's comin' to," a familiar voice said, encroaching on the darkness that engulfed Killian. Slowly, he blinked the world into view. Panic ensnared his senses. Instinctively, he reached for his dirk only to find it missing.
"Where am I? What have ye done with me things?" Killian demanded.
"Ease, Killian," Elsie said as she dragged a cool cloth across his forehead. "Ye’re in the infirmary. Do ye remember how ye got here? Or anythin' that happened to ye?"
Realizing there was no threat, Killian propped up against the backboard. His mind was a jumbled mess as he tried to sort through his fever dream and reality.
"Someone came to me chambers," Killian said. "They stabbed me."
"Aye," Elsie said. "But Killian, ye've been out for two days. We dinnae think we were goin' to be able to save ye."
"Where is Leah?" Killian asked, his heart springing to life the second her face popped into his mind.
Elsie let out a heavy sigh that caught Killian's attention. Through slanted eyes, he glared at her, waiting for her to spill her secrets. Elsie chewed on her lower lip as the tension between them mounted.
"Alan had her thrown in the dungeons," Elsie explained as she wrung out the rag. "He's accused her of yer assassination. If ye hadnae called for her, they would have thought ye were dead."
"What are ye sayin'?" Killian asked as his chest tightened. Every muscle in his body coiled like a snake, ready to strike, only he didn't know what to strike.
"Leah has been in the dungeons for two days," Elsie said slowly to allow each word to sink into Killian's head.
"She found ye in yer chambers. Ye'd been run through.
Alan saw her there with ye and in yer condition and blamed her for tryin' to kill ye.
As she was bein' pried off ye, ye called for her.
It was that moment the council realized ye had a chance. They've locked her up next to Mason."
"Nay, oh lord, nay," Killian gasped. "Mason's mind is far too warped, and if he gets into Leah's head to…" I'll lose her forever. My brother's mind is poison, and I cannae let him poison her against me, too.
"Just what do ye think ye’re doin'?" Elsie scolded as Killian mustered every ounce of his strength to get his legs off the straw-covered cot. There was only one thought driving him forward, one need that weighed more than all others. Killian had to get to Leah.
"I'll nae lie here in this bed when she could be…" Killian didn't want to think of the things his brother could be telling her. Nor did he want to think of what unsavory men in the castle would do to someone like Leah. The thought lit the fire under his heels, keeping him going.
Whispers surrounded him as he charged through the Great Hall. There was no hiding from the prying eyes and side glances. Killian could feel every single person watching him as he moved with purpose through the castle.
"Me laird, ye’re alive," a council member greeted him as he passed by without so much as a second thought to any of them.
To Killian, they were enemies. They were the cowards who stood by to let an innocent woman rot in a dungeon.
He wished he had the strength to challenge each and every one of them.
He'd slaughter them all within the hour and set a new court.
"Do ye see that?"
"Is that the laird?
"I thought he was dead."
Killian paused and turned to face the crowd that had begun to follow him. He flexed his jaw, chewing on the words he wanted to say to them.
"Listen, and listen well," Killian said, projecting his voice for all to hear. "I demand to ken who ordered Leah to be thrown in the dungeons. Speak and ye'll have mercy. If I find out through her lips, I will call up the flames of hell."
"Alan," a voice called from the corner of the room. Killian turned to find Edward standing in the corner, his eyes wide with fear.
"What was that?" Killian asked, lending his ear to Edward. Hesitating, Edward scanned the faces of those around the room before rolling his shoulders back and taking a bold step forward.
"Alan had the lass put in the dungeons. He had found her over yer body and assumed she had run her blade through ye," Edward said. Killian's lips pursed into a tight line as he wrangled with the fury threatening to explode from every pore of his body.
"Ye all have seen Leah, have ye nae? Ye've seen her cower at the sight of blood, have ye nae?
Or tell me, has she somehow gained mass to be as big as me?
Do tell me, what sane person here would think she could ever do me harm?
" Killian's voice started low and by the time he was finished, the windows rattled.
"Ye all are idiots. Where is Alan? I'll have his head. Now."
"Me laird, perhaps ye just need a few minutes to cool off," another said as Killian couldn't stand one more minute trapped with them. Bolting for the dungeons, Killian vowed for every minute Leah had been locked up, he'd lash the man who put her there.
As his boots echoed through the lonely hallway, he tried to ignore the ache and throb in his side. All he wanted to do was see her, even if it would only be to release her. Killian had to see her.
"Laird MacMillan, what are ye doin' down here? We thought ye were dead," the guard gasped as Killian nudged his head to the door.
"I've been hearin' that quite a bit lately. But as ye can see, here I am. Now open the door and let her out," Killian ordered.
The guard swallowed hard as he turned to the door and shook his head. "I cannae do that. Traitors are behind that door, and they daenae deserve a pardon."
"Ye have a lass in that room, do ye nae?"
"She is the one who killed ye," the guard explained as his eyebrows furrowed with confusion. Killian wasted no time to exploit the situation.
"And as ye pointed out just a few minutes ago, I'm nae dead. Now open the door."
The guard scratched his head before pulling the key from his sporran. "I daenae think I should be doin' this. Alan will nae like this."
"Ye daenae work for Alan, or are ye nae a Dailey? Yer family draws their roots from these lands, and I ken ye well. Even if ye daenae ken me."
"But they say ye’re the mad laird," the guard said, recoiling the keys from Killian before Killian could grab them.
"And I'm supposed to be dead," Killian snapped. "But I grow weary of this. Give me the keys, now."
"I—" was all Killian allowed the guard to say before he drew his arm back and let his fist fly. His knuckles crashed against the man's face, sending him crashing into the wall behind him.
"Did I nae warn ye? I believe I did. I do that, and yet nay one believes me. And they call me mad…" Killian grumbled as he shoved the key into the lock and turned the key.
So help me, if anyone has hurt her, there will be hell to pay.