Loss. He had no real experience with it. He loathed it. Cain always won, and he would do so again today. He looked at Gideon, his face as hard as his determination. “Gather the four armies. Today we go to war.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ella yanked her arm free from the meaty hand of Randolph’s henchman as he pulled her in through the entryway of Varrich Castle. The vile guard had pawed her body, locating her hidden dagger. Her stomach still clenched with nausea as she watched the ogre adjust his cod, obviously enjoying the order Randolph had given him.

“Tsk, a knife on a lady,” Randolph said, following them, tipping her sgian dubh to catch the light from the high windows cut into the great hall’s stone walls. “Although ye are something of a warrior lady.” With a downward thrust, Randolph stabbed the small dagger into the wooden table. “I trust that ye found all of her secret weapons, Iain?”

“I would be glad to strip her out of them fine clothes and search further,” Iain said, leering. “From her toes to the curls on her head and everywhere in between.”

Ella looked away to quell her stomach. Would vomiting all over him squelch his lust?

Her gaze fastened onto movement toward the back of the hall. “Jamie!” Picking the voluminous petticoats up, she ran to him, pulling him into a hug against her. He is alive. He is whole and alive.

Even though he was already twelve, with all the reticence of a boy wanting to prove that he was almost a man, Jamie clung to her for several long seconds. When she felt him drop his arms, she let him pull back and searched his face. Dirt smudged his cheeks where smears showed that there had been tears at some point. His blue eyes shone with them, though he bravely blinked them away.

“I will get you out of this,” she said, her voice low.

He sniffed, his mouth firm. “But how will I get ye out of this?”

“Cain will come,” she said.

Jamie’s gaze lifted over her shoulder.

“Are ye certain about that?” Randolph asked, his voice strong and directly behind her.

She straightened, turning to him. “Of course he will, he and his four armies, to tear Varrich to the ground.”

Randolph shrugged. “Perhaps he will see this opportunity to take Sutherland lands.”

“He cannot,” she said, her face full of unchecked anger. “King James will support Jamie Sutherland as chief,” she said, grabbing Jamie’s hand. He held tightly back. “Cain knows that. If you or Cain try to take Dunrobin, King James will bring his massive armies down upon you.”

The blank look that Randolph held gave nothing of his thoughts away. He batted his hand through the air. “If Cain Sinclair decides not to ride against the Sutherlands today, coming here instead, ye will turn him away by telling him that ye have wed.”