Highlander's Beautiful Liar A Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance Historical Novel - Adamina Young Page 0,62
watched, tensed, but they didn’t intervene.
“Ye were there when Seth killed Duncan MacKay,” Alec goaded him. “Cora heard every word out of yer mouth, but then, ye didnae care what she heard, did ye? Ye never expected her to survive that night. Tell me, Innes, are all of the Campbell women so ugly that ye had to chain an English lass up for six months in hopes of getting a woman?”
Around him, he heard some of the MacKay guards inhale sharply. So they didn’t know.
Interesting.
“Lies,” Innes growled as he struck again, but he moved too slow, and Alec deflected it easily and returned with a blow to the stomach, but Innes danced away.
“Then ye had to threaten her sister to keep Cora in line. Threaten a wee lass of fourteen years. Tell me, Innes, do ye have any idea what it is to actually face a man in combat or must ye always threaten those weaker than ye to get what ye want?”
Clank. Their swords met again, and then Innes’s fury drove him harder and powered his hits. He was more skilled than Alec anticipated, and neither man had managed to get a slice of the other.
“Ye threatened the life of my wife under the roof of the King,” Alec grunted. “Ye have no loyalty, and the men and women here should look to what happened under Seth’s rule because that is what awaits them. Cut from the same cloth.”
“Seth was nothing like me,” Innes hissed as he pushed Alec back and swung. The sword whistled through the air and just barely missed Alec’s chest. “He was cruel but he didnae want power. He just didnae want to do his father’s bidding anymore. He wanted to languish in the keep all day while women dropped to their knees in front of him. In time, I planned to have my clan and Seth’s too, and then I would wield the most power in the Highlands.”
“Power to rival the King. Ye are a treasonous bastard.”
He deflected and spun, digging his elbow into Innes’s stomach. As the man doubled over, he spun again and brought his sword down, slicing the man’s shoulder, but while his shirt swelled with blood, Innes didn’t even seem to feel the pain. He was too far gone to his own insanity, and Alec couldn’t block the sword fast enough. It sliced through his thigh, and he fell to his knees.
Cackling like a madman, Innes raised his sword and charged.
“No!” a female voice screamed, and Innes looked up, just for a second to see Cora on the balcony looking over.
It was all that Alec needed. Swinging his sword up, he buried it in Innes’s belly.
With a groan, the Campbell fell and chaos broke out as several of Campbell’s men bellowed and attacked. Alec’s men defended, and Alec trusted them as he rose and looked up and bellowed Cora’s name. She turned just in time to see someone attacking her, and she swung something in her hands and knocked the man upside the head. He tumbled over the railing and fell to his death on the stone below.
Then, she was gone.
“Cora!” Alec cried again desperately as he fought his way through the men toward the stairs that would lead him to her. How she got free from the chains and the guards, he had no idea, but he would thank the fates every day that she had.
Suddenly, the door flew open, and Cora charged into the fray with a sword. It was obvious that she had no training and barely the strength to even lift it. “Protect her!” Alec cried desperately. He was still too far away.
All of his men were too far away.
Then, to his surprise, it was a Campbell who defended her when another attempted to seize her.
“Cease fighting,” a male voice roared. “Or be cut down immediately.”
Campbell swords dropped, and Alec turned his head to see Mac Campbell standing there, fire and fury in his eyes, and a dozen men behind him.
Alec and his men remained tense. Although they were not at war, the Campbells had never been allies with the Sinclairs, and Alec doubted that had changed simply because he’d taken over the MacKays. For all he knew, Mac shared his younger brother’s thirst for power. Not once, since Alec had taken over, had Mac come to congratulate him or offer his people as allies.
No, he’d always sent Innes, and Innes had taken every opportunity to traumatize Cora further.