Page 29 of Border Lord’s Bride

Rose swooped Lily in her arms and headed up the edge of the loch as Elizabeth had directed. The flames leaped from the water to the shrubs and brush along the water's edge. Elizabeth hesitated for a moment. As she watched in horror, the flames curled from the tar-doused shrubs to the branches of the trees until they formed an arc of flame over her head.

"Get back here!" Horatio threw down the rope and drew his sword. He changed direction to follow the girls.

"Nay." The muscles of Elizabeth's stomach knotted with panic. She surged forward. "Run, Rose, run!"

The smoke was thicker now. Elizabeth's eyes stung. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Regardless, she kept her gaze trained on Horatio, preparing for his next move.

He stopped and swung his sword.

Elizabeth stumbled backward as the blade whispered in front of her, nearly missing her middle. She searched the area around her for something with which to defend herself. A cry of despair escaped her when she found no sticks or rocks nearby. The branches overhead crackled and popped with the intensity of the flames.

The smoke grew thicker, blacker, making it harder to see anything. Perhaps that would help the girls escape. The dark figure before her turned back in the direction the girls had disappeared, and Elizabeth blindly leaped forward into Horatio's body. They crashed against the muddy shoreline of the loch. A few feet away the water glowed bright, and black, curling clouds of smoke coiled into the air.

"Get off me!" Horatio made a sound low in his throat.

Sheer terror rode Elizabeth's nerves as she clung to the man's back. He twisted and rolled with her still attached, until he slammed her against the ground. She gasped at the pain that radiated across her back, stealing her breath. Her grip loosened and Horatio sprang free.

The smoke stung her eyes, seared her lungs. She struggled to sit up, but found she could not.

"With all of you dead, there'll be no one to oppose me."

"How? You've left all of us no way to escape. Even yourself," Elizabeth cried.

The man startled as though he suddenly realized what he'd done, not just to the girls and to Lucius, but also himself.

Horatio gripped the sword that had fallen at his feet and charged, his blade pointed at her.

Panic screamed through Elizabeth. She drew a sharp breath. She brought her feet up. As the man lurched forward, intending to skewer her, she kicked out. Her feet connected with his gut.

He lurched sideways into the water. He fell below the surface; then as he came up, an agonized scream filled the air. "I can't swim!" He flailed against the water as flames rippled across his skin and hair.

The stench of burning flesh overwhelmed her senses. Elizabeth pressed a hand to her nose and mouth and clamped her eyes shut. She scooted on her back away from the water's edge. Over Horatio's cries of pain, she could hear men shouting, horses neighing, from somewhere on the opposite shore. For a heartbeat, she felt a pure white-hot flash of hope until the whoosh of the flames shot up next to her, behind her.

Elizabeth stood. Her legs wobbled. She nearly tumbled to the ground once more, but she forced herself to stay upright, to take a step away from the flames.

Fire was all around her, devouring the trees and shrubs like a hungry monster. Curls of black smoke encircled her, searing her lungs and stinging her eyes. Then, above the roar of the flames, Elizabeth heard the sound of splashing water.

She tensed, afraid it was Horatio come back to claim her, until she heard a familiar voice.

"Elizabeth!"

She staggered toward the sound. "Lucius!"

A dark figure surged through the smoke and grabbed her.

"The girls?" she asked.

Lucius's eyes were bright in his soot-stained face. "We found them."

Relief washed through Elizabeth with such force that her knees buckled. Lucius caught her in his arms. "Hold on to me," he said gently.

She clung desperately to Lucius as he half dragged, half carried her through the water.

"Take a deep breath and hold it." Lucius's hand tightened on hers.

The acrid breath she drew hurt her lungs, but she had no time to think of the pain. Heat pressed in around them. She closed her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks from her stinging eyes.

She couldn't hold her breath any longer. It whooshed out in a painful rush and she was forced to inhale. She was immediately punished by a fit of coughing. She couldn't catch her breath. Panic rushed through her as she began to gasp.