The Highlander's Sin by Eliza Knight Read Free Book Online Page A

left a sour taste in his mouth. “I dinna have an overlord.”
    “Every man looks up to someone.”
    “I dinna.”
    “Not even God?”
    His chest seized, pulling him back to a time when he had thought God might be on his side. But then all had been ripped from beneath him. Even those who’d taken him in had been little more than caretakers and teachers. Not family. Men of the cloth themselves. Duncan was alone. Though he wore the robes, he was anything but ecclesiastical. His higher power was the earth itself, the pleasures Mother Nature had to offer and the coin he could make with his skills as a fighter. “Not even God.” The bitterness on his tongue could only be washed away with a few draughts of whisky and a willing wench straddling his thighs—and he was likely to only get one of those this night.
    Duncan kept a keen eye out for anyone watching. They circled the walls. He found a few more stones fallen since the last time he’d been here and weeds growing tall around the edges—with a few matted circles in the grass  where animals must have made a home.
    When after walking Blade round the outskirts of the castle walls, it appeared they were alone, Duncan steered them back toward the spot where the once-wooden wall had rotted away. Probably the first problem the old lord of this place had suffered. He’d built his keep in stone first—and not the wall. Anyone could burn, chop or break down wood. It was more easily accessible than if the lord had born the patience to protect what was his before beautifying it.
    Foolish.
    A stone castle surrounded by a wooden wall was basically useless in Duncan’s eyes. A waste of time and effort—the end result was an abandoned place that once must have boasted some beauty.
    The courtyard possessed much of the same appearance as the outside, tall grasses growing up where he assumed a dirt-packed road had once been. Outbuildings had collapsed, some of them burned into crumbling ash. Abandoned broken wagons. Nothing much of use. Every person who came upon the castle took from it what they needed.
    Duncan walked Blade right up the left side of the front stairs, the right having crumbled somehow—a stone from a trebuchet? He wasn’t sure, but every time he visited, he did the same thing and rode his horse inside. No way was he going to leave his prized steed outside.
    Inside was darker, though the arrow-slit windows and the partially missing roof did afford some light from the setting sun.
    “Why— ”
    “Shh…” Duncan cut off the lass. Just because he didn’t see anyone outside, did not mean there were no lurkers within.
    He drew his sword, prepared to cut down anyone who attacked them. Gripping the hilt and scanning their surroundings, Duncan made their introductions. “Come out, ye rotten bastards.”
    Above , a few wings flapped hard as nesting birds let out panicked chirps in the broken silence. One poor creature must have been startled so much that its nest fell as it flapped away, spilling its eggs to the rotting floor. A rat to the right scurried over and under the decaying rushes, probably headed in the direction of the crushed eggs. A sorry-looking tapestry hung in drapes from only one corner, the opposite side having long since fallen.
    T here was no other noise. No rush of feet to hide or gasps of shock. No whistle of a sword being pulled from its scabbard. Only a few birds and rats were their company.
    All the same, Duncan would use caution. Abandoned castles were excellent resting spots for anyone along the road. Not the safest of places with crumbling walls and the ability for nearly everyone to happen upon, but safer than the forest. Especially if it were to rain. A partial roof was better than no roof.
    He slid his claymore back in place on his back and then dismounted , his boots crunching on debris littering the floor. Thank the saints, the odor of things rotting was muted, a slight musty smell, really, and that was all.
    Heather looked down at him