“I do not care!” Julian spat, spraying blood onto Donnell. “Wait for him! Kill him!”
“If we kill him, then we will never know where your wife went if our only source of information is dead.”
Julian growled and grumbled, cursing Gart and de Lohr yet again. The surgeon had him open his mouth one last time to pack in some rags to stop the bleeding but Julian didn’t care. He yanked himself away from the surgeon and his soldiers, exhausted and bleeding as he paced the wood floor of his lavish apartment. He was imbalanced even on a good day, now made worse with the beating he had received at the hands of de Lohr. The madness was growing.
“He has her,” he grumbled. “He must. He is the only one who would take her. Emberley would not simply run away and take the children with her.”
“Are you so sure, m’lord?”
Julian took the question as a challenge and puffed himself up. “You were at Dunster,” he hissed. “You saw what Forbes did.”
Donnell thought back to that night when there had been a scuffle on the walls of Dunster between Julian and Gart Forbes. He had come in on the tail end of it when men were trying to pull Forbes off of Julian. It had been a chaotic and loud scene with Lady de Moyon weeping in the middle of it. That was all he had witnessed but he had heard several versions of the story well into the night.
“I did not see it, m’lord,” he said honestly. “I heard tale.”
That didn’t seem to deter Julian. “Then if you heard tale, you know that Gart could be the only one responsible for her disappearance. He seduced her and took her away from me.”
“But I did not see Gart Forbes at Dunster when I arrived, m’lord,” Donnell said. “He was not there but de Lohr’s other knight was. I recognized him.”
Julian was preparing to rant again but he suddenly stopped and an odd gleam came to his eye. He held up a finger as if a brilliant thought had just occurred to him.
“Perhaps…,” he appeared oddly calm, thoughtful. “Perhaps I have accused the wrong knight. You said that you saw my wife at Dunster when you arrived but the next morning, she was missing.”
“Aye, m’lord.”
“And that knight you recognized was missing also.”
“Aye, m’lord. They were all gone, including your children.”
Julian threw up his hands. “Then we have focused on the wrong man. That knight took my wife! We want that man!”
“Wanthim, m’lord?”
“Aye!” Julian was nodding vehemently. “We must capture him and force him to tell us where my wife is.”
Donnell could see the logic but cornering the knight would not be a simple thing. They had already tried to commandeer Gart Forbes and the situation had gone against them.
“M’lord, if I can make a suggestion,” he said. “We failed to capture Forbes and I do not believe it would be wise to try and capture another of de Lohr’s men. They are already on their guard. It will be another vicious battle and one we very well may lose. You know how powerful de Lohr is.”
Julian was only focused on capturing de Lara. He waved his arms around. “Then what do you suggest? Out with it!”
Donnell put up a hand to ease him so he wouldn’t fly out of control. Julian flew out of control quite easily.
“We should find out about the man,” he recommended. “Ask around to see if anyone knows him. De Lohr has allies, men that we know and men that are also allied with you. Perhaps other knights know of this man and where he is from.”
Julian liked the idea. His dark face lit up. “Of course,” he agreed. “Find out what you can about the man. Perhaps he has a home. Perhaps he has kidnapped my wife and taken her there.”
“It is as good a start as any, my lord.”
Julian was less agitated now that a plan was set, one he considered cunning and true. He would outsmart de Lohr and his arrogant brother. He would win.
“Go, then,” he told Donnell. “I will leave this up to you. Decide whom you wish to speak with and take no chances. They must not know our motives.”
“Aye, m’lord.”
Julian watched Donnell quit the room, feeling a great deal of comfort and happiness at the scheme. Forbes was no longer a suspect but this new knight was. He would track down where this man had taken his wife.
There was no telling what he would do to Emberley once he found her.
