Page 19 of The Highlander's Captured Bride
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Enraptured by Mister MacFerson’s story, Violet barely saw her father and Laird MacFerson enter the main hall. The two men were speaking to each other lowly enough that she could not hear what they were saying. Her eyes flicked to Mister MacFerson, then briefly to Ethan, whose eyes were fixed on his trencher as if it was a map to a goldmine.
Her brows knitted in confusion, before she spun back to Mister MacFerson’s story. He had gotten to the part where he had arrived in Galilee, but her attention was split down the middle.
What is bothering Ethan so much? Is he changing his mind about going to the next town with me?
The Laird heaved himself into a chair and called loudly for his hot meal. Luckily, her father sat near her and she said, “Pardon me, Mister MacFerson.” She leaned over to kiss her father on his cheek. “Good mornin’, Faither.”
He turned tired eyes on her but still smiled. “Bright and early like the morning star, ye are.”
“Are ye well? Did ye sleep at all?” she asked concernedly.
“Somewhat,” he murmured while rubbing his eyes. “We spoke to the healers yesterday about the sleeping draught and nay one owned up to giving Master MacFerson the brew. Someone suggested that there is a lady in the village who was a past castle healer. She might be the one who gave the potion to him. Laird MacFerson and I went to the village to find this woman, but was told she had died.”
A servant came to place a platter of food and a goblet before him and he paused to thank her. “To complicate the matter even more, we were told the woman had a daughter who she could have past the secret off to. We had to go to the settlement past the village through a hilly pass to look for this supposed woman…” Violet felt a chill of fear run down her spine that someone might have mentioned seeing Ethan and aladthere to her father and the Laird, “…only to find out that this supposed daughter had moved away as well. I ken we’re chasing ghosts, so we’re back to digging.”
She looked over to Ethan, whose head was up and looking at her father with interest. “Did ye get a description of this woman’s daughter?” he asked.
“Eh,” her father paused in eating, “Brown hair, light blues eyes, a scar on her forehead.”
Her eyes flew open; that was the same description of the woman the soldiers said had lured Ethan’s brother away. “Faither…” she looked at Ethan for confirmation, “Ye dae ken that is the same description of the woman of the tavern girl that took Master MacFerson away.”
“We realized,” Laird MacFerson grunted dispassionately. “It would make perfect sense to use one bird to kill two stones.”
“It’s one stone to kill two birds,” Mister MacFerson corrected his sibling with narrowed eyes. “Are ye drunk, brother?”
“I may have had a drink or two,” the Laird muttered while digging into his food, his eyes red and puffy. It was clear the man had been crying. “What’s it to ye?”
“In this time of tribulation, the people need a leader with a good head on his shoulders,” Mister MacFerson said tersely. “Dae ye ken that sinking to the bottom of a bottle would help that?”
Laird MacFerson exploded. His beefy hands slammed down on the table, rattling every trencher and cup before he roared, “I just lost me son! The boy that I loved from the day he was born, the one who was going to follow me footsteps! His maither is so heartbroken, she doesnae dae anything but sleep and when she wakes, she cries. A murderer is running around me land and we havenae caught him so I can give me wife some measure of peace that we’ve done right by Finley. Can ye get off yer goddamned high horse for one blasted moment and be mebrotherinstead of mejudge, Callum!”
Pain and agony laced every word the man said, and the hall had dropped to an eerie quiet with his bellowed tirade. Ethan’s face was grim and pale and her father’s expression was rigid. The tension was so thick that she could have used a table knife to cut it. Pushing from the table, Balgair strode out of the room and his brother ran after him.
Her father sighed heavily and turned his gaze to Ethan, “Mister MacFerson, is there is anywhere ye can take Violet away from here today?”
“We can go riding again,” Ethan said evenly. “There is a lot more in the countryside that we can explore.”
Nodding in appreciation, her father added, “Please.”
Her appetite had vanished from her stomach and she stood. “Are ye ready to go now?”
“Aye,” he said. “Let me get some food from the kitchens first before we go, we might be hungry on the way,” he said, leaning his head to the kitchen’s door. “Get dressed and I will meet ye at the stables.”
Nodding, she headed off to her room with the newest revelations about this blue-eyed woman circulating in her head like carriage wheels. They had to find this woman. If she was both the lure and the one who had made the sleeping potion, she was the only one who could tell them who had killed Finley. No wonder she was in hiding.
She slipped her dagger into her boot and then hurried to the stables. If the next village was as far as Ethan had said, they would have to ride hard. Thank God she had carried the set of breeches. She entered the musty room to find Ethan securing a saddle on a horse with a flinty face. He stood and she grimaced at the pain edged in his face.
“Ethan…” She came closer, “…tell me what’s wrong.”
He faced away and tugged the pommel to make sure the saddle was straight and his mouth was a thin line. She dared to rest her hand on his shoulder and tug him towards her. “Ethan, please look at me.”
“I hate it when this happens,” his words were tight and clenched. “I hate it when me uncle and father fight. It never ends well. Either me uncle disappears for a while, sometimes a week or even a year, or me faither becomes a slab of stone. When they dae work together, it’s the best, but when they fight it feels like…” He cut off his words with a tight look and a shake of his head. “…. it feels like me family is falling apart. Me maither is already ill and now…”
His hands dropped to his side and then clenched to fists. His body was a tense rod of steel and the cords of his neck were standing out. Then, like a swift breeze shifting a tree form east to west, Ethan’s body folded into itself and he shot out a hand to grab on her nearest wall.
She slid her hand from his shoulder up to his face and to his eyes that were bracketed by tight lines. He was worried, and it showed. “Ethan, I ken ye are worried, but we can ease his pain by daeing our part and finding this woman. I ken it’s hard and I wish I could dae more, but this is the best we can dae now.”
