Page 65 of Lost with a Scot
Charles grinned like a jackal. “I went to school atEton. If you think you know what torture is, you have no idea.”
Fain ignored him and turned his focus to Aiden. “You, however... You aren’t English.”
Aiden curled his fingers around the bars. “I’m far worse. I’m a Scot.” As he spoke, he let part of the rage he kept buried inside leak out. The iron bars creaked ominously beneath his powerful grip.
“You know what the English say about Scots?” Charles added, his words soaked in deep humor. “You can’t kill them, you can only slow them down a bit.”
Aiden kept his gaze on Fain, and he noticed the slightest twitch in the man’s face.
“I think killing both of you tomorrow along with the prince will be easy enough.” Fain’s expression was smug.
“It will besomuch fun to disappoint you, old boy,” Charles said.
“I’ll enjoy the pleasure of killing you myself,” Fain promised.
“Not if I have the pleasure first,” Aiden said. “Sleep well, Captain. It will be yer last. When ye reach hell tomorrow, ye can tell the devil himself I sent ye.”
Fain stared at Aiden a long moment before he turned and walked away, his guards following behind him.
Charles looked at Aiden with new respect. “You’re supposed to be the nice Kincade brother...”
“There is no nice Kincade brother—I’m merely thequietone.”
“Ah,” Charles muttered. “They do say it’s the quiet ones you have to worry about. But still, you seem to be taking things rather personal... I mean, beyond the whole ‘captured and going to be executed tomorrow’ thing.”
“Itispersonal. That man is the bastard who plans to marry my wife.”
“Excuse me?” Alexei interrupted them. “Wife? You meanmysister?”
“Aye.” Aiden was still squeezing the bars, listening with satisfaction as the iron groaned.
“Youmarried my sister?”
Aiden looked at Alexei and nodded after a long minute.
“How did that happen? She was betrothed to Lord Erich of Prussia...”
“’Tis a long tale,” Aiden warned.
Alexei glanced about his cell. “We don’t seem to have any other pressing engagements.”
“Aye.” Aiden sat down and got comfortable. “Fair enough.”
“I love a good tale,” Charles said with a look of childish delight, even though he knew the story already.
* * *
Ashton letthe body of the guard fall limp at his feet. Cedric took the guard’s legs and dragged him out of sight. Ashton took a person’s life seriously, but he didn’t hold back when the men he fought were involved in evil deeds. As he and the others had moved through the village outside the fortress, he’d heard whispers about the murder of entire villages, burning women and children alive.
While much of the castle was being garrisoned by locals from the village, either desperate for work or afraid of repercussions if they refused, a number of the dangerous former royal guards still remained. They were the ones Ashton knew they had to worry about. The ones who needed to be dealt with first. The conscripts were more likely to scatter or surrender to any significant show of force once the fighting started.
Ashton knew he could be a cold bastard, but the idea of anyone killing women and children set a rage burning inside him. That left no mercy for the guards who’d aided Yuri in such bloodshed.
“How many more do you think we can remove without being detected?” Cedric asked. “They don’t seem to be that aware of how many guards they even have inside the fortress. I’ve never seen such an unorganized lot of men in my life. I’m rather surprised Yuri has stayed in power.”
Ashton had noticed that too, the seeming haphazard behavior of the guards. It was as though Yuri had managed to recruit the worst men, both in intelligence and temperament. It would make Ashton’s job easier, but it left him worried about the unpredictability of the patrols, among other things.
“I want as many of the seasoned guards to be subdued,” Ashton said. “The rest will likely run or switch sides if our men gain the upper hand once the fighting starts. Some of these new guards are villagers, most of them just men trying to survive, and I won’t have innocent blood on our hands. We need to be in control of the castle tomorrow. We need to stop that wedding, as well as the execution.”
