Page 148 of Bride of Ice
She flinched in surprise, not by what she saw, but by what shedidn’tsee. Where was he? Where was Archie?
She narrowed her eyes at something else leading off into the trees. Bloody tracks. The paw prints of wolves.
Hallie gulped. Had wolves attacked Archie?
It wasn’t like them to come out in the middle of the day. But Archie had been bleeding. And he’d smeared himself with that disgusting wool grease. The hungry winter wolves could have mistaken him for a wounded sheep. They might have killed him in a blind frenzy.
She scanned the trees. No yellow eyes peered from the woods. The wolves had retreated. Yet there were no signs they had dragged the body away with them.
Then her eye caught on something familiar by the side of the path. Her dagger. It was thrust into a patch of freshly dug earth that had been hastily disguised by leaves and covered by a great rock.
Her breath caught. It was a fresh grave.
Hunkering down, she reclaimed her dagger, wiping the soil from the blade with her sleeve.
He’d done it. Colban had done it.
The truth sent a shiver of relief and gratitude through her. Colban had kept his word. The champion had saved her little brother from a monster. He’d rescued her from an unbearable marriage.
But at what cost?
Now Colban was a murderer.
He didn’t dare return.
She choked back the hard lump in her throat and sheathed her dagger.
Thiswas why she never clung to hope. No sooner did it take root in one’s breast than savage fate showed up to pluck it out by those roots.
She decided to break the news quietly to Ian first. There would be time later, after Colban had an ample few hours to flee to safety, to tell the rest of the clan.
Upon her return to Rivenloch, she hunkered down beside him at the hearth, dismissing the maidservants to speak with him alone. Gently, while the fire softly crackled, she told him Archie was dead, that Colban had buried him in the forest.
She expected Ian to burst into tears or explode with rage.
He did neither. Instead, he nodded his head. “Where’s Colban?”
“Gone.”
“You have to find him.”
“Listen, Ian.” She had to explain everything to him quickly. Curb his appetite for vengeance before it had the chance to grow out of control. “We need to let him go. Colban shouldn’t be punished for Archie’s death. ’Twasn’t his fault.”
“I know.”
“He was only trying to protect you.”
“I know.”
“If anyone is to blame, ’tis me,” she reasoned. “I was the one who wounded Archie. And I did it because I was concerned for your welfare.”
“I know.”
“What do you mean, you know?” she asked.
He shrugged. “’Tis the only rational explanation. I don’t know what Archie did. But if Colban the champion and my sister the laird think he did something bad, then logic dictates he did something bad.”
Hallie blinked. Ian might be young in age and innocent by nature, but he was wise beyond his years. “How can you be so sure?”
