Page 63 of A Forbidden Night with a Scot
“We’re comin’ too,” said Katherine, bolder than Alicia had ever heard her before. “We wish tae be with Alicia.”
Their father’s gaze slid over to Katherine and he seemed entirely unimpressed by all his daughters. He knew better than to try and argue, though, already aware it would lead him nowhere when all three of them had made up their minds.
“Fine!” he said. “Anythin’ else? Any other demands?”
When none of the three girls spoke, only glancing at each other as they always did whenever their father had an outburst, he motioned to Nerian to lead their group. As they rode back the same way they had come, searching for any signs of Samuel, their father stayed close to them and Alicia knew he was especially keeping a close eye on her, as though he expected her to run away.
She wished he would understand she wasn’t doing any of this simply to be rebellious or to hurt him. She wished he would see how much she and Samuel loved each other, how much they needed to be together.
She wished he would see her worry and recognize it for what it was. Alicia wasn’t trying to get in trouble simply for the sake of it. Everything she did, she did because she loved Samuel.
For a long while, they searched the forest for him, all of them looking for any sign of his presence only to find none. It wasn’t until they reached a small clearing that her father brought them all to a stop, jumping off his horse to take a better look at the ground.
“There was a fight here,” he said. “The tracks are recent. It must have happened after we passed.”
Alicia’s heart stuttered in her chest, concern gripping it like an iron fist. Glancing around her at everyone else, she realized they were all thinking the same thing.
Samuel had been attacked.
“MacLaine’s men?” Nerian asked, and though he sounded calm, Alicia caught the slight waver in his voice which betrayed the fear they all felt.
“It could be,” her father said. “It is… likely.”
More likely than he wishes tae admit.
“There are tracks leadin’ away from here,” said one of Nerian’s men, pointing through the trees. “Look, they are fresh.”
Alicia followed the path he was tracing with his finger, though she couldn’t quite see what he could. But Nerian and her father were trained for it and followed the tracks easily, weaving their group through the first trees that lined the forest.
“Where have they taken him?” Alicia asked.
“Perhaps naewhere,” said her father. “Perhaps they are still here.”
“Or perhaps they’re takin’ him tae Castle MacLaine,” said Nerian. “The port is this way.”
At those words, Alicia’s heart stopped.
There was no sign of Samuel in the path they took as they followed the tracks. At some point, they met a path, one that led to a harbor town—the very same port Nerian had mentioned when they had first found traces of activity. The town was large, though, and Alicia didn’t even know where they would start looking for Samuel, as they had long since lost his tracks, when they reached the part of the road that had seen too many travelers.
There was no way of knowing where he was. They would have to ask the locals and the travelers and hope that one of them had seen him, but also that they would be willing to talk. For all Alicia knew, many of them could be reluctant to give any information, either because they feared for their own safety or because they had been paid to keep quiet.
“We will split intae four groups,” said her father, the soldiers nodding along. “I will stay with me daughters.”
“Very well,” said Nerian. “Let us meet here in an hour if we dinnae find him.”
As Nerian turned around to give his men orders, Alicia turned to her father. “Faither, I need a moment.”
The entire ride, she had managed to ignore the need to relieve herself, but now it simply could not wait any longer. As her father parted his lips, surely to question her, she gave him a meaningful look, one that he had come to know ever since she was a child.
“Ach, alright,” he said, waving her off. “Take yer sisters with ye an’ meet me here.”
Grateful, Alicia quickly jumped off her horse along with Katherine and Emmeline, the three of them leaving their father to deal with the animals as they rushed through the small street, looking for a suitable place. When they finally found a secluded place, Alicia made her way as her sisters stayed nearby, rightaround the corner, relief washing through her now that the strain was gone.
Just as she came to stand once more, though, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, as if the very air had taken on a strange quality. Looking over her shoulder, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, and yet the feeling remained, urging her to meet back with her sisters as quickly as she could.
She took one step, then another. And then suddenly, a blinding pain exploded in her head, so savage and unbearable that she couldn’t even cry out, as though she had lost her voice. The world spun around her as if it had been unmoored, the solid earth becoming a void under her feet.
Within seconds, the darkness claimed her, pulling her into its depths.
