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Prologue

Saidh had just caught up her skirt and started to squat when she heard it: a man's short, sharp shout that sounded like a death cry Cold creeping down the back of her neck, she let her skirt drop and straightened, ears straining At first there was nothing No running feet, no sounds of battle, nothing to tell her what had happened, and then she caught a high keening that dissolved into weeping

Cursing, Saidh pulled her sword froh the woods, following the sound of those heart-wrenching sobs She recognized theht fro her stay at Fraser Castle, the bedcha the bedding cere feast

Saidh shook the thought away and paidwhen a branch slapped back and hit her across the face The spot they'd stopped to , but Saidh had wandered far away from it in search of a place to take care of her needs The distance was a habit with her She'd learned that she needed to take herself far fro and so her while she was in theherself They'd played that trick often enough in the past for her to have learned her lesson

Mind you, she'd returned the favor a ti seven boys in the Buchanan brood, Saidh had quickly learned to defend herself It had been that or turn into a sniveling, whiny little girl who ran constantly to her mama to tattle on the boys and that was not Saidh Now sixteen, Saidh gave as good as she got, and had earned the love and respect of every one of her brothers because of it

Saidh's thoughts died as she stepped into a s It was pretty, surrounded by a wall of tall, stately trees and with a low carpet of purple flowersthat had Saidh sucking in a gasp of air Instead, it was the sight of her cousin, Fenella, sitting, sobbing next to her husband's prone body, her dark hair a tuown torn and disheveled, and a bloody knife in her hand

"Fenella?" she breathed, finally getting past her shock andtoward her "What happened?"

Her cousin lifted her head, peered at her briefly without recognition and then just cried harder and shook her head as she lowered it again

Frowning, Saidh slid her sword back into its scabbard and squatted to exae circle of blood on his chest with a hole in theSaidh felt her ently take the knife fro hands After a hesitation, she tossed it to the side, then caught Fenella by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake "What happened?"

She was hoping Fenella would tell her they were set upon by bandits, or so Instead, Fenella sniffled miserably and cried, "I killed him"

"Dear God," Saidh breathed releasing her to straighten and peer helplessly around the clearing

"I did no' mean to," Fenella sobbed "I jest could no' take his rapin' ain"

Saidh glanced back to her with a frown "Raping ye? Ye're married, Fenella He was yer husband He--"

"He was a cruel heartless bastard who hurt and huht," she countered bitterly "By the ti worse than if I had aze shifted to her dead husband and she said quietly, "That was bad enough, but I could ha'e withstood it I would ha'e withstood it" Crossing her arms over her chest, she lowered her head and almost whispered, "But then he turned me o'er and took me in unnatural ways, ways even ain, eyes round with a cooing to do it again, right here in the woods like an aniain and she said miserably "I could no' let hier in his belt I--I did no' think, I" Moaning rabbed it and--"

When she broke off and shook her head round She believed Fenella It was impossible not to after what she'd heard on her way to her bedchaht Saidh had been a little the worse for wear at the ti contest after their cousin's wedding feast Saidh had never much cared for ale or whiskey and her brother knew it However, she'd also never been able to resist a challenge, especially when it included phrases like "Ye're no afraid, are ye?" or "Ah, ye'd ha'e lost anyway, ye being a lass and all" Both of which he'd used last night when he'd apparently decided it would be fun to drink her under the table

He'd lost the contest Saidh had been swaying in her seat, but still upright when Rory had slithered off the bench to land in a heap under the table She vaguely recalled the cheers and congratulations froered away fro her room before she too fell to the drink Her h when she reached the upper landing With the laughter, chatter and music reduced to a dull roar there, she'd paused on the landing as the sound of a wo had reached her ears

Frowning, she'd stu whoever it was Her feet had slowed and then paused altogether however as she'd reached the door Even in her drunken haze, she'd realized it was the bridal chamber

Sing the drink that tried to rush back up her throat, Saidh had hesitated, unsure what to do She'd heard that the bedding could be painful the first ti froony Surely it should not be this painful? It sounded as if Ha her poor cousin rather than e

Saidh had raised her hand, intending to knock and check to see that all ell, but then the screa abruptly ended

"There," Harunted with breathless satisfaction, the sound co "Noe're well and truly married Ye're mine, lass"

When Fenella had sniffled and reehed and turned away frorateful to do so The landing had taken to spinning around her by then and Saidh doubted she would have been much help to Fenella if it had been necessary

Still, she'd thought as she'd staggered into her roo must be even more painful than she'd heard it to be and they really should warn a girl Of course, if they did that, woer to be wedded and bedded

Saidh had just collapsed on the bed when the distant sound of screa to sit up, but unconsciousness was already rushing up to clai her down into the soft bed with firm, dark hands

r /> That second round of screa, so Saidh had been more than relieved to find her cousin alive and well in the one below to break her fast Fenella had been pale and quiet, but when Saidh had asked her with concern if she ell, the woman had nodded and ducked her head as color flushed her cheeks Conran had distracted Saidh then, calling her down to where he and her other brothers sat at the table so Saidh had left Fenella to join them There was little she could have done for her cousin anyway She was his wife now and belonged to Hammish as much as his horse, his castle and his sword Wohts in this world

Mouth tightening at that thought, Saidh peered at her cousin with pity and breathed, "They will kill you for this"

"Aye" Fenella turned dead eyes to the prone ed wearily "Let theain what he did to ht"

Saidh bit her lip and peered to Hah hershe'd attended, but surely the breaching did not always cause the agony those screa the breaching, but what Fenella described sounded extre her in unnatural ways, Saidh knew exactly what her cousin meant She had been raised with seven brothers after all, and they had taken great delight in telling her things they shouldn't in the hopes of e her What Fenella described sounded like what Geordie called "copulation in the rear" Geordie had also said it was a sin, punishable by a grueso at the stake

In truth, Saidh supposed Fenella had given the church's justice to her husband, and a kinder end thanat the stake Perhaps even kinder than hanging, although she wasn't sure about that one

Sighing, she turned back to her cousin and knelt before her again "If ye tell the priest what he did--"

"Nay!" Fenella cried with alarm "I could ne'er tell anyone he did that to me Ever"

"Ye told ently "Mayhap--"

"Nay, Saidh Please" She grasped her hands, squeezing theht ye Just slit ht fer the weapon and ye killed me"

"Oh, Fenella," she said sadly, and pulled her into a hug "I'll no' do that to ye"

"Ye ha'e to," she wept, clutching at the front of her gown "Hao unpunished He shall kill me anyway At least if you do it I ken ye'll no' torture me first Please, Saidh"

Saidh re She understood why Fenella would ask it of her, but she si, and then she released Fenella and straightened "I ha'e a better idea"

"Nay Just killto her feet to follow and then pausing abruptly when Saidh stopped and bent to scoop up a large branch froood six feet long, one end as big around as a ? This is no time fer a fire"

Saidh turned to face her, took a deep breath and announced, "Ye were set upon by twoBandits, poorly dressed, one tall and thin, one short and fat"

"I was?" Fenella asked with a frown, taking a step backhen Saidh stepped toward her