Page 150 of Highland Spy

The guard at Connor’s side yanked his arms back and another came forward with manacles in his hands. They were large, clunky metal rings, stained dark from previous victims.

The idea of those slipping on Connor’s wrists was more than she could bear.

She grabbed the hands holding Connor and jerked them free. “Don’t touch him.”

Before the man could react, she spun around and kicked the manacles from the other guard. They landed with a heavy metallic crash on the floor.

“I wouldn’t resist if I were you.” The king’s voice broke through her frenzied desire to fight.

“Ariana, stop.” Connor’s warning made her cease.

She turned and looked toward the dais, where a guard had secured a blade against Cora’s throat. Defiance flashed in Cora’s brown eyes and Ariana knew if she kept fighting, Cora might too.

And Cora would likely die.

Doubtless Connor knew as much.

Ariana let her arms drop to her sides and did not move to stop the man who bent to reclaim the manacles from the ground before securing them on Connor’s wrists.

“That’s better.” The king waved off the man threatening Cora. Although the man moved back, he stood close enough to secure her in his grasp again at a moment’s notice.

Ariana glanced around the room, seeking faces she’d come to know well. Percy, Liv, Sylvi, Delilah, Murdoch—even Isabel.

None were to be found.

Poor Murdoch had been lying abed with an injury when she’d left. And he was the kind of man who would not have given up the castle without a fight.

Her stomach twisted.

Sylvi and Delilah would have fought as well.

To the death.

Was everyone dead? Captured? The weight of loss crushed her heart.

“What is this treason ye accuse me of?” The rage simmering under the surface of Connor’s composure rippled through his demand.

The king’s lip curled with disgust. “You knew of a treasonous plot against me and yet you sought to let it come to fruition.”

Ariana remembered the assassination Delilah and Sylvi had been investigating.

Perhaps this was not about Kenneth after all.

The plot Sylvi and Delilah were working so hard to uncover had held no real urgency. The House of Lords was months away from meeting.

Connor’s hands curled into fists behind his back and Ariana could almost feel the frustration pounding through him. “We dinna have all the names yet.”

The king narrowed his eyes. “You had the most important one and you didn’t do anything with it. Kenneth Gordon is still alive.” The king lifted his head in authoritative insistence. “And my cousin is dead.”

Isabel.

Ariana’s stomach dropped.

They thought her dead.

Connor tried to step forward again, but the king held up his hand and several pairs of arms pulled Connor back.

“You needn’t explain why,” King James said. “I already know. You want so badly to be free of your role with me.”