The Warlords Revenge by Alyssa Morgan Page A

had the rest of her family for the countless lives they'd meddled in, ruined. Hers included. There would be no bargaining with this man or pleading for her life. It was over.
    “I'm sorry for what happened to you.” She knew the words didn't carry much weight, but after what this man had lost, she felt like he was at least owed some semblance of an apology. He'd never get one from her father, even if he was still alive.
    “Sorry?!” He roared. “You’re sorry?” He narrowed his eyes, the thick muscles in his neck bulging. “That's a fine word coming from the mouth of a Stewart !”
    Jane had no reply. He was absolutely right.
    “But you will be sorry when I'm finished with you. You might even beg me to kill you.”
    She started backing away from him again. She had to get away, or at least try. She wasn't going down easy. Never had, never would. If she'd learned one thing from her family, it was how to fight. To survive. She could lie, cheat and steal with the best of them.
    “You'll no' escape me.” His lips curled into a hateful sneer. He angled his sword to her chest, pressing the blood-red tip right over her pounding heart.
    “Please!” Jane was shocked to see Ellen, one of the servants, came rushing into the room. She’d thought they’d all left. “Don't kill her!” She threw herself to her hands and knees in front of Gavyn , pulling at his trouser leg, sobbing fitfully. “She's only a Stewart in name!”
    “That's good enough for me.” He tried to slap Ellen's hands away.
    Jane was touched. She liked Ellen. She'd gotten close to the woman over the last nine months her family had been in this house. She’d brought Jane fresh fruit every morning. She was like a friend, and Jane didn't have many of those. Her family had never stayed in one place long enough for her to form any attachments. She appreciated what the woman was trying to do, but Jane didn't need anyone to beg for her. Or to die because of her.
    “Just go,” Jane told her. “Go back to your family while you still can.”
    “You're part of my family, child, and I'll not see you suffer the same fate as your wretched parents and those rotten brothers. You've got goodness in you, and that's something this world has desperate need of.”
    A tear rolled down Jane's cheek. Those words might be true, but none of that mattered to Gavyn . He intended to make her suffer his revenge, no matter how innocent she was.
    “Please.” Ellen clasped Gavyn's trousers in her hands and faced him away from Jane. “I beg you to spare her!” Ellen jerked hard, pulling Gavyn’s feet out from under him and sending him tumbling to the floor.
    “Run!” She scurried out of the room.
    Jane gaped at the fallen warlord, stunned. Ellen had successfully taken him down, but he was already recovering and moving to get up. She shook off her stupor and scrambled to her feet.
    Hiking up her skirts, she dashed out of the dining room, twisting through the hallways of her family's home. She needed to lose him and had only a few precious seconds to do it. Gavyn MacLaren might be big and carrying a heavy sword, but she'd seen him in action. He moved with skill and precision. Fast.
    She rushed outside, through the enclosed courtyard, and over to the doors leading into the back rooms of the house. The stables were directly across the lawn from the guest wing, and if she could make it there, she could get away on horseback. She cranked down on the door handles and found them locked. No. She jiggled and pulled frantically at the handles. They didn’t give.
    “No, no, no!” She panicked. Her only other option was to go back the way she'd come. She was trapped if she stayed out there.
    She rushed back into the house. The front door had never seemed so far away. Gavyn appeared at the end of the hall, and when he turned and saw her, he charged forward, nostrils flaring like an angry bull.
    She broke out into a run, weaving through rooms and around furniture. She threw chairs over