Page 3 of A Virgin for the Highland Beast
“How dare ye defy me,” he hissed and plucked the arrow out. “This is treason.”
“Let me sister go,” Isobel barked as she nocked another arrow.
Emma jumped between them, holding her hands out, desperate to calm the storm raging within the study.
“Sister, put the bow down,” Emma encouraged.
“I’d listen to yer sister.” Geoffrey snickered as he tossed the arrow to the floor.
“Ye’re defendin’ him?” Isobel snapped. “After everythin’ he’s put us through? He’s charged Nora with witchcraft. Now, he’s goin’ to release her, or so help me, I’ll end him before he can call the guards.”
“Izzy, please, ye’re makin’ matters worse,” Emma said.
“Ye have nay idea. Ye’ll regret this day, the lot of ye. Guards! Seize them! They are a threat to our clan!”
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“Isobel, run,” Emma cried, seizing her sister by the arm and darting out of the room as Geoffrey’s cries bounced around them.
“Ye should have let me kill him,” Isobel hissed as they bolted around the corner.
Their once familiar home now felt like a deathly labyrinth as the rumble of the guards’ footsteps filled the corridor.
“We need to split up. Go get Lydia,” Emma instructed, her breath ragged from fear. “I’ll find Nora. We need to leave this place. Now.”
Emma didn’t wait for her sister to respond. The only thing pulsing through her head was the image of her sisters’ lifeless bodies sprawled out in the courtyard as a warning for the clan never to defy Geoffrey again.
They split at the next corner, Emma taking a hard left and making a swift exit through a side door as Isobel raced towards the drawing room.
Emma found cover in the thick bushes nearby and stopped to catch her breath. The sounds of the guards racing through the hallways incited terror within her as she struggled to calm her frantically beating heart. She held her breath as a group of men who were once loyal to her father rushed past in pursuit.
Taking advantage of the distraction, she bolted around the corner of the castle, making a beeline for the kitchen door. Keeping to the shadows and sanctuary of the shrubs, she tried to keep her wits about her. But she knew Nora’s life was in peril if she couldn’t get to her.
The moment the area was clear, Emma rushed through the kitchen door, startling the scullery maid.
“Go back outside,” the maid ordered. “I’ll nae have ye trompin’ through here like a wild boar.”
“Where’s Nora?” Emma snapped, her urgency leaving no room for rebuttal.
The scullery maid pointed towards the dungeon with a quivering finger.
Emma’s heart sank as she glanced out the window at the ominous circular stone building. Without hesitating, she bolted out of the kitchen and raced to the thick oak door, only to spot the hefty lock on it.
“Nora?” Emma called as she pounded her fists against the door, testing the heavy lock keeping her sister inside the dungeon.
“Emma?” Her heart sank the moment she heard Nora’s muffled voice from the other side.
“I’m goin’ to get ye out,” Emma reassured her, though she had no idea how as she struggled with the lock.
“There ye are,” a guard shouted as he came around the building, drawing his sword.
Emma reacted instinctively, grabbing the pitchfork from the wooden cart beside the building and swinging it at the man. Her eyes widened as she watched him drop to the floor unconscious the moment it made contact with his face. The jangle of metal against the cobblestone floor rang in her ears as she spotted the ring of keys hanging from his belt. With a victorious grin, she snatched up the keys and unlocked the dungeon door.
“We have to hurry, Nora,” she urged, pulling her sister into a brief hug.
The relief was short-lived as she heard the distant sound of shouting guards.
“What’s happened?”
