Page 89 of Promised to the Forbidden Laird

“Me laird…” There was warning in his voice.

Roy met his gaze. “Bring her out if I fail.”

Hamish’s expression hardened. “Dinnae make me explain such foolishness tae her.”

Roy slipped between the trees before he could answer. He reached the rear wall as a shout broke from the front of the lodge. Steel rang. One of Hamish’s men overturned the tethering rail, sending frightened horses surging across the clearing. Men shouted orders. The front door opened, and armed figures rushed toward the disturbance.

Roy reached the rear entrance. The door resisted once before giving way beneath his shoulder. He entered into darkness. The passage smelled of damp timber, old ash and unwashed men. A guard turned from the main room, startled by the movement.

Roy struck him before he could call out. The man collapsed against the wall.

A woman screamed beyond the doorway. He knew that voice.

He crossed the passage in two strides, only to find Donaldina standing beside the hearth. Her hair had fallen loose, and blood marked one corner of her mouth. Cormac held her by the arm, attempting to drag her toward an inner door while two of his men struggled to bar the front entrance.

Donaldina twisted against him. Cormac raised his hand.

Roy attacked without a second thought. He struck the first man across the jaw with the hilt of his sword, sending him backward into the firewood. The second turned too slowly. Roy drove him against the table and swept his blade from the man’s grasp.

Cormac released her, drawing his sword. Their blades met with a crash that filled the lodge.

“MacIver,” Cormac spat.

Roy forced him backward.

“Ye sound surprised.”

Cormac recovered and struck low. Roy turned the blade aside. Steel scraped against steel, sending sparks into the smoky air.

Behind Cormac, Donaldina backed toward the wall. Her bound hands searched blindly until they found the iron poker beside the hearth.

One of Cormac’s men rose from the floor. Donaldina struck him across the temple. The man fell again. Even then, Roy nearly smiled.

Cormac drove forward. His shoulder struck Roy’s chest, forcing him into the table. Parchment, cups and a lantern crashed to the floor. Flame caught upon spilled oil.

The fight carried them across the room. Cormac fought without elegance, driven by the desperation of a man who knew every future he had imagined was collapsing around him. He slashed at Roy’s face, but the latter ducked, driving his elbow into Cormac’s ribs, and forcing him against the inner wall. For one instant, fear entered Cormac’s eyes. Then the burning lantern split beneath his boot. Oil spread across the floor, carrying flame over the dry rushes in a bright, ravenous sheet.

Cormac kicked the table toward Roy and fled through the inner door. Roy shoved the timber aside and followed into the night.

Cormac reached the rear clearing, where three surviving men waited with horses. Malcolm’s warriors appeared between the trees, but one of Cormac’s archers loosed an arrow toward them, forcing the men back beneath cover.

Cormac caught the pommel of his saddle, but Roy reached him before he could mount. He seized the back of Cormac’s coat and dragged him sideways. Cormac’s boot slipped from the stirrup. The horse reared, striking at the air as Cormac twisted and slashed blindly with his sword.

Roy turned the stroke. Steel rang in the clearing. Cormac stumbled against the horse’s flank. Roy drove him backward, struck the sword from his hand, and raised his own blade.

A single downward stroke could have stopped it, but suddenly a loud crack came from inside the lodge. Flames quickly engulfed the roof supports. Roy watched through the open doorway as a burning beam fell across the back passage. Outside, Donaldina fought against the ropes on her wrists. Smoke enveloped her. Fire moved swiftly across the floor toward the overturned chair next to her skirts. She coughed, doubled over, and vanished behind the thickening smoke.

Cormac was still beneath Roy’s sword. Donaldina had only moments.

Roy turned away from him, and Cormac scrambled into the saddle. His last rider slashed through the picket rope as he passed, sending the remaining horses bolting riderless into the forest. Roy did not watch them go. He ran into the lodge. Heat struck him with the force of an opened furnace. He pulled his coat across his mouth and forced his way through the smoke.

“Roy!” Her voice came hoarse and frightened from the smoke.

He found her on her knees, pulling uselessly at the rope around her wrists. Fire consumed the overturned table beside her. Sparks rained from the rafters, catching in her hair and upon the shoulders of her gown.

Roy dropped beside her and cut through the ropes. They fell from her wrists.

Donaldina looked at him with doubt, as if unsure he was real. Suddenly, her composure broke. She moved closer, pressing into him. Roy caught her tightly against his chest. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and she tucked her face to his coat, trembling with each breath. Roy held her firmly, worried he might harm her, but he couldn't loosen his hold.