She bowed, shaking. “Forgive me, but Mairi sent me. One of the small knifes is gone. The one she keeps for trimming herbs.”
Maxwell frowned. “A misplaced kitchen blade is nay danger.”
“It… wasn’t misplaced,” the girl whispered. “It was on the rack an hour ago. And now it’s gone.”
“She’s certain?” Finley asked.
“Aye, sir. She never misplaces her things.”
Maxwell exchanged a look with Finley.
“A small knife isnae a threat,” Finley muttered, “but someone sneaking through kitchens is.”
Maxwell dismissed the girl with a nod, then turned to Finley. “Tell Torcall to increase the patrols around storerooms and lower corridors.”
“Aye.”
They resumed walking.
Before five steps passed, another voice called out: “Laird!”
A young messenger jogged toward them, cheeks red, scroll in hand.
Maxwell took it, scanning the brief note.
Finley waited. “What now.”
Maxwell folded the parchment tightly. “A rumor. O’Douglas hired mercenaries last winter. Eastern men. Paid in silver.”
Finley let out a low whistle. “Mercenaries daenae stay hired long unless the coin keeps coming.”
“Aye.”
“And if he’s spending coin,” Finley murmured, “he’s planning something.”
Maxwell tucked the scroll into his belt. “Spread the word quietly. Our men keep their eyes open. No unfamiliar faces wander the crowd once they arrive.”
Finley nodded. “Aye. And the missing knife?—?”
“Assume it was taken. Nae misplaced.”
Finley grinned humorlessly. “I love when ye’re paranoid. Means I am nae alone in it.”
Maxwell didn’t answer.
But as they walked together through the keep, his eyes searched every corner, every shadow, every alcove, every path an intruder might slip through.
He felt it now more than ever. The O’Douglas visit wasn’t diplomacy. It was reconnaissance. And the wolves had already begun sniffing.
A rider thundered into the yard, leaping from his horse and bowing. “Laird! Balnoran has arrived with twenty riders.”
“Good. Put them near the south range and reinforce the stables. Tell their captain I’ll speak with him after midday meal.”
“Yes, Laird!”
Maxwell strode toward the inner keep, stopping briefly as he spotted Torcall, his second-in-command.
“Report.”
