Page 86 of Trapped with the Vicious Highlander
How had this happened just a day after she’d left the castle? Was this fate telling her something? Was she right to come back? Would Margaret still have been taken if she had never left?
Thoughts bounced around in her mind as she studied the few lairds and councilmen seated around the giant table in the middle of the hall.
“I am certain he’ll find her,” one of the councilmen said to her.
Ava gave him a brief nod, but something about the way he stared at her didn’t sit well with her. He looked kind on the surface, but it was rather uncanny, and she couldn’t help but feel a sinking dread in her stomach.
She turned around and headed to Flora, who was seated in the corner, lost in thought and worry. She knew there was nothing she could say to ease her fears. She’d been blaming herself for the entire thing since Brodrick and Darach left at noon to find Margaret.
So, she decided to change the topic and speak about something completely different.
“The man sitting at the table. The one with the grey hair. Who is he?” she asked, slightly nodding her head in his direction.
He was out of earshot, but she lowered her voice anyway.
Flora followed her gesture. “That’s Blake Mason. He was our faither’s man-at-arms. He’s one of the councilmen. Why?”
Ava shrugged. “Something about him rubs me the wrong way. I just can’t place my finger on it.”
As Flora opened her mouth to respond, a sharp voice rang out across the hall. “They’re here! They’re here!”
Flora rose to her feet, and Ava turned around. The head of every other person in the hall turned to the entrance, and soon enough, Brodrick walked in, carrying Margaret in his arms.
Ava heaved a sigh of relief, while Flora ran towards them.
The reunion was sweet, with Flora wrapping her arms tightly around the little girl, who couldn’t help but smile once she saw Ava.
“Ye came back.”
“Well, I had to, didn’t I?”
Margaret laughed as Brodrick lowered her to her feet. She ran towards Ava and wrapped her into a giant hug.
They remained in that position for a while, grateful to the Almighty for bringing them back to each other. It became rather soothing. So soothing that when the gunshot rang out, shock shot through Ava, rooting her to the spot.
Another gunshot rang out, this one right behind her.
She saw it—Brodrick’s shocked face, Flora reaching for her at the very last minute, and Darach pulling out his sword.
But it was too late.
Before she could blink, she felt an arm around her neck, and what she assumed to be the nozzle of the gun she had just heard on her waist.
“I have watched this utter madness go on for long enough!” a male voice hissed in her ear.
That voice. She’d heard that voice moments ago.
Her eyes darted to the large table, where the councilman she had been suspicious of sat earlier. It was empty.
And then realization dawned on her.
“Blake. What the devil do ye think ye’re doin’?” Brodrick growled, taking a step closer.
The smell of ale and stale breath filled Ava’s lungs as she clawed at the arm around her neck.
“Stop fussin’, lass, or I’ll stab ye with the knife!” Blake warned, pressing a dagger into the small of her back.
“Blake—”
