Page 121 of Enchantment of a Highlander

“Celia.” The word came out choked.

She did not answer. She did not move.

Alec fumbled with the keys, suddenly feeling as though his fingers were too fat to push the slender iron into the lock.

The woman he’d saved took the key ring from him and did the task he could not do.

He nodded his thanks and handed her the torch along with his dagger. “Go free the others. Call if ye need me, aye?”

The woman nodded and Alec turned his attention to Celia.

• • •

Blackness enveloped Celia, shrouding and shielding her all at once.

The chill of it bled into her skin, the thick of it clogged her ears and her throat. The weight of it pressed against her eyes until the pressure made her ache. It was as ubiquitous as it was intolerable.

But in this blackness, there was nothing.

No sounds of torture, no fear of pain, no memories.

Something brushed her hand.

A rat, no doubt, with beady eyes and a round belly fat from whatever its sharp teeth could tear and gnaw.

Her fingers flinched and the rat did not return.

Something settled on her shoulder and squeezed.

No rat.

Far more frightening.

A hand.

She shrank into herself and tried to pull the blackness tighter around her, as a child would a blanket, embracing the nothing.

Another hand on her other shoulder.

No.

She was not ready to die.

Her muscles burned with resistance and her mind screamed for her to fight, fight, fight.

She threw her fist in front of her. It connected with something soft and hard all at once and sent a shard of pain lancing up her right arm.

She lashed out with her left, slapping at where her fist had landed, and snapped her head up in the hopes of seeing her opponent.

Light filtered into her vision, brilliant despite its soft glow, and highlighted the shadowed figure in front of her.

She lurched her body toward her attacker with both hands ready to grab and scratch and gouge, but her wrists were ensnared by large, callused fingers.

She struggled back and a whimper clogged her throat.

Not like this.

Not like Fiona.