Page 92 of Highland Ruse

His breath came easier, and his mind was clearer.

“No matter what, we’ll get them free,” Kaid promised.

And he meant every damn word.

• • •

It’s time.

Delilah’s heart leapt at the words gracefully curling over the slip of parchment. She bent and stroked Fianna’s glossy back. The cat arched her body and curled her tail toward Delilah’s fingers.

An emphatic purr filled the air and made Torra clasp her hands in delight. While Torra refused to pet Fianna, she took great pleasure in the cat’s recurring visits.

Delilah sat beside Torra on the sad little bed. “Torra,” she said. “We’re going to be leaving.”

The woman’s eyes went wide.

“You’re going to be free,” Delilah whispered. Her skin prickled with the eagerness to liberate Torra from her confined hell.

But it was not gratitude so plainly visible on Torra’s face—it was fear.

She shook her head emphatically. “No. No. No. No. No. No.”

Delilah glanced toward the cell door to ensure no guards were nearby. “Shh, Torra. It’s a secret.”

“I can’t leave.” Torra’s voice pitched in a wail. “I’m no’ allowed to.”

“It’s only for a bit of time,” Delilah said in what she hoped was an encouraging tone.

Leasa knelt at the woman’s side. “I’m scared too, but if we stay together, it’ll make us braver.”

Torra pursed her lips and grasped Leasa’s hand with both of hers. Black showed around Torra’s nails, but Leasa did not appear to care.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Delilah’s body tensed, every muscle tight.

It was time.

Delilah watched the door to their cell and removed her daggers. The one from her bodice, she gave to Leasa. The one hidden in the hollow sole of her shoe, she twisted free and passed to Torra. “To make you feel safer,” Delilah offered. Torra finally removed one of her hands from Leasa’s and took the blade with a tentative nod.

Delilah recovered the final dagger, the largest and most wicked of the three, from where it was strapped to her thigh.

Torra watched her with large eyes. “Where else have ye got those things stashed?”

Delilah winked at her. “Just know I’ll not let anything happen to you.”

The tension in Torra’s shoulders seemed to relax, and she shared a trusting nod with Leasa.

A quiet rustle sounded outside their cell, like a sack of flour falling to the floor.

Or a body.

Delilah slipped the pin from her hair and made her way to the cell door. She unfolded the lock pick from where it lay against the hairpin and made quick work of the lock. The door creaked open to freedom.

The hallway was silent and dark.

Delilah motioned to the other two ladies to remain in place before she crept out into the hallway.

Liv was crouched beside the body of an unconscious man, holding a length of rope. Fianna hopped gracefully atop the man’s slumped back before bounding toward Delilah.