Page 117 of Highland Ruse

“No.” Kaid replied at the same time Sylvi shook her head. “MacKenzie already knows we’re coming. The longer we wait, the more time he has to prepare.”

“Do you have enough men?” Isabel asked Kaid.

He wished he could give them an answer which would set their mind at ease, but he could not.

“Without the additional men we assumed we’d have,” he confessed, “we dinna have as many as MacKenzie. But his are paid men, and paid men are easy to drive from battle. There is only so much coin one is willing to stake their lives on.”

Delilah stepped to his side, her back proud and straight. “Even without the MacKenzies, I will still fight.”

Sylvi secured a sword belt around her hips. “Liv is still within the walls of the keep. I will no more let her remain in the hell you endured than I will allow you to go into battle without me at your side.”

She took her place beside Delilah and put a hand on her shoulder.

Isabel gave a grin that could only be described as feral, with sharp white teeth behind the brilliant red of her lips. “I cannot stand the thought of a man like MacKenzie having control of a woman like Elizabeth. I will fight.”

Percy remained with her head bowed beneath the hood of her cloak. She never took it off except when she was in the room with Torra, Kaid noticed.

“I will go, but will remain in the back.” She slowly hefted a bag and a curious clacking sounded from its depths. “I have already risked being seen by so many.”

They were a curious lot of women, but a brave one—he’d give them that.

After buying the innkeeper’s silence with considerable coin, the five of them headed once more to where the MacLeods were camped.

Kaid was quiet on the short ride there, his mood depressed. While his men were only slightly more numerous than what he estimated MacKenzie had, they were not nearly enough to take a castle. His heart hammered with the threat of the familiar fear he thought he’d finally left behind.

The MacLeods had lost so much. So many had been killed.

So many more would be killed.

And it would be at his lead again.

He’d failed them once before.

Would he fail them again?

Something brushed his leg. He glanced up and found Delilah at his side.

“We will win,” she said quietly. “And we will save Claire.”

He nodded. They would need to win. They would not let Claire down.

He could not let anyone down.

Those words repeated in his mind until the beat of his heart steadied to match the rhythm of his chant.

“What is that?” Sylvi pointed in the distance to where Kaid had left his people camped.

Before Kaid could reply, he saw she was not indicating the MacLeods, but a mass of men on horseback racing toward the camp at incredible speed.

Was MacKenzie ambushing them before they could even get to Edirdovar?

As if sensing the urgency, Kaid’s horse charged forward. “Go,” he bellowed into the rush of wind.

The women quickened their pace. Though they rode with enough speed to give the wind chase, still they were not quick enough.

The large riding party met his people before he could arrive to do anything to prevent it.

Chapter Thirty-Two