Harry, not Maddock, sat outside the room where they held Calder. His eyes were red. He’d been crying.

“It must be me who sets him free, lass. I need to be the last one he sees. I need him to know that we forgive him, that we love him.”

Without a word, I took a seat on the floor next to him and wrapped my arm around his shoulders. He gave me one painful glance and then allowed himself to cry on my shoulder.

We sat like that for a long time. When Harry finally lifted his head from my shoulder, he leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

“I doona care for grief, lass. Promise me that ye will do all that ye can to return to us. Doona make me go through this heartbreak twice.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to keep my voice steady. “I’ll find a way out. Don’t you worry about that.”

Clearing his throat, Harry stood and offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet.

“Laurel, I doona know just how tied Calder is to Machara. I think it best ye doona allow him to know of yer plan in case she can hear his thoughts. Fight him when he comes for ye.”

“I will.”

He stepped inside the room without another word. I moved to the main stairwell to wait.

---

“I’m sorry, lass. I’m so, so sorry. I doona wish to do this. ’Tis why I tried to get ye to leave. Ye must know that I doona have a choice.”

Calder’s grip on my arms was rough as I thrashed about. He was as strong as an ox. The more I tugged and pulled, the more I screamed and bit, the rougher his grip on my arms became as he dragged me. I would have bruises all over, but I was committed to my performance.

“Let me go, Calder. Please. I’ll leave. I promise. Just let me go.”

We were in Nicol’s bedchamber now, and I could hear Machara’s laughter echoing up from the dungeon.

“’Tis too late for that, lass.”

He opened the passageway and down we went. He continued to beg my forgiveness.

“If I could stop this, I would.”

I needed Calder to know that I understood. I wanted him to have a little bit of peace before his death. I only hoped that I would be able to tell him quickly enough before Machara took me so she wouldn’t hear and understand.

I squeezed his arm and pulled to get his attention. He quickly turned tortured eyes on me.

“It’s okay. I know.” I mouthed the words to him, and just as we stepped into Machara’s view, I could see that he understood. He now knew why Harry had released him.

He nodded and released his grip, throwing me before Machara’s cell as he spoke to her.

“Here. Now, let me go, Machara. I’ve done as ye bid. Take her and release me.”

I looked into Machara’s icy eyes and shivered. There was no humanity in her gaze.

She quickly jerked her head upward, and I saw the panic settle over Calder’s face. I knew that his death was imminent.

Just as Machara uttered the spell that would pull me into the cell with her, Calder—his hands trembling as he tried to resist—lifted his sword and plunged it into his heart.