Highlander's Beautiful Liar A Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance Historical Novel - Adamina Young Page 0,63

the crowd. His dark hair had grayed with age and, most likely, stress since he was hardly five years older than Alec. “I understand that my brother has acted against ye and taken something that was yers. For that, I hope that ye doona hold it against me and my people.”

“Yer brother is dead,” Alec said coldly as he stepped aside so Mac could see his brother’s body.

There was pain and anguish on the older man’s face, but he also looked tired. “For some time, I suspected that my brother had a hand in Duncan’s death and was plotting against me. A suspicion I shared with those most loyal to me, and ’tis why I was prepared if he acted against me. Had ye not killed him, then I would have had to slay him myself. I suppose I owe ye my thanks. ’Tis an act I would not have relished.”

“How do I know that ye didnae have a hand in this?” Alec demanded. “Innes told me and others that ye were dead, and yet here ye are, as alive as can be.”

“Alec,” Cora said, her voice much weaker than he would have liked. “I saw what happened between Innes and Mac. If Innes and his men had not attacked, I believe that Mac would have escorted me to home and safety. If you hold someone accountable for the actions of their blood, then you would have to remember that Seth and I also share the same blood.”

Mac shook his head sadly. “I didnae want to see what my brother had become. I wanted to believe that Seth was the influencer of the two, but there is no one to blame but Innes. I have my own reparations to make. When I am done here, weeding out the guards who were disloyal to me and supported Innes’s plots, then I hope that ye and I can meet and be allies. Despite what my father said, the Campbells doona stand against the King.”

“When ye are ready, my doors will be open to ye,” Alec said as he reached out and clasped the older man’s hand. “Now if ye excuse me, I intend to get my wife and my wounded back to my keep as swiftly as possible.”

“Ye have safe passages, and Lady Cora, I hope that my brother did not harm ye.”

“I am fine,” she said before she swayed and crumpled to the ground.

24

Manacles were clamped around her arms again, and hands reached for her. In the darkness, Innes’s laughter froze her blood, and she pulled helplessly at the chains. Not again. God, please, not again. She would not be a helpless prisoner against the monster. She would not!

“Cora,” a voice soothed. “Cora, ye are having a nightmare, ye must wake up now, lass. Ye must.”

She knew that voice. Her husband. Her husband who had risked his life to come save her. It pulled her from the nightmare, and when she opened her eyes, sunlight streamed into the room. There was no more darkness, and when she reached for her wrists, they were free.

She was free. But she hurt all over.

“Cora, there ye are. Easy now,” Alec said as he sat on the edge of her bed and looked down at her uncertainly. “Innes is gone. Dead. Ye have no reason to fear him again.”

“What happened? How did I get here?” she asked as she tried to sit up. Her body felt weak, as though she hadn’t eaten in ages, but that made no sense. She wasn’t even Innes’s captive for more than a day.

“Ye caught ill. The healer said it probably took root when ye rode out in the rain, and it overcame ye quickly. Ye have been fighting a fever for nearly a week now. I didnae think that ye were going to make it.”

A week. A whole week had passed? “You are all right? Jamie? Stephen? They were wounded. I saw the blood. Lord, your thigh!”

“We lost no men that day, and even now, I believe Jamie has some bonnie MacKay warming his bed and tending to him,” he joked with a smile before his expression turned serious again. “I will have the healer come examine ye.”

No. She didn’t want him to leave, but as she reached for him, he deftly moved out of her grasp and opened the door.

With a heavy heart, she realized that he had yet to touch her. Did he think that she had betrayed him? Innes’s nasty words echoed in her head. She