Page 46 of Highlander of Steel
Killian sat back in his chair and took a moment to gather himself before he lost his temper. Indeed, he just needed to think for a second before he began to worry.
“If nay one has seen her, then she must be in the castle somewhere,” he said evenly. “Has anyone checked the dungeons?”
The maid shrugged. “I daenae ken, me Laird. Paisley just told me to come and tell ye that yer bride is missin’.”
Unease coiled in Killian’s empty stomach. If Paisley was the one who had insisted on him being alerted to Ailis’s absence, then that was rather serious. The healer wouldn’t disturb him for nothing.
“Thank ye for tellin’ me.”
He pushed back his chair and took off, uncertain of how much time had passed between Ailis ‘needing a moment’ and being told that she was missing.
He went to the barracks first, waking everyone with his booming roar. As the startled soldiers rubbed their eyes and reached for their weapons, no doubt thinking that another battle was afoot, Killian instructed them to search the castle high and low for his missing bride. Although he didn’t use such affectionate words; they wouldn’t search as well if he had.
“Find the captive,” he commanded. “I want her in me study before dawn. There’ll be a reward for the man who finds her.”
At that, the soldiers jumped up and dressed quickly, eager to win their new Laird’s favor.
Meanwhile, Killian ran to the stables, put a halter and a fleece on his stallion, and rode out bareback. There was no time for saddling the beast if Ailis was out there in the dark, where Ainsley’s men might still be lurking in the trees, keeping watch on the castle.
I willnae lose her to ye. Ye cannae have what’s mine.
At the gates, he brought Beithir to a halt and shouted up to the towers that flanked the portcullis, “Have ye seen the lass?”
The guards looked down, sheepish looks on their faces.
“McBain thinks he saw someone,” one answered. “Nae more than an hour ago.”
Anger spiked in Killian’s chest. “Ye saw someone leave and ye didnae think to stop ‘em or ask what they were doin’?”
“Apologies, me Laird,” the guard said.
“Aye, well, ye’ll need more than an apology after this, if I find that she’s out there,” Killian snarled. “I want ye to search everywhere. If she’snaefound, it’ll be yer heads.”
He clicked his tongue and tore through the gates, cursing the guards for their laziness. If it had been the other way around and an Ainsley soldier had sneaked throughthe gates, it could have cost lives. There would be severe punishment; they could count on that. But first, he needed to find his bride.
If it were her who came through the gates, where would she go?
He thought of the river and the platform that took people back and forth. Surely, she wouldn’t be able to pull it by herself if she had decided to return to Castle Ainsley.
Instead of heading directly for that crossing point, something made Killian turn toward the coast and the cliffs.
He had to be thorough. If he got it wrong, he knew he might lose her in a thousand possible ways. Yes, the crossing seemed like the most likely place he would find her, but what if she had gone into the woods to see if Murdock was still there?
What if she had gone to seek news of her niece? What if she had gone to offer herself as a sacrificial lamb, after coming to realize that the wedding might not lead to even a shred of peace after all?
She wouldnae do that without speakin’ to me first, would she?
He had so many plans running at once, and if she went back to her family home, they would all fall apart. Surely, she would do him the courtesy of letting him know that it was all for nothing?
He rode through the woodland at a slow pace, his keen eyes squinting into the gloom to see if there were any clues.
If only the creatures and the trees could talk, then his search would be far simpler. But the oaks and alders and rowans, andthe badgers and hedgehogs and owls, held onto their secrets as they watched him pass by.
However, when moonlight pooled over a footprint around the size of a woman’s foot, and fresh too, his heart lurched. He was on the right track. She had come through this way.
There were more footprints ahead, cutting a clumsy line through the forest, straight toward the cliffs.
Killian squeezed his thighs and urged Beithir into a faster lope, man and horse arriving at that lip of jagged rock a few minutes later.
