Page 91 of His Forgotten Highland Bride

Chapter Thirty-Three

Ronan woke up with a start, knowing he was in danger, though he couldn’t quite recall why. It didn’t take him long to remember what had happened the night before. At least he hoped it was only the night before.

He couldn’t be sure how long he’d been out, but it was day now. Bright sun filtered through the forest, bathing everything in bright green light that seemed to pierce directly into his aching skull.

Ronan raised his hand to shade the sun so he could take in his surroundings, not that there was much to see. His arm didn’t reach his face before a chain pulled taut and dug into his wrist.

Ronan didn’t know where the chain had come from, but it looked as though it had long served its purpose. It was rusted through in many places, and it appeared someone had bent the links to take up for the missing bits.

He gave the chain a good tug, expecting it to break apart under his strength, but the chain proved stronger than it looked, for it held. The clinking of the chains must have alerted his uncle to his wakefulness, for he came around a crumbling wall with a smile on his smug face.

“Good day, nephew. Welcome to my home,” he said in a lilted greeting. “Temporary as it may be.”

Ronan had been on Grant lands when Ewan had found him. He probably hadn’t been far away to happen by Ronan where he slept. The bit of forest where he’d stopped ran the length of a cliff where the old castle had clung until the years and weather had worn it down and Strathspey had been built.

“The ruins of Brahstraud.”

“Aye. Remember how we used to play about here as lads with our wee wooden swords fighting off the English invaders?”

“I remember. It seems you had more honor back then than now.” Ronan lifted the chain, making it rattle. “At least, until you were about twelve.”

Ewan narrowed his gaze on Ronan.

“What happened when I was twelve?”

Ronan stared him right in the eye when he spoke, watching for some sign he was wrong.

“When you tried to drown me.”

Ewan’s brows went up, and his lips pulled up in a sinister grin.

“Ye finally puzzled it out, did you? That took a fair amount of time.”

“Why would I have had reason to assume such a thing? We’d been friends, nay, we’d been brothers.”

“Nay,” Ewan sneered. “If we’d been brothers, I would have been heir because I was older than you.”

“You can’t truly want to run the clan. You’ve never shown any great skill in leading and no interest in the duty that comes of it.”

“True enough. I don’t wish to be bothered by the clansmen’s squabbles or whether the larders are stocked enough to get through winter. But my father was laird, and it should be my birthright. You moved away to the MacPhersons. Even when you were old enough to return, you chose not to. It is true it’s my fault you had to wed that Innes bitch, but you just left again. And even if you had died in France, I still wouldn’t have been heir. Not when that witch was carrying your babe.”

Ronan was fine to let the man blabber on until nightfall, despite the pain and stiffness that had settled into his leg, but when Ewan spoke of the child Brenna was carrying, Ronan couldn’t help but react.

Ewan laughed cruelly and shrugged. “I managed to take care of that.”

Rage the likes Ronan had never known burned through his veins as he pulled at the chains.

“You bastard! What did you do to my child?”

“I sought a wise woman in another village who gave me an herb for such things. She warned too much would end the mother as well, but I used all of it, and while it was a close thing for a few days, your wife lived.” Ewan seemed mildly disappointed as if rain had doused his plans for the day.

Ronan had chastised his wife for banishing this demon from the castle. He’d already thought himself the lowest of the low for not reading her letters and forcing her to deal with such heartache alone. But now this?

He felt the shame of his betrayal tenfold, and it manifested as anger for this monster who had caused so much pain for anyone who had the misfortune to be caught in his path. It was then Ronan heard a low moan from somewhere in the shadows. It was a woman. Ronan searched the darkness, wanting desperately to see who made the sound. Was it his wife? Did Ewan have Brenna held captive as well?

“What have you done?” Ronan asked through clenched teeth.

“Ah. Now that you should be thanking me for.” Ewan left and returned with a slim woman with straggled blond hair. Not Brenna then, but his relief was short. Whoever the woman was didn’t deserve this fate. She raised her head, and it took Ronan much too long to recognize her.