Page 52 of The Cursed Highland Bride

“He will be angry with ye.”

“I dinnae care.”

Katarina’s heart raced as she climbed the last stair and entered the corridor. She had not intended to go against Dunn’s wishes, but after hearing Adamina and Tor’s words, she could not help herself. Moving past her bedchamber door, she traversed the length of the corridor to Dunn’s bedchamber. She could hear the muted murmurings of voices within, one masculine and one feminine. She closed her eyes in heartbreak at the thought of what might be happening within, but she had to know the truth. She had to know if he was lost to her.

Pushing the door open, she found Esmerelda on top of him, kissing. A gasp of pain and surprise at who he was with escaped her lips. She had expected one of his other women but not one of her own kind. She felt betrayed, even though she knew that she had no right to. Unable to bear the pain of the scene before her, she fled the room. Dunn cried out her name, but she ignored him. Nothing he could say would explain away what she had just witnessed. She choked out a sob, unable to stifle her feelings. Dunn’s voice calling her name echoed behind her once more, but she did not slow down.

Katarina ran down the back stairs, through the kale garden gate, and down the path to the shore. The man who had boated them across the sea was still there, preparing to head back to the mainland. “Wait!” she called out to him as he climbed aboard. “Wait!” Katarina ran with everything that she was worth.

“My lady?” The boatman reached out a hand to help her as she scrambled aboard.

“Take me with ye tae the mainland,” she panted, attempting to catch her breath.

The boatman nodded in agreement. “O’ course, my lady. Is aught amiss?” His brow furrowed in concern as he peered into her face.

Katarina shook her head, waving him back to his work. “I simply need tae return tae the mainland with all haste.”

The boatman helped her to a seat within the bow, then set sail. By the time anyone realized that she was gone, it would be too late. She had no notion of what she was going to do when she arrived. She had no one to help her now. All that she had managed to do was waste time with her journey to Orkney and then back to the Morgan lands. Now, she still had to save her sisters, but she would have to do it alone.

When she reached the shore of the mainland, she scrambled out of the boat and arranged for a horse with Ian. “Should ye be going alone, my lady?” he asked her, his face mirroring the concern of the boatman. Katarina thought that it was sweet that both men were concerned about her, but she had no choice.

“All will be well, Ian. Dinnae fuss over me.” She offered him a reassuring smile.

“I wish ye would nae go alone,” he tried once more, but she shook her head and continued to prepare for her journey. As the wife of a laird, she knew that he had no right to stop her. He knew it as well. In the end, he gave her all that she needed in the form of transportation and food.

Katarina rode south, her mind and heart racing. She did not know where she was going or what she was going to do when she got there, but she was determined to find her sisters, then leave Scotland forever and never return. God help me to find a way!

She rode until she came to the place where her parents and grandparents were buried. She knew that it was probably a bad idea, but she could not help herself. She had to go there again. It was as if their spirits lingered there, ever calling her to them. When she arrived, she dismounted and knelt beside their graves to pray. She would need to find a way to communicate with Bran to see if he had discovered anything. She prayed that he had found August’s spy and that they knew where her sisters were. The problem was that everyone at the Morgan stronghold knew what she looked like. There was no way that she could sneak in and speak with anyone without being noticed.

As she knelt there, she felt the air change around her. The birds stopped singing. She heard a rustling in the underbrush and turned toward it. Bran stumbled out, covered in blood. “Run,” he croaked out, his voice hoarse and strained. “Run!”

Katarina gathered her skirts and stood. She turned to run but was too late. Morgan’s men were bearing down on her, riding fast. She jumped onto her horse and rode to Bran’s side. “Bran, give me your hand!” She reached down, offering him a hand up. He was wounded badly and nearly pulled her off of the horse in an attempt to climb up behind her.

“Go without me!”

“No, I will not leave you to die!” She pulled on his arm hard, and he was able to finally get up behind her. She urged the horse into a run, moving around the edge of the loch as fast as she could manage. Morgan’s men were right behind her. They were catching up fast and at any moment would be upon them.

“They are going tae catch us,” Bran informed her. His hands around her waist were the only thing holding him up. “Ye should have left me behind.”

“I will not leave anyone else behind ever again. I will not be responsible for your death.”

“Why are ye here alone? Where are the others?”

“I returned alone.” Katarina felt a single tear slipping down her cheek, and she brushed it away.

“The laird would nae agree tae such a thing.”

“I did not give him a say in the matter.”

“Why would ye be so foolish?”

Katarina could not bring herself to answer him. She knew that he was right. She had acted foolishly. “I am sorry.”

“It is too late.” Hearing the resignation in his voice, the tone of a man who knew he was about to die, she turned to look over her shoulder to find the enemy upon them. “Fly,” he murmured in her ear before letting go and falling off of the back of the horse.

The horse immediately gained speed with one less rider to add weight. She looked back over her shoulder to see Morgan’s men surround him. “Bran!” Katarina cried out in distress, but there was nothing she could do to help him. She urged the horse on. She would not have his sacrifice be in vain. Katarina raced around a group of rocks, dodged a cluster of trees, and came around the other side thinking that she had managed to lose them. She looked over her shoulder once more to make certain that they had not been able to follow her and saw no one.

“Ye should nae have come back,” a familiar voice laughed in her face.