Page 93 of The Fighter who Needed Me
Smiling, she got up from the bed and pulled Brooks’ large shirt over her head.
They slept naked each night. She had learned long ago that it was easier than having Brooks rip her nightgowns off her anyway.
She used the chamber pot and when she looked to see if they had any wood stored in the house, there was only a small amount.
She opened the door and turned to get some out of the large pile they had stored, when someone grabbed her from behind and shoved a cloth over her mouth, the smell that came from it was one she had smelt many times before.
Screaming into the cloth did no good and soon everything went black.
* * *
Brooks stretched in bed, reaching for his wife. Her side of the bed was cold, and he sat up, looking around.
“Persephone? Love?” He called out, but she did not answer.
He got out of bed and grabbed his breeches from the floor and tugged them on.
He was not worried. She often went outside to watch the sun rise. He went out to see if she was sitting outside like she normally did.
But the chair she usually occupied in the mornings was empty.
“Persephone? Love? Where are you?”
This was not like her at all. He started to panic, but she must have gone somewhere.
Maybe she went to see Rhia. It was early in the morning still, but not unheard of.
As Rhia grew closer to the baby coming, Persephone went more often, and she loved that Rhia had become like a sister to her.
Grabbing his boots, he pulled them on, and donned a shirt. Then he walked quickly to the manor house.
Knocking on the door, Aidan’s butler opened it. “I apologize for coming so early this morning, but I wondered if you have seen my wife?”
The man’s eyebrows drew together, “No sir. She has not been by this morning. Is something wrong?”
Brooks shook his head, panic now setting in.
He went to turn from the house when Aidan came down the stairs. He looked like he had been awake for some time, and when he saw him, he said, “Brooks, is everything all right?”
Brooks shook his head, “No. I can’t find Persephone anywhere. Have you seen her? Or has Rhia seen her?”
Aidan’s eyebrows drew together, “Rhia is still asleep Brooks. Neither of us has seen her. I do not understand though. What do you mean she is missing?”
Brooks ran a hand over his hair. “I woke up this morning and she was gone. Normally if she isn’t in bed, then she is out watching the sun rise. But she was not there. I had to check here to be safe. But she is not here either. Aidan, I don’t know what to do.”
Aidan shook his head, “Let me wake Rhia and we will meet you at the cottage.”
Brooks turned and left, the panic that had been sitting just under the surface now clawing its way up his chest.
He ran to their cottage and when he walked up to the door, a log caught his eye.
He was normally very good about leaving them stocked against the wall of the cabin, but this log was close to the door on the ground.
It was just one single log, and it seemed strange that it was alone. If they had collapsed, there would have been more.
He went stock still and turned, looking around, when he saw something white catch his eye across the muddy stretch of land in front of the cottage.
He walked over to it quickly and picked it up. It was a handkerchief.
