Page 42 of Scot of Seduction

“Tad? Tad!” Callum’s bellowing cry ran up through the castle.

Tad pushed away the reports he was reading from his scouts about the movements of Cillian Grant’s soldiers. He stood, just as the door to his study burst open.

Callum stumbled inside, panting, his hands shaking.

“Bran and Ilyssa are back.” Callum’s words threw ice over Tad.

He wasn’t sure which part of what was said frightened him more. He knew Bran would not have come back unless something awful had happened, but there was something else in what Callum had said that spelled danger.

He didnae say Catreena’s name.

“Where?” Tad said. He snatched up his weapon’s belt and threaded it around his hips, then ran out of the room. Callum scrambled to sprint after him, chasing him down through the corridor.

“Courtyard. They only have half their guard with them. They were attacked on the road. Bran said they couldnae hold them, that there were too many, they were too strong –”

Tad continued to run. He was halfway down the corridor when he lost his patience.

“Where the hell is Catreena?” Tad snapped, turning to look at Callum as they ran.

“They took her,” Callum said, his voice practically a whisper out of fear. “Cillian has her.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Tell me everything,” Tad said darkly as he stepped out into the courtyard. His eyes went first to Ilyssa who was being tended to by the village healer. She shivered in the cold, so Tad shrugged off the fur he’d thrown around his shoulders and wrapped it around her instead. “Now,” he added, turning to face Bran.

Bran had been patched up too, though his face bore some bruises, almost as bad as those on Tad’s own face.

“Cillian’s soldiers,” Bran said. They were suddenly back to what they had been before. There was no trace of Bran’s fury being directed at Tad at this moment. All that fury was clearly saved for Cillian. “There were too many of them. They ambushed us.” Bran shifted his weight uncomfortably. “They took Catreena.”

“It’s nae yer fault,” Tad said, feeling as if he could reach his friend’s mind.

“Nay?” Bran scoffed, shaking his head. “Who else’s fault is it? I took her from a place where she was guarded and safe, out tae the moors, where she wasnae protected. Nay, Tad, let me feel for one moment just how much I am tae blame fer this.”

“Blame gets us naywhere.” Tad felt his gut writhing. He kept looking about the courtyard, his heart praying that at any second Catreena would run up to them, that she would be perfectly safe. His head knew it was a foolish prayer.

“There is something else,” Bran muttered. He stepped away from Ilyssa and moved closer to Tad, lowering his voice. “After they knocked me out, Cillian told Ilyssa that if we wanted Catreena back, we had tae go tae the Valley of the Stags at dusk.”

Tad’s eyebrows raised.

“I ken,” Bran mumbled. “It’s a trap, isnae it?”

“Aye, but fer all of us? Maybe. Come, we need tae speak tae the council at once.”

Tad felt purpose in his stiffness. He was a now man of war, of battle, as he had been so many countless times before in his life. First, he spoke to Callum and sent scouts to the Valley of the Stags, to see what they could make of that area that bordered their clans. Next, he summoned the whole council to sit on their discussions. Bran barely said a word. He swayed every now and then, uncomfortable and dizzy after the strike to his head. In the end, Tad grabbed him by the shoulder and thrust him down into the chair beside him at the head of the council table.

Bran didn’t thank him for it, but he knew it was ridiculous to ask Bran for anything in that moment.

Bran is wrong, this isnae his doing, it’s mine. I should have protected Catreena, nae driven Bran intae taking her away.

“What more can we dae?” Callum asked after the conversation had gone around and around in circles.

“Let it go.” One of the older council members spoke up. “It’s a bluff. Cillian Grant simply wants tae get ye both there.” He waved a hand at Tad and Bran. “He has reason tae hate ye both, reason tae want revenge on ye both. If ye go, he will surely take his vengeance.”

His words sent a ripple around the room. The men agreed with him, murmuring stern whispers and even nodding.

“Listen tae yerself,” Tad snapped. He stiffened in his seat, feeling sick as he leaned forward, towering over the men at the table. “Ye would sacrifice a woman’s life, and fer what? Fer our lives?” He waved a hand between himself and Bran. “I think I speak fer both of us when I say we’d be happy tae lose our lives if it meant bringing her back home.”

The men around the table now nodded, leaning forward and acknowledging what he had said.