They led him into the crumbling great hall and roughly forced him to kneel by the hearth. The only thing that made him obey was the knife at Nora’s neck.
Ewan didn’t take his eyes off of it or her while Sean and Rufus tied him to an iron ring that was buried deep into the stones by the hearth.
Only then did the dagger come away from her neck. Ewan took a deep breath in relief.
Now the real fun could begin...
Graham smiled evilly at him. “‘Tis a pity I can’t kill you now. But I have to make sure you stay alive until her ransom comes to us. Tell me, how would you kill her? Would you choke her? Cut her throat?”
Ewan eyed him with all the hatred he felt for the man. “You harm her and so help me, I’ll defy death itself to rip your heart out.”
Sean sucked his breath in sharply. “I can almost believe the rumors that say you’ve sold your soul to the devil when you look like that.”
Ewan turned his black stare toward the man. “You can more than believe it, MacKaid. Harm her and I’ll introduce you to the devil myself.”
“Leave them be, Sean, Graham,” Rufus snapped. “Let us write the note to her father and see about putting this into motion. The sooner we get the message off, the closer we’ll be to having us a home again.”
Graham shoved Nora toward Ewan and sheathed his dagger.
Nora fell to her knees by his side. The site of her there, trembling made him want their blood all the more.
“Don’t fret, Nora,” he hastened to assure her. “I won’t let them hurt you.”
“They killed Ryan,” she said, her voice shaking as she cuddled up to his side like a child needing comfort.
Ewan winced at the news and wished his arms were free so that he could hold her and soothe her worry and fear. “What happened?”
“After you left, I was talking to him when Sean came in. Ryan tried to keep them from taking me and Graham stabbed him.”
Tears were shining brightly in her eyes, but to her credit, she held them back. “Oh Ewan, what have I done? I only wanted to go to Eleanor’s. I never meant for anyone to be harmed. The saints know I never really wanted Ryan dead. I just didn’t want to marry him, but I never truly meant for evil to befall him. He didn’t deserve to die like that.”
He nuzzled her head with his cheek, offering her what solace he could while bound to the wall. “Shh, love. None of this is your fault.”
“Aye, it is. All of this is my fault. I never meant for Ryan to die. He was an annoying pest, but still...”
“He loved you.”
“Nay,” she said, holding him, “not really. We were childhood enemies in that our parents were always putting us together and we never got along.”
Ewan glanced to Graham and Sean who were arguing over what the letter to her father should say and over how much money they should ask for.
He had to find some way to get them out of this.
He wrenched at the ring that held him to the wall. It wiggled only enough to make him think that maybe he could work it free. Provided the MacKaids didn’t turn around and see what he was up to.
Nora saw him twisting at his ropes. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
“I’ll heal.”
She shook her head, then glanced around the overgrown floor where weeds and rocks were scattered. She looked back at the MacKaids who were still arguing and motioned for Ewan to be silent.
He watched her go to a small pile of stones. After a few minutes, she returned with one.
But before she could hand it to him, Sean saw her.
“Give me that,” he snapped, rushing over to them and pulling it from her hand.
“What is it?” Graham asked as he joined them.
