"I think so. You'll have to ask her. Neacal wants to marry her."
"Good heavens. In truth?" Her voice heightened with joy. "That's wonderful."
Absorbing her good cheer, he smiled. "Aye. I pray she will agree to the match. He deserves happiness more than anyone I know."
"As does Anna."
"They've both been through hellish times."
She nodded, then grew quiet. "If only they can survive Blackburn's attack."
***
Red Holme slipped through the pine thicket and gradually up the steep slope, which was more like a cliff in places. Four men quietly followed—loyal, trusted friends who had been in Blackburn's army, and before that, they'd traveled with him from the MacKillican clan more than ten years earlier.
During the fearsome gale storm, they had sheltered beneath a thick rock ledge, protecting themselves from any of the falling pine limbs or trees. Still, their clothes had been drenched by the cold, blowing rain.
Holme peered down at the plaid-clothed dead soldiers lying about everywhere between the wood and the castle in the distance. He was canny enough to know a lost cause when he saw one.
"Where the hell is Blackburn?" Holme whispered so as not to draw the attention of any MacDonalds below.
"Looked like him rowing across the loch earlier," Dobson, the man closest to him, said.
Had Blackburn escaped, then? Did he still live?
The battle was over and they'd lost, even with the help of MacDonald of Sleat. In fact, that man was dead, along with most of his soldiers.
As Holme and his comrades watched from a distance, the few remaining MacCromars were disarmed. One of the victors talked to them, too far away to hear, and pointed out toward an island.
Mayhap Blackburn had rowed out there alone. Even if he had, Holme doubted the MacDonalds would let him live.
Holme didn't care about Blackburn. Aye, he'd been under Blackburn's command for over five years, but the bastard had always incensed him. Guarding Blackburn and serving as his war leader had been a good paying position, but by all appearances, that was over now.
Something else leapt to the forefront of his mind, something that ate away at him—Holme had recognized the whoreson who had grabbed Kristina from him. Holme had not seen him since the knave had been a lad of around fifteen or sixteen summers, and it had taken Holme a few minutes, with his mind working furiously, to figure out why that face looked so familiar.
'Twas Chief Cameron's eldest son, Colin. Thieving bastards, the lot of them! Fury raced over Holme anew, burning a trail from his face downward, making him clench his fists. Hate and battle lust threatened to burst from his chest.
"I ken the man who snatched Kristina from me and so do you," Holme growled low.
"What's his name?" Dobson asked.
"Colin Cameron." Holme gritted his teeth so tightly they ached.
"Damnation, man. His sire stole your birthright and your clan's castle."
"Aye, and killed Da. He's the son of my father's worst enemy. I can't allow this opportunity to pass me by." Finally, he had a purpose and a goal beyond surviving, beyond earning money.
"Which direction did he go?" Dobson narrowed his black eyes. "We'll hunt him down and put a dirk in his heart."
"'Tis what I plan to do." Holme gave a bitter half smile. "And then I can have the lass."
"Aye."
He didn't ken which obsessed him more, the need for revenge or for lust. During the past week while they'd traveled from Stirling, that blind witch had cast a spell on him. Well, if he were honest, she'd started casting that spell the first time he'd laid eyes on her over two years ago, back when she could see as well as everyone else. She had given him withering looks, but that hadn't dampened his interest in her.
He couldn't stop thinking about her. Now all he had to do was find them. He knew Cameron hadn't taken her back to the castle yet. Holme had been watching the trail, even during the downpour. Where had they gone for shelter? Was there a cottage in the wood? He would find them, slay Colin and his men, then nab Kristina.
"He only has about a half-dozen men with him." After they had attacked him, he had glimpsed the Camerons running into the wood.
