The Campbell Trilogy Read online

  She looked over at her brother’s still form, blood streaming down his face from the gash on his head. As if he knew her thoughts, the leader crossed the room and stepped between her and Brian, preventing her from going to him. “Who?” she croaked, her voice raw. “Who is it that you seek?”

  “Alasdair MacGregor.”

  She gasped. My God, this was all some horrible mistake. She shook her head. “You have come to the wrong place. Alasdair MacGregor is not at Ascog.”

  The man’s expression turned hard and unforgiving. For a moment, he reminded her of Jamie, but this man had a cruel edge that Jamie did not possess. “It is you who are wrong. MacGregor was seen in the area with your father yesterday, and he’s likely been hiding here for weeks.”

  That was impossible. Her father wouldn’t be so bold—or foolish—in defiance of the king. Harboring MacGregors could get you … killed. But then she remembered the bond between the clans. Her chest squeezed with pain. “You lie.”

  His mouth tightened. “And you test my patience. Tell me where he is and I may be persuaded to let you go.” His eyes slid down the length of her. “Before or after I let my men have some fun with you. It’s your choice.”

  She refused to show him her fear, though it wrapped around her like an icy noose. “I cannot tell you what I do not know.”

  He gave her a long look and shrugged. “Then you are of no use to me.” He turned to one of the men. “Get rid of the lad.”

  “Brian!” She tried to go to him but was restrained by the man who’d struck her earlier. Instead, she watched helplessly as Brian was dragged unconscious from the room.

  The leader’s eyes were on the trunk at the foot of her bed where she’d carefully folded the plaid that Jamie had lent her the day he’d rescued her from the tree—which she’d neglected to return to him. He gave her a calculated stare and seemed about to say something, but then an odd look came over his face. “Find out what she knows,” he said instead to the man holding her, “but be quick about it. The place is already on fire. If MacGregor is in the castle, we’ll smoke him out.”

  Her father. Her brothers. Her home. This man had taken everything from her for nothing. Something inside her snapped. With her hand balled into a tight fist, she took aim at his face and hit him with all the hatred and anger burgeoning inside. She’d never hit anyone before, but her punch landed squarely on his nose and she heard the satisfying crunch of bone. His head jerked back with the blow. When he looked back at her, blood gushed from his nose. There was a moment of stunned disbelief, before retaliation came hard and swift. His hand met her temple. A burst of pain, and then everything went black.

  Caitrina couldn’t breathe. She was dreaming of a man on top of her, the heavy weight of mail crushing her chest. The stench of sweat and blood filled her nose, and bile rose in the back of her throat. She groaned and struggled against the weight crushing her. Rough hands gripped the tender skin of her thighs, trying to pry open her legs.

  It wasn’t a dream. Her eyes fluttered open. A man was on top of her, one arm flat across her chest to hold her down, the other lifting up her skirts. She opened her mouth to scream, but she wasn’t sure whether anything sounded before she felt another burst of pain across her cheek and her eyes closed again.

  Darkness beckoned like the sweet song of a siren. She wanted to stay asleep, to escape to the safety of her dreams. But something wouldn’t let her. She had to wake up. She couldn’t let this happen. She had to fight.

  She opened her eyes. The man’s face swam before her gaze. Everything was fuzzy.

  Suddenly, the weight crushing her chest was gone. She took a deep breath, wanting to fill her lungs with air, but inhaled choking smoke instead. Her body racked with coughs.

  She thought she heard a man curse, but it was so difficult to hear with the ringing in her ears. She was lifted from the bed and cradled against a warm, hard chest. For a moment, she was confused; she felt safe. But then she remembered. The man started to carry her away. She flailed against him, but he held her firm, soothing her with gentle words. The voice was familiar but hovered just beyond the edges of her consciousness.

  It was so hot. She opened her eyes, but they burned and filled with tears. She couldn’t see through the thick smoke. She wanted to know who held her, but his features blurred.

  He looked like Jamie Campbell. Her eyes fluttered again. Jamie. It was Jamie. He’s here.

  She relaxed against him, feeling a moment of elation before the sliver of a memory filtered through her consciousness: Campbells had attacked Ascog. And Jamie was a Campbell. No. She didn’t want to believe it, but why else would he be here?

  You will regret your refusal of my offer.

  “You—” she choked; her throat felt stripped bare. “You did this,” she cried, feeling as though her lungs were being shredded apart. “Campbells.” She couldn’t get the words out, she felt so horribly weak and tired. “Why?” The pain moved from her lungs to her chest, precariously close to her heart. She didn’t hear his reply. The fight had left her, and she gave over to the pull of darkness.

  Chapter 9

  Toward Castle, Cowal Peninsula, Three Months Later

  A sharp wind blew across the moors, sending long strands of Caitrina’s hair flying across her face as she made her way down the steep path from the castle toward the small beach. Even the sturdy heather that blanketed the countryside with its soft purple flowers was not immune and leaned with each gust. Gathering her tangled curls in her hand, she adjusted the wool plaid scarf farther over her head to better ward off the wind and cold. An autumn chill was definitely in the air. With Michaelmas behind them and winter approaching, the days—like the heather—would soon darken, turning shorter and colder.

  She sighed. The changing of the seasons left her with a strange melancholy. Time passed whether she wanted it to or not. Part of her wanted to hold on to the past, afraid to sever the connection with all that she had lost. Another part, the part that remembered the loss of her mother, knew that time would lessen the sting, if not the ache.

  She didn’t think anything could be worse than losing her mother—how wrong she’d been.

  Father, Malcolm, Niall—her heart squeezed—even her beloved Brian … gone. Along with so many others. She blinked back the sudden swell of tears, the pain still raw, though over three months had passed since that horrible day the Campbells had wreaked their particularly virulent brand of destruction on her clan.

  In the space of one afternoon, her clan had been decimated. First in battle and then in the fire that followed. Over forty Lamont warriors had lost their lives defending Ascog. Those who’d survived had fled into the countryside to evade the bloodthirsty Campbells. All that remained of her home was a burned-out stone shell. The life, the love, and the happiness she had known there was a fading memory.

  All because her father had been suspected of harboring MacGregors.

  The injustice was difficult to fathom. Most of what happened that day was lost to her, locked away in a dark place that she dared not try to open. But sometimes, as now, the memories would flash before her eyes in snippets. Her father’s murder. The Campbell soldier’s face hovering above her. The flames.

  Her brothers were said to have perished in the fire. All she had to remember them by was her father’s chieftain’s badge and a scrap of plaid she wore bound around her wrist.

  As for the other … Caitrina didn’t think the Campbell scourge had raped her, but she couldn’t be sure. Her virginity seemed laughably unimportant after everything that had happened.

  But there was something, or rather someone, she remembered clearly. A bone-deep chill cut through her as it always did when she thought of Jamie Campbell.

  You will regret your refusal of my offer. One day, Caitrina, the brutal reality of our world will find you.

  Words that were cruelly prophetic or possibly something more?

  When she’d first realized that Campbells were attacking Ascog, she’d wondered if Jamie were