Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Take your chieftain’s body and return home. I expect you to pledge your allegiance to Clan Glencairn or you will feel my wrath.” He looked at Hakon. “A woman will be sent to you soon. Now take your leave and do not show yourself on my land again without permission.”
All obeyed without delay, some of Lord Torrance’s warriors breaking off into two groups. One to follow Callan’s warriors and the other trailing Hakon and his men.
Torrance walked over to Dru, Knox stepping to her side, his arm going around her waist.
He stood towering over her, his expression cold. “It’s time to meet your fate, little sister.”
CHAPTER 31
The Great Hall of Clan MacFadin was quiet, too quiet. The kind of silence that hummed with barely leashed fury. Torches lined the walls, and the hearth roared with flames, but the fire’s glow did little to chase away the cold knot forming in Dru’s stomach.
She stood at Knox’s side, his hand resting at the small of her back. His touch grounded her, but it couldn’t shield her from the storm brewing at the dais.
Lord Torrance paced before the high-backed chair behind the long table there, his hands clasped behind is back and his boots striking the wood floor with measured menace. His anger had mounted when he learned how many warriors he had lost, how many were left wounded, including Brack, though he would survive. He glared and snapped at servants who moved too slowly or too close and the servants did their best to avoid him.
“He’s going to separate us,” Dru whispered, barely loud enough for Knox to hear.
Knox’s jaw clenched. He hadn’t let go of her since they entered the hall. “He’d have to kill me first.”
But even that didn’t ease the dread curling in her chest. Torrance hadn’t acknowledged their marriage. Hadn’t asked how she fared. He’d looked right through them, as if they meant nothing to him, only what benefit they might bring him.
She could feel Knox’s tension just as strongly as her own—his frustration simmering under the surface, his instinct to fight only barely contained. They had survived ambushes, betrayal, and bloodshed. But this… this waiting in the hands of a man who ruled with his temper and without an ounce of kindness… felt unbearable.
Quint leaned against a far wall, arms folded, gaze sharp. He hadn’t spoken either, but his eyes missed nothing.
A goblet clattered to the floor, the sound ringing through the Great Hall.
Torrance didn’t flinch, but he stopped pacing to lash out. “If another sound disturbs me, I will see the fool put in the stocks.”
The room went still. Only the crackling fire failed to obey him.
Torrance turned, his scowl falling on Dru. “So, you’re my half-sister. You’re nothing like I expected. Barely pretty. Far too skinny and petite—”
Dru refused to let him speak to her as if she was worthless, her rapid-fire words striking him like well-aimed arrows. “Yet I managed to avoid you long enough.”
“And a sharp tongue that needs taming,” Torrance concluded, lunging forward and pointing his finger at her when she went to speak. “Not another word from you.” He turned to Knox, pinning him in place with a glare, his voice low and laced with fire. “The mission was simple, bring my half-sister to me. And what do you do, you unleashed a hornet’s nest.”
Dru wasn’t about to see Knox blamed for what wasn’t his fault. She ignored Torrance’s order and spoke. “He didn’t create the hornet’s nest, but he was brave enough to rescue me from it.”
Torrance pounded the table with his fist. “Hold your tongue, woman, or suffer for it.” He glared at Knox. “You had no right to wed her!”
Knox wasn’t about to argue with him or explain anything to him, none of that mattered. He met his glare with one of his own. “It is done. We are wed, and I will not be parted from her.”
“Bold,” Torrance said with a sneer. “Some would call it arrogance. Or idiocy.”
His eyes swept to Dru, lingering, daring her to speak but she held her tongue—barely.
Silence settled over the room once again until Torrance broke it.
“You are of my blood,” he said. “And your father was far fonder of your mother rather than my own, but who could blame him, she was a spineless woman.” His voice trailed off, brow furrowing. Then he dropped heavily into the great chair, its frame groaning beneath him. “My father’s last wish surprised me. It was that you wed a good man. A strong one. One who would keep you safe.”
Dru’s breath caught.
Torrance let the silence stretch.
“You killed Callan without hesitation. You’ve fought bravely alongside my warriors,” Torrance said, continuing to glare at Knox. “It would be foolish of me to lose such an exceptional warrior.”
Dru and Knox held their breaths not sure what they were about to hear.