“The one off the kitchens,” he said. “We found her with Cook after we left the library.”
“I just left the kitchens,” Lorna said. Her stomach churned with all the dire possibilities.
“What is wrong, mistress?” Hesther asked in a trembling whisper.
They needed to know so they could be on their guard, but Lorna loathed alarming them. “Murdina escaped through the tunnels and Leckness is dead.”
Both children paled and cowered deeper into the stall.
“Come with me.” She urged them toward her. “Better that we stay together.”
They scrambled up out of the straw, grabbed her hands, and huddled close.
“Ye said we were safe,” Hesther softly accused her, tears streaming down her face.
“And I meant it,” Lorna said. “I will fight with everything in me to keep ye safe.” She pulled them both into a hug, then looked them in the eyes. “But we have to make sure Bella is safe too. How long has it been since she told ye she would join ye?”
“I dinna ken.” Frances shifted with a worried shrug. “We was busy playing with the kitties.”
“Then we have to find her.” Lorna held tightly to their hands, maneuvered around the brazier, then out of the stable. Once they cleared the obstacle, she ran as fast as she could without dragging the younglings off their feet.
As soon as they burst into the kitchen, she could tell word had spread fast. A kitchen maid startled and skittered to the side, and two others paused in their chopping of vegetables long enough to cross themselves and glance upward while mouthing silent prayers.
“Have ye seen Bella?” Lorna asked Cook as the woman ambled around a skinned carcass with a cleaver raised.
Cook resettled the kitchen weapon in her hand and pointed it at the narrow hallway beside the pantry. “Said after she visited the garderobe, she was headed for the stables to play with Mosie’s kittens with the rest of the bairns.” She squinted at the row of cloaks hanging on the pegs beside the kitchen’s outer door. “That there wrap on the end is hers. My Bella has more sense than to venture outside without it.”
“Stay here with Cook,” Lorna said to Hesther and Frances. She hurried down the hall and stood in front of the closed curtain that granted a bit of privacy to the individual using the wooden plank with a hole in it. “Bella? Are ye all right, lass? Ye have been in there a good while.”
No response came from the other side of the curtain.
Lorna ripped it open to find the garderobe empty. She stared at the space, panic and fury churning within her.
Heart pounding even harder, she hurried back to the kitchen. “She is not there. Ye heard nothing? No sound of scuffling or a cry?”
Cook slowly shook her head, then buried the meat cleaver into the carcass with a hard slam. “If that witch hurts our Bella…”
“I need to find Mrs. Thistlewick and see if maybe Bella got distracted and went to see her.” She squeezed Hesther’s and Frances’s shoulders. “Can they stay here with ye? I know they will be safe here.”
“Course they can.” Cook wiped her hands on her stained apron and waved them over. “None dare enter my kitchen lest I welcome them. Come over here, my wee ones.” When they failed to budge, the kindly soul gave them a wink and motioned for them again. “I need ye to sample the sweets for Yule to see if the recipe is just right, ye ken? ’Twould help me greatly.”
The two turned and eyed Lorna.
“Stay here, my brave ones,” she said. “I hope that Bella changed her mind and decided to help Mrs. Thistlewick in the apothecary.”
They both nodded and edged toward Cook, their faces shining with tears.
Cook shooed her onward. “Find our Bella so that we might all breathe easier.”
Lorna ran for the apothecary, but her steps slowed and her hopes fell. Mrs. Thistlewick stood in the center of the great hall, wringing her hands as she spoke with Gunn and Jasper. All three turned and stared at her as if sensing her dismay. Unable to speak, she shook her head and clutched her fists to her chest.
“What?” Gunn charged toward her, closing the distance between them in a few strides. He took hold of her shoulders and squeezed.
She felt his fears as deeply as her own. “I canna find Bella,” she whispered.
He didn’t speak. Didn’t blink. Just stared at her as though frozen in time.
Mrs. Thistlewick and Jasper joined them. “What now?” the housekeeper asked.
