Page 68 of The Cruel Highlander's Healer
And while Marissa did her best to keep up, Conall and Eliot were faster than she was. And she didn’t know the castle like they did.
So as they sprinted, she fell behind, disappearing entirely when they rounded a corner.
“What’s goin’ on, Conall?” Eliot asked as they ran, arms pumping as the two sprinted as hard as they could.
“I think it was Alistair,” Conall explained, his lungs burning as he tried to push his limbs to move faster.
But they’d been near the front of the castle, and the stables were toward the back. It made sense that Marissa saw them riding out, her room faced the South side of the castle, not far from the stables.
Alistair must have gone there the moment he’d left Conall’s office. But why?
“Ye think it was Alistair that what?” Eliot asked, breaking Conall’s spiraling thoughts.
“That poisoned the lake. That made all our people sick.”
“But why?”
Conall just shook his head, not wanting to respond as he focused all his might on making it through this castle and out to the stable beyond.
He just had to pray he didn’t get there too late.
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
The clopping of hooves was the first sound that Eliza noticed. The second was the jostling of her body to and fro.
She groaned, the sound tugging from so primal place within her. A body was behind her on the horse, their arms on either side of her as they held her firmly in the saddle while gripping the reins. Whoever they were, Eliza could feel the warmth radiating off of them.
Where am I? Why am I on a horse?
Was it Conall behind her? Were they riding back from town, and she nodded off?
Her eyes began to peel themselves open, but her vision was blurred. The night was also quickly descending, the sky above them a dark, fierce purple as the sun-streaked its final lament of the day across the sky. It made it harder for her to make out any of her surroundings.
“Stop all that groanin’ and movin’,” a voice growled from behind her.
It was terrible and familiar, and the jolt of fear cleared her sentences, the memories of moments before her world went dark rushing up to greet her.
Alistair meeting her at her door, claiming there was an injured foal. The stable. The rag pressed over her mouth.
“Where are ye takin’ me?” she asked, fear hiking the tone of her voice.
“That’s nae yer business,” he growled again.
Eliza didn’t argue. Instead, she started moving her body with the shifting of the horse, matching it stride for stride. Tightening her core, she pulled her body away from Alistair’s.
Then, she struck. Immediately, she flung her body to the right, trying as hard as she could to break through his grip on the reins.
But she failed.
All she served to do was to spook the horse, who whinnied and kicked out its hind legs as it trotted.
“Knock it off!”
Alistair yanked on the reins, his arms flexing as they held her in place while they worked to get the horse under control.
Alright, so that willnae work. I’ll just have to figure somethin’ else out.
Slowly, the horse settled, its whinnying no longer filling the night air. And they were trotting away once more.
