Page 51 of The Anguish of the Scottish Lairds
Eva began to cry, and Sloan appeared next to her, climbing up off the floor and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Stop yelling at Eva,” he barked at Maitland. “She saved three bairns.”
Then Dyna said, “Stop your shouting, Menzie. She saved one of my daughters. She didn’t do anything wrong. And right now, she’s the only clue we have to what happened.” Dyna had a tight hold on Sylvi who had her head on her mother’s shoulder, tears running down her cheeks.
Maitland said, “Forgive me. I know. I’m sorry, Eva. I just … I cannot bear …”
Then Maitland’s head fell back, and he let out the most haunting moan Eva had ever heard.
Four bairns were gone. And so was his wife.
Dyna said, “Da, go to the gates and see what they know. Broc, you and Logan, check the cellars. Derric, you and Maitland search all the chambers above stairs. Alasdair and Alaric, go to the men on the wall and find out what they have to say. How did the attackers get in? Where did they go? Then meet back here. We’ll find them. Everyone else, stay here!”
Magni ran over to Thane and hugged him. Then Thane and Tamsin approached Eva, Tamsin hugging her. “My thanks for saving Alana.” Her face was covered in tears. “My word, poor Dyna and Maitland.”
Thane thanked her, then said, “You leaving or staying, Sloan?”
He looked at Eva who shook her head. “Not yet. Please.”
Lennox and Meg joined them. “Eva, you are hale?”
“I’m fine. Just shook up. But please don’t make me leave yet, Lennox. I think one of them was the same man. The man who attacked me.”
Sloan had to keep his hand from turning into a fist. “Why would you say that?”
“The stench. When I rushed past one of the men, he smelled the same. Disgusting. It’s a verra distinctive odor. I can’t leave yet. Please.”
Sloan said, “I think we should stay and find out exactly what happened. Come sit by the hearth and get warm. See what the others say when they return. There could be men still outside, Lennox. I wouldn’t take your leave yet.”
Eva grabbed Sloan’s hand, never wanting to let go. He found her a chair, set it near the hearth among the others, then settled a fur on her lap. He kneeled in front of her and said, “Look, Eva. You are possibly the only one who saw them. Everyone elseseems to have passed out. Try to remember everything you can about the men. Forget the one bastard, think of the other five. Recall everything you can, how tall they were, color of their hair. Their boots. Anything could help us find them.”
Logan came over and sat down near her, still wobbly in the legs. “Alaric said all the men on the wall passed out. It was some brew, possibly the wine we were given. Did you drink it, Eva?”
“Nay, I gave mine to Tamsin. I didn’t want it.”
“Well done, lass. You are the only one who could help us. Think of anything at all about them. Was there anything different about the masked men? Their clothing, their boots, their weapons. Anything unusual?”
She thought hard, then said, “Aye, one thing. I don’t know if it matters, but I do recall something.”
“What?”
“Their boots. They were all wet.”
Logan grinned and said, “Well done.”
“What does it mean?”
Sloan squeezed her hand. “They came by boat. They must have come in through the cellars. We’ll go look. Is there a doorway in the cellars to the outside? Through the curtain wall?”
Logan answered, “Not that we’re aware of, but we need to do a more thorough search. This wouldn’t be the first castle with a hidden tunnel to the outside.”
While the men headed down to the cellars to search for any clues, Eva couldn’t get one thing from her mind.
One of the kidnappers was the same bastard who tried to rape her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Maeve
Maeve grabbed onto her dearest son so tightly that he finally squeezed against her until she let up her grip. The men shoved her through a door in the cellars into a damp, dark tunnel, no one speaking. “Leave us be. Maitland! Maitland, help us. Wake up, please!”
