No time. Focus. Jamie. She’d sworn to protect him from his birth, and she would not stop now. She loved him, raising him as if he were her own child. Her mother’s dying words filled Ella’s ears as she yanked the ring behind the books to trigger the wall to move.

“Keep my wee Jamie hidden…”

She had kept her brother hidden from their father even though she could not understand why she must hide a perfect son from Alec Sutherland. It was the man’s greatest desire. He would have treated Jamie like a prince, protecting him with all his armies. But now the Sutherland clan did not even know Jamie. Would they support him if he survived the day? At this point, it didn’t even matter if they did, as long as he lived.

Ella hurried down the stone steps as fast as she could, surrounded by all the layers of petticoats. Even the sharp pebbles poking her feet through the silk slippers didn’t slow her. At the bottom, she pushed through the door, the iron lock having been cleaved off completely.

The air was cool, feeding her lungs as she took in large inhales, her gaze falling upon men mounted on horses. They stood silent, watching her as one man she knew stepped forward. Randolph Mackay grinned at her, bowing his head. “Thank ye for joining our party, milady.”

“Jamie?” His name came out on a heavy exhale.

“Back at Varrich, waiting to stand witness for his sister’s wedding.”

“My wedding is here at Girnigoe.” She stared hard into his black eyes.

“Not your wedding to Cain Sinclair,” Randolph said. “To the chief of Clan Mackay like your father always intended.”

“Hew is dead. I killed him,” she said, her words rushing from her clenched mouth, the tension grasping along her jaw and neck.

“Aye,” Randolph said, a pleasant look on his face that his men behind him could not see. The look, more than any word, confirmed her suspicion that Randolph Mackay had wanted his chief dead all along. “Ye will wed the new chief of Clan Mackay.”

He took a step closer to her, his hand coming up to her face where curls hid the Sutherland brand near her temple. She jerked her head back so he couldn’t touch her, but he reached forward to catch the back of her head, his fingers curling in to rip away at the curls pinned and woven into a beautiful design.

“Today ye will wed me, the new chief, the chief who will rule both the Mackay and the Sutherland clans.”

Ella kept her footing, refusing to bend down under Randolph’s painful yanking in her hair. She forced herself to relax in his hold, but her eyes pierced him with fury. She could snatch out her sgian dubh, but then how would she get to Jamie? “Jamie Sutherland is backed by King James to lead Sutherland Clan,” she said.