“He is attempting to enter the castle through the secret passage,” Iliana blurted at once. The sudden anxiety on her husband’s face, made her hurry to add, “He will not succeed. Your father was there when I was forced into it by Greenweld’s man. He could not stop my being taken, but no doubt he has the passage blocked by now.”

Relaxing somewhat, Duncan glanced over his shoulder at the two men who stood silent and stern behind him. “Take the men to the clearing outside the cave my mother favored, Ian. The entrance to the passage my wife speaks of is in it. They shouldn’t give ye much more o’ a fight than the others, but call me if there is any trouble.”

Nodding, the men turned and exited the tent, leaving the three of them alone. Duncan was the first to speak. Sounding weary, he murmured, “So, my own blood has betrayed me.”

Allistair cast a glance toward Iliana. Apparently deciding she was too far away to use as a hostage, he gave a resigned sigh and set his tankard down, then slowly, calmly drew his sword.

“Put yer weapon down,” Duncan barked.

“Nay. I think not,” he murmured with an almost sad smile, raising the sword to confront him.

“Ye canna win, Allie. Ye ken that. Even if your hand isn’t broken. We have battled many a time and ye have never won. Put the weapon down.”

“Then what? Ye banish me? Send me far and away from me people? From the only home I have ever known? From the woman I love?” His voice cracked slightly then, and his face suffused with sudden rage. “Seonaid would have been mine.” With that, he raised his sword and lunged at his cousin.

Iliana cried out and jumped back as Allistair’s sword met Duncan’s in midair. Her heart thumping violently in her chest, she clenched her hands and watched helplessly as the men stood, swords locked, glaring at each other.

“I don’t want to kill ye, Allie. Yer me own blood.”

Allistair laughed slightly and shrugged. “That didn’t stop me from tryin’ to kill you to get what I wanted. Not the night I stabbed yer wife, nor the day I knocked ye out and locked ye all in a burnin’ room.”

While Duncan absorbed that, Allistair pulled away and swung his sword again. Stunned as he was, her husband managed to fend off the blow.

Allistair gave a breathless laugh as they stared at each other across locked swords again. “It wouldn’t have stopped me from having yer wee wife either. While I love Seonaid, yer wife is a tasty bundle. I hoped to get the chance to have her ere killing her.” Pulling away again, he grinned. “Mayhap I still will.”