Page 141 of Blood & Claw

Her heart lurched.

The hurt was still there—the questions too—yet none of it mattered while they were taking him away. She couldn’t let them take him. Not like this. “No!”

Rough hands seized her, yet she struggled. Kayla swore and fought too, but they were held fast.

Darach didn’t speak again.

Instead, his gaze remained locked on Ailsa’s as they hauled him away.

“Darach!” Her voice broke on his name.

Then he was gone.

36: TELL ME

AILSA TORE INTO the bread and cheese, hunger clawing so hard she barely tasted it.

Seated at a rickety table inside the windowless alcove, she was only half-aware of Kayla watching her.

Underneath the hunger, she felt sick.

Darach. The look in his eyes. It wouldn’t leave her.

Kayla. They were together again, yet not in the way she’d hoped. And she had questions for the woman who’d raised her.

But first, she had to fill her aching belly. She wolfed the last of her meal down fast before reaching for her cup of ale and draining it in a few gulps.

She could eat that all again.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she lifted her gaze to Kayla.

A knot formed beneath her breastbone. Aye, the person she loved most in the world had been hiding things. She was sure of it now.

Kayla was only halfway through her meal. Wordlessly, she tore off a hunk of bread and picked up a piece of cheese—they’d been given no eating knives with their meals—and handed it over.

Ailsa shook her head. “I can’t take your food.”

“Aye, you can.”

Reluctantly, Ailsa’s fingers closed around the bread and cheese. She hesitated just a moment before devouring it in a few bites.

She thought of Darach once more, alone in a festering pit.

Had they thrown him something to eat too, or would they let him starve? Her meal churned uneasily, and she closed her eyes. Would his brother torture him, execute him, or just leave him to die?

She had to get out of this alcove.

She had to save him … before it was too late.

“Ailsa?”

She opened her eyes to find Kayla watching her. “You should have stayed in Braewall. I really wish you had.”

Ailsa scowled. “Not this again.”

“You’re now a weapon Niall can use against me,” Kayla countered, her tone hardening. “If they’d hauled me here alone, I could have resisted them. Refused even if they tortured me. But I can’t allow him to use you.”

Heat kindled in Ailsa’s chest. “Just let him try.”