Excerpt copyright @ 2019 Kara Griffin
When she peered up from her trencher, she
noticed MacWilliams rose. He made his way from the end of the table to stand
next to her. With a bone in his hand, he tore off the meat, chewed it and then
threw the bone at a door nearby. Bree was disgusted by him. He was foulness and
ill-mannered. She’d throw herself from the nearest tower before she’d wed a
vile man such as he.
The man rubbed her face with his greasy hand,
and Bree had to swallow the bile that arose from her throat. She leaned away
from him, but he grasped her hair and jerked her face back to make her look at
him. He leered at her.
“I deem this lass needs to learn her place,
MacHeth. Put her in the room. Aye, a good fright will make her learn her place.
She has too much spunk for my liking.”
Gordy spoke the truth because MacHeth rose to
do MacWilliam’s bidding. He grabbed Bree’s arm and jerked her forward until she
stood by the door MacWilliams had thrown his bone at. As the door opened, a
horrible odor came forth and Bree thought she would gag. MacHeth shoved her
through the opening and shut it.
From the force of his push, Bree landed on her
hands and knees. She was inside a room with no windows. It was obscure and
dank. Her knees hurt when she knelt on something hard. She fondled odd shapes
under her and gripped something hard. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness,
she held the object and made out a large bone. Instantly, she tossed it away.
She screamed in terror at the thought she’d
held someone’s bone in her hand. Backing up, she bumped the threshold and tried
to find a handle. There was none. She pounded on the wood.
“Let me out, please, let me out.” Her words
gave out as her pleas died in her throat.
Bree heard their laughter on the other side of
the wood.
“Please.” Her plea went unanswered. “Please.”
She stood by the exit and made out a chamber.
No windows afforded light and yet as her eyes adjusted more to the darkness,
she gasped at the many bones and skulls on the floor. Sickness overcame her and
her throat tightened. The stench inside the room was unbearable.
Then an atrocious thought came to her. How were
these poor people killed? An image of MacWilliams when he threw a bone at the
door came and Bree gagged again. Surely they hadn’t done the imaginable to
these poor souls.
Bree wouldn’t move. She kept near the exit and
hoped they would let her out. Her voice gave out from her screams and cries.
Raspy now, she called out in an inaudible voice. After a few hours of torment,
finally, the door opened. The old woman stood on the other side.
“Go to your chamber, go, lass, afore they
return. Hurry.”
“Thank you.” If she wasn’t afraid of harming
the woman with a hug, she’d wrap her arms around her in gratitude for letting
her out.
She didn’t stay to question the old woman, but
fled the hall and hurried to her chamber. Bree sped to the basin and washed her
face and hands. Filth covered her garments, and the beautiful gown Elaina gave
her was ruined. But that was the least of her problems. She had to escape from
the holding.
The door burst open and MacWilliams strode in.
She’d forgotten to latch the lock. He stalked her through the room, and Bree
moved away from him. Her nerves tensed her and tightness came to her chest.
Scared and beyond sense, she continued to avoid him. Yet he stood a few feet
away, almost close enough to reach out to her. He had a bizarre crazed glower
on his face and Bree suspected he would pounce on her.
With that thought in mind, she spotted her
satchel next to the bedding. As she neared, backing up as he stepped toward
her, she hoped she might reach inside and take hold of the dagger Greer had
given her.
MacWilliams cornered her. “You’re a fine
looking woman. It’s been a long time since I had a comely woman who appeals.
You’ll be my wife and I’ve come to claim my husbandly benefits.”
“Please, I don’t…” Bree ceased talk when her
voice faltered.
He petted her hair. “I won’t hurt you. Did we
scare you by locking you in the chamber?”
“Aye,” she said low.
“Aw, pretty lass, don’t worry. You won’t go in
there again. I want to see you.” He pulled at her gown and tore the beautiful
bodice.
Bree fell to her knees and tried to refute him
by curling up so he wouldn’t have access to her. His body came at her, and she
fell back against a trunk that sat next to the bed. Taking the dagger from her
satchel, Bree gripped it tightly. The object was cold and heavy in her hand.
She wasn’t one to ever use a weapon but knew she must.
“Ah, you want me too, lass?” MacWilliams was
demented. He wrestled with her garments and she fought him from lifting her
skirts when she felt his slimy hand on her leg.
When he tried to kiss her, Bree had no choice.
She brought the dagger down as hard as she might and thrust it into his back.
MacWilliams gasped. He scowled and gave a
crazed gawk, his eyes dark with fury and disbelief. Still, he had enough
strength to grip her neck and tightened his hold to choke her. His weight was
substantial against her, and she couldn’t push him away.
He continued to paw her with his other hand,
and then she yanked her dagger from his back and thrust it again with all her
might. Bree kept thrusting the blade, mindlessly. It must have struck him in a
significant spot because finally, he ceased moving. His open eyes stared at
her. The pressure from his hand lessened and then fell away. She took deep
garish breaths.
He was dead.
Bree shoved him away and her hands shook
uncontrollably. MacWilliams rolled to his stomach, upon the floor. Her breath
hitched as she stared at his motionless form with the dagger sticking from his
back. She’d killed him. Unable to stop herself, she gagged and bile came from
her mouth. She wiped her lips with her sleeve and cried.
All she wanted at that moment was to be away.
She envisioned being in a kitchen somewhere making a delicious meal. She’d hold
a spoon and would stir the pottage or whatever she made…a fat candied goose
with all the trimmings. Bree considered she’d gone mad with such thoughts.
The
terror of what she had done convulsed her stomach, and she heaved at the form
lying nearby. Bree scrambled back and tried to gain her footing, but she fell
backward and hit her head against the edge of the threshold. Stinging tears and
flashes came to her eyes and everything blurred.Don't miss One & Only
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