Page 90 of Highland Ruse

Leasa stared down at her with a slight frown. “How long do you think she’s been down here?” she whispered.

Delilah looked around the room. There was a crooked desk with a dirty, curved mirror and a stool missing a leg, as well as a table which appeared as well-worn as everything else.

“I’d say for several years,” Delilah replied quietly.

Heavy footsteps strode in a slow rhythm toward their cell. A guard peeked through the bars, his brows lifted with purpose, before turning away. Delilah followed his departure as far as she was able to see. There were more guards around the cell, which was why she hadn’t at least freed Leasa by now.

MacKenzie would realize too quickly if the maid had escaped, and then Torra and Delilah would never stand a chance to flee.

And of all of them, Torra was the most important.

The woman’s red hair fell down her back in dark, greasy waves. She’d combed it repeatedly with the brush now sitting on the scarred surface of the desk. She’d then tied a ribbon of mostly fraying silk at the back of her head.

Though Delilah and Leasa had tried, Torra could not be persuaded to speak any more than her name before finally falling into an exhausted sleep.

It would be a long journey to recovery for the heiress of the MacKenzie clan.

Something gray darted through the bars of the prison and Delilah jerked away. She’d never had the nightmare encounters some had with rats, and had no wish to start now.

But it was no rat threading between Delilah’s ankles.

A gray and white cat peered up at her with beautiful blue eyes.

Delilah stroked the familiar smooth gray fur. Fianna purred and rubbed her fuzzy head against Delilah’s palm.

It was then she noticed the harness on Fianna’s back. The one Percy had fashioned for the small cat to use when passing messages between the women.

Delilah slid her hands into the seam of the harness. Her fingertips met the crackle of folded parchment.

Her stomach dropped. She knew what the correspondence would say before she even read it.

Delilah turned her back to the cell door in case a guard happened past, and unfolded the note. A slim bit of charcoal rolled out onto her palm.

The means to reply.

A quick skimming of Liv’s missive revealed exactly one word which sucked Delilah’s heart into her stomach.

Explain.

To the point and without judgement until detail had been provided. Perfectly Liv.

Delilah balanced herself on the stool and wrote out the admission of her betrayal, all the while hoping she would not lose the only allies who might truly see Kaid’s people safe.

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was long past noon when Kaid finally woke. He hadn’t thought sleep would be possible with all the worry thumping around in his mind. In fact, his eyes were heavy with want of more.

Donnan was crouched beside him, staring at the castle.

Something skittered past Kaid several feet away from where he slept. He cut a questioning look at Donnan who nodded for him to rise.

Kaid sat upright and turned toward the castle as another stone skipped through the forest, missing them by far.

Lady Elizabeth’s maid, the woman with bright copper hair, stood near the fence, her gaze intent on the foliage around them. She shot a reassuring glance behind her before hurling another stone in their direction.

It was obvious she knew of their presence in the forest, but not their exact location.

Perhaps she had seen them before and wanted to lure them out.