Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The message arrived tied around the wrist of the missing kitchen servant. The young man was found outside the eastern gate, unconscious but alive, with blood dried along one temple.
Colin tore it free before the guard finished speaking. Elspeth’s wedding ribbon lay inside. For one terrible moment, he could only stare at it. The pale silk was stained with mud and a small mark of blood.
Her blood.
The courtyard vanished around him. Men continued searching the walls, passages, stables, and servants’ roads, but their voices became distant beneath the roar building in his head.
He unfolded the message.
MacKenzie,
Yer wife is alive.
His hands tightened.
Whether she remains so depends upon yer obedience.
Come tae the ruined chapel beyond the Blackwood before sunset. Come alone. Fer every man ye bring, she will suffer once before yer eyes.
If I see soldiers, she suffers.
If I see yer friends, she suffers.
If ye fail tae come, she dies without ye.
Robert Munro.
The parchment crumpled in Colin’s fist.
“Where?” Breac demanded.
Colin gave him the letter. Murdoch read over his shoulder. A curse left him, low and vicious. Niall stood nearby with one hand upon his sword. Domhnall had abandoned his preparations to leave, while Margaret remained upon the castle steps, pale but composed as servants hurried around her.
“The ruined chapel lies beyond MacKenzie land,” Murdoch said. “Near the southern edge of Blackwood.”
“Aye,” Colin answered.
Niall watched him. “Ye cannae ride intae that alone.”
“He will hurt her if I dinnae.”
“He will hurt her regardless,” Domhnall said grimly. “A man daesnae arrange this merely tae exchange threats.”
The truth stood between them, brutal and necessary. Robert did not mean to release Elspeth. He meant Colin to watch her die. The thought entered Colin like a blade driven carefully beneath the ribs.
He saw her in the loch, laughing through chattering teeth.
He saw her standing before him, tears bright in her eyes as she said she loved him.
He remembered his own hands cupping her face and the terror of finally speaking the same truth aloud.
He had promised to protect her. Less than a day later, Robert had taken her from within his walls.
“I am going,” Colin said.
“Aye,” Breac replied. “But nae as he expects.”
Before Colin could answer, a horn sounded from the gate. Every man in the courtyard turned. A small company approached beneath the royal banner.
For one wild instant, Colin considered ordering the gates barred. He had no patience for a Crown official asking measured questions while Elspeth bled somewhere beyond the hills.
The representative entered surrounded by six soldiers. He was an older man in a dark blue coat, his grey hair bound at the nape. His expression held the careful authority of someone accustomed to arriving after bloodshed and speaking as though his presence had prevented it.
“Laird MacKenzie,” he called. “Sir Malcolm Douglas, appointed by the Crown tae oversee—”
“Come inside,” Colin ordered.
Sir Malcolm stiffened. “I beg yer pardon?”
“Now.”
Something in Colin’s face persuaded him not to demand ceremony. Minutes later, they gathered in the council chamber. Colin placed Robert’s message upon the table. Sir Malcolm read it in silence.
When he finished, he looked up. “This bears Munro’s name.”
“Aye.”
“It may be forged.”
Colin crossed the space between them before anyone could stop him. Niall caught his arm. Only that prevented Colin from closing his hand around the royal man’s throat.
“Me wife was taken from this castle,” Colin growled. “Her blood is on the ribbon. Robert named the place and signed the threat. How much proof daes yer Crown require?”
Sir Malcolm’s composure faltered. “This message must be preserved.”
“Elspeth must be preserved.”
“Aye.” Sir Malcolm set the parchment down carefully. “And if Munro is at the chapel, witnessed by a royal officer while holding Lady MacKenzie, the question of proof ends.”
Silence followed. Niall released Colin’s arm.
Domhnall leaned over the map. “Robert expects Colin alone.”
“Then that is what he sees,” Breac spoke.
Murdoch pointed toward Blackwood. “The western slope rises above the chapel. Men could reach it through the birch ravine without crossing the open ground.”
“Too exposed,” Niall replied. “Robert will have watchers.”
“Nae if we approach before Colin in small groups,” Domhnall said.
Sir Malcolm studied them. “Ye propose an ambush.”
“We propose witnessing the truth,” Niall answered pleasantly. “The ambush is merely fer everyone’s continued health.”
Colin looked at the map. The ruined chapel stood in a hollow beyond the Blackwood, surrounded by broken stone walls and dense trees. Robert had chosen it because every road into the hollow could be watched.
But the burn behind the chapel cut through a narrow ravine. Colin had crossed it years earlier with Niall, Domhnall, and Ruaridh while evading Crown patrols.
“There is another path,” Colin revealed. “North of the ravine. Narrow enough fer one man at a time.”
Niall remembered. “The old deer track.”
“Aye.”
Domhnall looked at Sir Malcolm. “Can yer soldiers move quietly?”
“They are trained men.”
“That isnae an answer.”
Sir Malcolm’s mouth tightened. “They can.”
The plan formed quickly. Colin would take the southern road openly and enter the chapel hollow alone. He would carry no visible bow and only the sword Robert expected him to wear.
Niall and Domhnall would lead men through the deer track. Breac would circle east with MacKenzie archers. Murdoch would approach along the ravine with Sir Malcolm and two royal soldiers.
No one would move until Elspeth was clear of Robert’s blade.
“And if Robert searches Colin?” Sir Malcolm asked.
“He will,” Murdoch said.
Colin removed the small knife from his boot and placed it upon the table. Then another from beneath his coat.
Niall raised a brow. “Only two?”
Colin pulled a narrow blade from the back of his belt.
“Three,” Domhnall corrected.
The faint humor died almost immediately.
Sir Malcolm folded Robert’s message and placed it inside his coat.
“This letter remains with me. When we find Munro—”
“When we find him,” Colin interrupted, “ye will witness whatever remains after I take back me wife.”
Sir Malcolm regarded him for a long moment. Then he nodded.
The castle moved with controlled urgency. Men changed out of clan colors. Bows were wrapped in blankets. Horses were led through separate gates to prevent anyone watching the walls from counting the riders. Colin stood alone in the courtyard while his friends prepared to disappear into the hills.
Niall approached first. “We will be there.”
Colin fastened his sword. “Ye better be.”
Domhnall clasped his uninjured shoulder. “Robert wants ye frightened and reckless.”
“He has succeeded in both.”
He mounted. Fear sat inside him like a living thing, tearing at every breath. But beneath it lay something colder.
Robert believed love had made Colin weak. Perhaps it had. It had also given him something for which mercy no longer seemed necessary.
Behind him, his men and friends vanished through hidden roads while the Crown’s representative rode to witness the proof he had demanded. Ahead waited Robert and Elspeth.
Colin drove his heels into the horse and rode from the castle alone.
The ruined chapel appeared at the bottom of the hollow just before sunset. Colin slowed his horse. Broken walls rose from the heather like black teeth. The roof had long since fallen, leaving only a stone arch, half a nave, and the remains of an altar exposed beneath the reddening sky.
Robert had chosen well. Anyone approaching by the main road could be seen long before reaching the hollow.
Colin dismounted and left the horse near the tree line. He did not look toward the northern ridge. Niall, Domhnall, Breac, Murdoch, and the Crown’s men were somewhere beyond it, moving through the hidden paths.
Colin could not see them. Robert could not either. That was all that mattered.
Colin entered the hollow alone. Men emerged from behind the chapel walls. Six at first, then four more among the trees. None concerned him.
Elspeth stood beside the broken altar. Her wrists were bound. Her hair had come loose and a bruise darkened one side of her face. Robert stood behind her with one arm locked around her waist and a blade pressed beneath her ribs.
Colin forgot the men. He forgot the Crown, the plan, the archers, and every promise he had made to wait.
He saw only her.
Elspeth’s eyes found his. Fear lived there but not surrender. She looked past him once, briefly, toward the empty road, then back to his face.
She knew… or hoped.
Colin forced himself to breathe. “Release her.”
Robert smiled. “So obedient.”
Colin stopped several paces away. “Ye asked me tae come alone.”
“And ye did.”
Robert pulled Elspeth closer. She flinched when the blade shifted against her side. Colin’s hands remained loose. Every part of him wanted to cross the distance and tear Robert apart with his bare hands. Instead, he stood still.
“Ye have me,” he said. “She is nay longer needed.”
Robert laughed softly. “That is where ye are wrong.”
His gaze moved over Elspeth’s face with deliberate cruelty.
“She is the only reason ye are here.”
Colin kept his attention upon Robert, though he watched Elspeth through every breath.
Robert continued. “I thought tae kill her quickly once. A useful message. A bride dead before the marriage settled.”
Elspeth’s chin lifted.
“But then I heard what ye did at the feast,” Robert said. “How ye abandoned yer men tae reach her. How ye nearly died because she bled.”
Colin said nothing. A bird called from somewhere beyond the ridge. It was too early.
Nae yet.
Robert smiled wider. “So I changed me mind.”
The knife pressed harder. Elspeth’s breath caught. Colin felt something inside him go cold.
“What dae ye want?” he asked.
“Tae watch ye understand.”
Robert leaned nearer Elspeth’s ear.
“I will cut her slowly. Nae enough tae kill her at first. I want ye tae hear her beg. I want ye tae ken there is naething yer name, sword, or precious clan can dae.”
Elspeth’s face paled. Still, she did not look away from Colin.
Trust me, he tried to tell her without words. Wait.
She drew one careful breath. Robert mistook it for fear.
“She will die before ye,” he continued. “And ye will live long enough afterward tae remember every sound.”
Colin let the silence stretch. Behind Robert, a shadow moved briefly near the broken wall. One of theirs, almost in position.
“Ye speak a great deal fer a man who claims victory,” Colin said.
Robert’s eyes narrowed.
“Did me faither teach ye that?” Colin asked. “Tae mistake cruelty fer power?”
The smile vanished.
Good.
Anger made men careless.
Robert turned more fully toward him, dragging Elspeth with him.
“Yer faither stole everything from me!”
“And so ye became him.”
Robert’s face twisted. The knife lifted from Elspeth’s ribs for one moment. One moment was enough. Colin saw another movement near the trees, then another.
Archers.
Friends.
Witnesses.
Ready.
Elspeth saw something change in his expression. Her fingers tightened against the rope binding her wrists. She was frightened, but she held herself still.
She trusted that Colin had not come alone.
And Colin prayed she would continue trusting him for only a few breaths more.