He laughed softly, a sound that chilled her to the core. ‘Your loyalty does you credit, my lady, but after a night in my bed you might change your mind.’
‘I doubt that.’
The pale eyes hardened. ‘You are haughty, but that will soon change, I promise you—if my lord Fitzurse doesn’t humble your pride first.’
Ashlynn’s heart hammered in her breast and she darted a swift look at the Norman. He saw it and nodded.
‘Ah, yes. We have unfinished business you and I.’
‘We have no business of any kind.’
‘You’re wrong. We were interrupted as I recall, but I always finish what I start.’
‘Finish it now if you like,’ said Fraser. ‘It makes no odds to me. I’ll have her later after all.’
The icy knot in her stomach grew larger as the walls of the room began to close in. There was only one door and they were between it and her.
‘No,’ replied Fitzurse. ‘I’ll finish it tomorrow when I take her in front of McAlpin. He can watch—before I cut his throat.’
‘I think it will be you who dies tomorrow,’ said Ashlynn. ‘You are no match for him in single combat.’ ‘Single combat?
How naïve. Say rather a ring of steel.’
‘I might have guessed you’d resort to treachery,’ she replied. ‘But Iain won’t fall easily into a trap.’
He moved towards the door, pausing on the threshold. ‘He will.’
‘You seem very sure of that.’
‘I am sure. After all, you are the bait.’
They left her then, locking the door behind them. Ashlynn leaned back against the wall, trembling in every limb. The tears she had controlled before welled behind her eyelids. Iain would ride to meet his old enemy tomorrow but he would not ride away. This time he would die. She knew then that if he did she would die too and by her own hand. Rather a swift death with him than a lifetime without him, or dishonour at the hands of his enemies. In that moment she understood why Eloise had ended her life. The knowledge gave her courage. If it came to the choice she knew she would do no less.
No one else came to her prison after that and she was offered neither food nor water, though in truth she could not have eaten anything. Gradually the light faded and the cold intensified. Ashlynn wrapped her cloak closer about her and curled up on the straw pallet. As evening turned to night she began to doze intermittently but every time she closed her eyes she saw Iain’s face and the feeling of sick dread increased. Miserable and shivering she waited for the dawn.
* * *
Having gone over the plan in detail Iain dismissed his men and repaired to the roof terrace, needing some time alone. He stood by the stone parapet, looking out over the darkening glen but in truth it was not the hills that he saw. Somewhere out there was Ashlynn. The thought of her fear and despair tormented him, but it wasn’t that alone. For all his calm words to Ban and the rest his heart was riven by doubt. Had they hurt her? Had Fitzurse sought to finish what he had begun before? Would he do to Ashlynn what he had done to Eloise? Iain’s fists clenched and he drew in a deep breath of cold air to combat the nausea that knotted his stomach. The Norman was ruthless and cruel and he knew there was no surer way to hurt his foe than this.
‘Dear God, let her be unharmed,’ he murmured. ‘It took so long for me to find her. Let me not lose her now. Let me not lose the hope she brings.’
With a bitter sense of irony he remembered his promise to forswear all thought of revenge. ‘Unless our paths cross.’ And now their paths had crossed. Was Fitzurse always to be his evil nemesis? Was it part of some divine plan? Well then, he would not seek to circumvent it. Tomorrow he would ride to meet his enemy, and his destiny.
Chapter Thirteen
The circle of stones stood on the hill beyond Glengarron. Higher than a man and twice as wide, the silent monoliths remained unchanged by the vagaries of time or weather though the race that built them had long since vanished. Their brooding presence commanded the hill top. All around in every direction open moor land stretched away beneath a louring sky, the sere heath dark and sombre beneath a chill wind. The only other sounds were of creaking saddle leather and muffled hoof falls on peaty soil. As they drew nigh the place, Ashlynn saw with sick despair that Fitzurse and Fraser had chosen well. Here their enemy would be completely alone, isolated from any form of help. They, on the other hand, had with them a dozen armed men, murderous odds by any standard. The party reined in and came to a halt some yards outside the ring of stone.
Fraser looked around at the empty heath. ‘He’s not here.’
‘Then we wait,’ replied Fitzurse.