Page 104 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
Reaching the other side in minutes only, he pulled himself silently out, keeping watch for any guards patrolling the perimeter.
Staying against the castle walls, he ran around the edge to the east side. By some miracle, the foot soldiers had remained on the opposite wall, and he found the side door without interruption.
It was closed, and he spent a minute or two deciding whether he should storm inside and attack. But then, as he waited, there was a rumbling voice from within, and a servant emerged carrying an empty basket toward the loch.
Callum remained still, holding his breath. He was exposed along the line of the wall and could only hope that the man did not turn and see him. As the door swung shut, the servant continued on his way without looking behind him, and Callum was able to slip inside.
He arrived in some kind of pantry, with hares, rabbits, and grouse hanging from the ceiling. Cheeses and hams were stacked against the walls, and the smell of fresh food made his hunger spike.
Voices were coming from the kitchen, one of them getting closer as he stood in the dark space behind the door.
Stepping to the side, he pushed through an adjoining door that brought him out to the long hallway with doors on every side leading to a long staircase.
The question is, where would Moira have hidden the girls?
It occurred to him that she might have locked them in a chamber somewhere to deal with later. She had never been a natural mother and did not cope well with having the girls around her at the best of times.
The difficulty was not knowing the layout of the castle. If he had been a slighter man, he might have been able to conceal himself without being found, but the chances of that grew slimmer if he wandered from room to room.
Still, he had little choice. Listening and exploring seemed to be the best course of action. If he kept to the rear corridors, there was a chance he would not be discovered.
He had resolved to begin with the staircase at the end of the hall when, suddenly, he heard a cry from the same direction.
Grimacing, he tiptoed along the passage. He recognized Amy’s voice in that cry, scared and unhappy.
If that harpy has harmed me children, I will kill her with me bare hands.
As he reached the staircase, there was a door off to the right, and he opened it a crack to see inside.
It opened onto a large dining hall.
Laird McCarthy was standing beside the fireplace, his arms outstretched, as he gesticulated at someone on the other side of the room.
Callum squinted through the gap and could just see Moira reflected in a large mirror on the wall, but he could not see the girls.
Then he heard them.
“We dinnae want to stay with ye!” That was Eilis, her voice defiant and angry. “We want to go home.”
“Ye would rather live with yer uncle than yer own maither?” McCarthy demanded.
Moira was scowling, her hands stiff, long nails bent like claws as she gestured toward the girls. Eilis came into view, walking toward the fireplace, holding tightly onto Amy’s hand.
So tiny but so fierce.
“They are good for nothing!” Moira shrieked. “They are selfish little wretches who have been spoiled by their father all their lives. I have half a mind to lock them in the dungeons with the rats. That will teach them a life lesson worth learning.”
“Moira, you need to be calm,” McCarthy attempted, but Moira was not listening. Her face was twisted into a familiar snarl.
That is her true face. Behind the beauty, there is only cruelty.
“I dinnae need to be calm, I need me children toobey. That is what I have been tellin’ them me whole life, but they dinnae listen to me. Selfish little ingrates!”
Eilis and Amy were standing perfectly still, Eilis watching her mother with a look of loathing that Callum had rarely seen. She was a sweet, happy child, but now she looked furious, herarm going around Amy’s shoulder, holding her with a white-knuckled grip.
“Ye are the one who wanted to go to the castle,” McCarthy protested, his eyes wide with shock. “I thought ye wanted them back!”
He stepped down from the hearth, his hands still raised as though to defend himself from his daughter’s wrath, and Callum moved before he had thought through exactly what he would do.
