Cain’s gaze was severe. His hard, intelligent eyes seemed to take in everything. The short beard that he’d begun to grow couldn’t hide the granite set of his jaw, his mouth hard and unforgiving. At that moment, he looked like he could unleash God’s wrath on them all. Ella’s heart sped with her worry. Would he kill Kenneth right here? I won’t allow it. She edged closer to the center aisle.

“Have ye brought the two wagons filled with grain that is the price for his freedom?” Cain asked, his voice deceptively low. “A fair price to pay for the oat field to which he and his men set fire?”

“Our grain has not yet been harvested.”

“Then your chief will live in our dungeon until it is.”

“Is he even alive?” Randolph asked, contempt in his voice. “We have been told that he is fed only salted beef and no drink.”

“He meant to burn our grain, so he deserves no bread,” Cain said.

“And nothing to drink?”

“The price one pays for crossing a Sinclair,” Cain said, making Ella swallow hard. The quiet cruelty in his words reminded her of her father. Her hands clasped together before her chest as if to ward off the specter.

Joshua crossed his arms. “The bloody thief deserves nothing at all.”

“Ye give him only salted beef to prolong his agony,” Randolph said.

“Would ye rather he be dead?” Bàs asked, his scythe swinging from one shoulder to the other. The blade caught the air, humming softly, a murmured petition to be unleashed.

Randolph glared. “For all I know, he is. I need to see that he is truly alive.”

Cain pointed to one of his warriors, who hurried off.

Ella stood close enough to see the strain in the familiar lines of Kenneth’s face. “The Sutherlands have spare grain,” her advisor said. “The Mackays have come to us to borrow it to repay their debt to the Sinclairs.” Only desperation for her release would make Kenneth work with the Mackays now that her father wasn’t demanding she marry Hew, joining their clans to work together against the Sinclairs.

“Very gracious of ye,” Cain said, his narrowed gaze sliding to Ella and back to Kenneth. “Is this payment approved by your chief?” Of course not, and Cain knew it. Ella had been locked up at Girnigoe.

“With her absence, I am the acting chief,” Kenneth said. “And I have approved it. But only if Arabella Sutherland, chief of the Sutherland Clan, is set free with the chief of the Mackays.”

“Ella Sutherland is free to go,” Cain said, his gaze centered on Kenneth. “The moment she vows to be my wife until the day she dies and signs a document giving over Dunrobin and Sutherland lands.”