This is my solemn vow? This is my solemn vow! Ella’s words bellowed in his head. “Ella!” He charged forward.

“No!” she yelled.

He followed her line of sight to the back wall where a Mackay warrior clutched a boy to his chest, a blade pressing against the lad’s neck until a line of red released several drops of fresh blood. The boy stared straight out, his eyes calm as if he accepted his death.

Cain’s gaze snapped back to Ella who now stood the same way clutched before Randolph Mackay.

“She is my wife now,” Mackay yelled. “Leave here or face King James’s wrath. He knows ye are bent on killing Arabella and her brother and will stop at nothing to avenge their deaths.”

“Wait,” the pastor called out, his hands clutched together before him. “Wait, I must bless the union for it to be binding.”

“What? That is not—” Randolph started.

“Quickly,” the pastor said, coming forward while passing the sign of the cross before him and speaking in Latin. Randolph turned Ella before the clergyman, the knife still at her throat above the line of Cain’s mother’s pearls. The red that stained the front of her gown looked like blood, and it almost made Cain lose his mind. Was she hurt underneath, bleeding through the layers of fabric? He would tear Randolph Mackay limb from limb.

Cain’s jaw ached with pressure as he clenched his teeth. His short sword was drawn and bloody from the work he and Joshua had done below. Cain could hear his brother charging up the stairs, having barred the doors and locked Viola away. Cain braced himself to block him.

“Stad,” Cain said evenly as Joshua reached the top.

Joshua grasped his shoulder that barred the way, looking over at the scene before them. “Fok!” Joshua yelled.

“Blessed in the name of our holy Christ, Amen,” the pastor said. “And I must give the bride the kiss of Christ.”

“Do it, then!” Randolph yelled, his eyes bulging as he watched Cain and his brother.

Trembling, the pastor moved closer, staring straight into Ella’s eyes. His long robes blocked Cain’s view for a moment as he caught her hand below and kissed her cheek before retreating to his place on the wall.

A wild look contorted Randolph Mackay’s face, and he smiled. “All done and official before a hundred witnesses.”

“More like five hundred, ye arse,” Joshua said. Without looking, Cain knew that the other two armies of white and bay horses had advanced from where he’d ordered them to wait on the other side of the hill. “Five hundred who will be smashing every stone of this castle and every Mackay head into the ground.”

“Not unless ye want Arabella and her precious brother killed right here before ye,” Randolph said.

“Enough,” Cain said. “What do ye want?”