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Chapter Thirty
Blair
Blair groaned as her head lulled from side to side. Her eyes blinked open, yet all she saw was darkness. She whimpered, tugging at her hands and feet, finding she was utterly unable to move them. The bonds around her wrists shredded her flesh, making her cry out in pain.
“Help!” she shouted, not knowing who or what was around. She tried to kick her feet, ignoring the pain ripping through her. “Someone, please help me. Please, I—“
Something hard smacked against her cheek, and her face whipped to the side with the force of it. She gasped, tears dripping from her eyes. The pain made her whole body shake.
“Quiet.”
She recognized that voice. It was harsh and commanding, yet belonging to a female. Her breath left her as she remembered the person standing in the darkness of Tavis’s tower. The woman was chuckling as she watched her. Blair remembered wondering what she was doing in the darkness, what she was doing in Tavis’s tower. How had she known Blair would be there of all places? The soldier had knocked his hilt against her head.
Blair shivered as she recalled the words spoken to her, “I thought I told ye not to ruin everything I worked so hard for.”
“Alisa,” Blair whispered, her head lifting, yet the fabric tied around her eyes made it impossible for her to see.
She could hear chuckling followed by footsteps circling around her.
“Ye little fool,” she heard Alisa say as she tore off the fabric tied around Blair’s eyes. Blair held back a scream as she met Alisa’s wide, crazed eyes blinking back at her mere centimeters from her face. “Why couldn’t ye have done what I asked?” she breathed in Blair’s face, making her choke from the lady’s wine-filled breath.
Blair shook her head as she watched Alisa step away from her. “I don’t know what—“
She stopped as she felt hands on her shoulders, pinning her to the chair she sat in. Blair whimpered as the soldier behind her leaned over her shoulders, his breath on her ear. “That’s not what the lady asked,” he whispered, making a spider-like crawl ripple down her spine. She shuddered while she pulled away from him, unable to get far in her bindings.
Looking around herself, she noticed she was sitting in a small dark room lit by only one torch sitting in a sconce by the door. A small table sat in the left corner in front of her, displaying metal chains and cuffs. A row of swords and spears hung on the wall.
She was in the dungeon. That was the only explanation for the items in the room. They had moved her from Tavis’s tower to the dungeons. What did they plan to do to her? she wondered. Her skin prickled with the chill as fear gnawed at her neck, making her look around for something, anything to aid in her escape.
But there was nothing.
She was doomed to whatever it was Lady Alisa had planned for her. Blair briefly wondered if anyone would come if she screamed, yet she didn’t want to be hit again. Even now, she could feel her cheek swelling from the bruise forming.
The soldier walked around her, making his way towards the door. He leaned his back against it and crossed his arms, his gaze lingering on her while Lady Alisa circled her like a wolf about to strike.
Possibly no one could help her now.
“Please, let me go,” Blair whimpered while lowering her gaze. “I will do whatever it is ye ask of me.”
Alisa chuckled. “But ye didn’t, Blair. I asked one thing of ye, and ye chose to ignore it.”
Blair shook her head while sniffing, trying to remain calm despite the tears threatening to fall. “I don’t understand,” she said, her voice cracking. She swallowed a sob. “I didn’t—“
“Ye know exactly what I speak of!” Alisa shouted while lunging towards Blair, slamming her hands onto the armrests. The chair squeaked with the added weight while Blair bit her tongue to keep from screaming. “If only ye had accepted Daniel’s proposal, none of this would be happening.”
Her hands slipped from the armrests, and she circled around. Blair flinched when she felt hands resting on her shoulders.
“I don’t understand,” said Blair, keeping her gaze on the wall in front of her. She didn’t want to look at the scarred guard, nor did she want to face Alisa. The lady had obviously gone mad. She didn’t know or understand why. She never understood anything Lady Alisa did. “Ye hated me,” Blair whispered while tears streamed down her cheeks. “Ye tried to send me away the first day I arrived. Ye told me to stay away from Daniel.” Blair scowled as her gaze shifted to the guard standing at the door. “Ye left me in the town, where this man,” she said, her voice louder, angrier, “where this man attempted to take me.” She turned towards Alisa, her anger taking hold of her fear. “Why now?” she shouted. “Why do ye want me to marry him now after all the cruelty ye have put me through?”
Blair’s brows furrowed as Alisa released an exasperated sigh. She clucked her tongue while moving in front of Blair, stroking her chin while shaking her head. “Ye foolish, inept child,” Alisa said bitterly. Blair’s gaze darkened as she watched the lady pace back and forth, hating her with her very being as the memories of her cruelty surfaced. “I figured ye would have learned it by yerself now, but I suppose I must explain everything to ye now that ye won’t be alive much longer.”
Blair clenched her jaw, trying to keep calm as Alisa’s words washed over her. Her heart pounded in her chest, her flesh feeling as if it was going to crawl off her body. Her insides twisted, and she felt as of she was going to be sick. She swallowed the lump in her throat, telling herself she couldn’t let Alisa get the upper hand, couldn’t let her bathe in her fear.
“Pray tell, Child, why in the heavens would Laird MacBean ever bring ye here?”
Blair opened her mouth, yet nothing escaped her lips. She cleared her throat and tried to calm the trembling in her body. “Because—“ she started, yet the words became lost. She never quite understood why. Blair always thought he was kind and thoughtful, but perhaps that wasn’t quite right. “Because I saved him,” she finished, recalling how ill he had looked when she had first come upon him. “He stumbled into my barn, and I helped him get well.”
Alisa tossed back her head, releasing a bitter laugh. The sound of it made Blair want to shrivel and hide. It was filled with so much loathing and hate. “Ye think that’s the reason? Only because ye cared for him?” She shook her head, her gaze gleaming with wicked joy as she stared down at Blair. “Ye really are the most innocent of innocents, now aren’t ye? Dig deeper, child. The laird provided ye with food and lodging. He offered ye an education. I’m assuming he was even offering ye an opportunity at marriage?”
