Highland Storm Read Free Page A

“I thank you. The Earl will thank you,” she amended quietly, trying not to squeal as her brother clapped his hands.
    The hall doors flew wide and in marched not one, but two burly men to escort Lianae out of the great hall. They plucked her up and dragged her away.
    “Remember yourself,” Lulach warned. “And dinna tarry.”
    “Dinna fash yourself, brother . I will do my duty,” she promised with little compunction.
    It was her duty to find a way to escape.
    Almost at once, the details of her plan began to form in her head. Lianae but needed a few moments alone in the bathhouse—long enough to open and enter the passageway. The entrance should be easy enough to locate, even after all these years. The new Earl and his party could scarce be expected to know the history of these lands, or the structures erected therein. Fitz Duncan had spent his entire life in England and their ignorance would serve Lianae well today.
    Out in the corridor, the Earl stepped into Lianae’s path. Smiling thinly, he seized her by the arm before she could chance to pass. “Come this evening your brother will no longer have a say over what I do with you, Lianae. Best you find a better use for that soft, velvet tongue of yours.”
    Lianae shuddered.
    Satisfied with her response, he grinned and released her. Heat suffused Lianae’s cheeks. But for once, she held her tongue, her heart hammering fiercely against her ribs as she peered back into the hall at her brother. Lulach was watching, unmoved by the plea in her eyes, and she knew in that instant that he was lost to her. And yet she was smart enough to ken that anger wouldn’t serve her now. But seduction might. Her mother had been a siren, weaving a spell with every word she spoke, and so she sidled up to fitz Duncan and brushed her tongue across her lower lip. With more bravado than she felt, she said, “Dinna fash yourself, laird —” she swallowed over the deference. “—I ken what to do with my saft, velvet tongue. After all, I am a maid of Moray.”
    Fitz Duncan’s pupils dilated, his eyes turning the deepest black. Something bright shone in the depths of his gaze and he smiled a bit as he bent to whisper in Lianae’s ear. “Your sister was weak. She had not the fortitude of a queen. But I have always wanted to flay a Moraywoman to her bones… to see what she is truly made of… simply give me cause,” he warned, and moved away, stepping out of Lianae’s way.
    He left her standing in the corridor, a cold sweat seeping into her bones. Fear and doubt paralyzed her limbs. Of course, this man would be unmoved by seduction. He was immune to a siren’s charms. He would have his way with her, and she would never have a say. Like Elspeth, who was far more beautiful than she, her life would end by fitz Duncan’s hands.
    Chuckling deep in his throat, amused by the fear in her eyes, the Earl made his way back into the hall to finalize the wedding plans, and Lianae stood so long that the Earl’s man pushed her rudely at the small of her back.
    God help me.
    She would have but one chance to escape.
    And if she failed…
    She would not fail.
    Lianae didn’t look back to see if her sister’s murderer and her brother were still watching. Without another word, Lianae of Moray, the last remaining daughter of Óengus the Mormaer, allowed the usurper’s men to lead her away.

Chapter 2
    Dubhtolargg
    L ong out of its season , a giant yellow fox moth flittered about the table, lured by the crystal’s strong virescent light. With a glower, Una tossed her tartan over the crystal ball, loathe to dwell on the images shimmering behind the luminescent façade. Deprived of the keek stane’s light, the thwarted moth flapped its overlarge wings toward to the grotto’s only torch while Una considered the images revealed.
    To all but a few, the keek stane might appear to be but a lovely crystal. But for those blessed with da shealladh — the second sight —it revealed betimes too much—things