Page 39 of Highland Jewel
“Ah, Lieutenant. I’d hoped it was you.”
“Indeed, ma’am. Hope I didn’t wake you.”
“Nay, nay. Not at all.” She gestured with the candle up the stairs. “A young lady’s come by looking for you.”
“A young lady?” Fiona and Maisie were meeting with their society. Still, it was late. “Did she give her name?”
“She’s up there now. She’s waiting for you. The poor lass looked quite poorly, so I thought it best to let her into your rooms to wait. I pray I did right, sir.”
It had to be Maisie. Things must have gone badly at home, he thought.
“My lad laid the fire earlier, and I offered to light it for her, but…”
Her words were lost as he climbed the steps three at the time. He threw the door open and went in. The place was dark and cold. Wind whistled in around the edges of the windows.
“Maisie?”
A movement from a chair by the unlit fireplace drew his eye. She slowly stood, and her legs wobbled as she started toward him.
He went to her. “What’s wrong? What are you doing here?”
She said nothing but threw herself into his arms. She was shivering. He held her in the dark. Her cheek was ice cold against his jaw. Niall gathered her closer. She clung to him, sobbing. He needed to start a fire and warm her.
Her family. It had to be. She must have talked to them about his proposal. He’d feared it might come to this.
“We’ll handle it. Whatever they said, we can make it all work out. The two of us have each other. That’s what matters most.”
She was trying to get her words out between the sobs. “They took her.”
Her voice was so weak that he didn’t hear her clearly. “They what?”
“They took her. I tried to fight them, but they took her.”
Even in the dim light, he could see her eyes were puffy and almost shut from crying. Her chin quivered. Her voice was strained and ragged.
“They took whom?” He feared what she would say next.
“Fiona.”
Niall’s entire body turned to ice. A loud hammer started banging away in his head, threatening to split itin two. No. He had his plans. This couldn’t be happening. They were moving.
He forced himself to be calm, but he couldn’t. He’d warned them about this. Both of them. He took hold of Maisie by the shoulders as he stared into her face, not wanting to believe what he’d just heard. Maybe it was all a mistake.
“My sister?”
“They were waiting for us outside of the Brewers’ Hall.”
“Who was waiting for you? Who?”
“Men. A carriage.”
“The transport wagon that we saw?”
“No, a carriage.” Fresh tears ran down her cheeks. Sobs continued to wrack her body. “I tried to stop them. I chased after them. They didn’t take me. They should have taken me. I asked Fiona to come tonight. I did this!”
Everything disappeared around him. He was in a broad, bloody field. A battle was raging about him. All he wanted to do was attack, go after the enemy, go into the marshes, kill or be killed. Nothing else mattered.
His sister. They had taken his sister.
