They had survived an uneasy peace for years, and Magnus knew why Kenneth was suggesting such a thing, but he would much prefer to have visited the man and made peace rather than shoring up the defenses on their borders.
He looked up as someone shouted from the courtyard.
Kenneth’s hand was on his sword in an instant. “What was that?”
They both charged out of the room, swords drawn, and Magnus raced down the steps of the castle to find several confused-looking servants staring at something in the distance.
He squinted at it. It looked like a cloaked figure atop a horse galloping at full speed. He and Kenneth exchanged a confused look as they waited for it to get closer.
As soon as the rider was within sight, Magnus cursed wildly, sprinting forward to greet them.
“Katie!” he shouted, running at full pelt over the bridge as the horse Katie was riding came to a sudden halt and she all but fell off its back.
“You must help her! Laird MacWatt, you must help her. He’s taken her—you must go to her.”
Magnus felt a leaden weight in his heart as Katie fell into his arms. She had a nasty cut on her cheek that was bleeding and mottled with a violent black bruise.
“Catch yer breath,” he urged, injecting as much calm into his voice as he could. “Who has her?”
He knew she could only mean Leah. The image of Elizabeth’s crumpled body flashed in his mind, and he felt bile rise in his throat.
“He was one of the workmen. He took us to the back of the castle, but he hit me, and then he took Leah! You have to go after him. It took me an age to get here. I don’t know where he is taking her or where they have gone.”
Magnus turned at the sound of thundering horses’ hooves. Kenneth had mounted his own horse already, riding at a gallop toward them, bringing Magnus’s mount with him.
Magnus turned back to Katie, taking her by the shoulders so that she looked up at him. “Are ye hurt, lass?” he asked.
“No. No, I’m alright. Just get Leah back!” she wailed.
“We will. Go to Betty, get that cut seen to. We’ll find her.”
And I’ll kill whoever has taken me wife.
Without a word, he mounted his horse, and he and Kenneth rode at full speed toward Leah’s castle.
Magnus had never felt so helpless in his life. Katie’s wild eyes had told him everything he needed to know. Whoever had taken Leah must be the same person who’d taken Elizabeth.
God kens what they would do to her.
He watched Kenneth spur his horse forward, his shoulders tight and almost flat against the beast’s neck. The horses were tired by the time the castle came into view, and Magnus looked around the surrounding lands, cursing the trees that obscured their view.
“Where?” he shouted over the pounding of the horses’ hooves. “Where would he have taken her?”
“I cannae say, M’Laird. Three clans are close by, but all across the water—he will have to get her to a boat to take her anywhere. We have time.”
Magnus was not so sure. Katie had taken some time to reach them, what if they were too late?
They galloped through the courtyard, scattering the servants in their wake, and headed straight to the back of the gardens where Katie had said the culprit had taken Leah.
Kenneth was an excellent hunter and promptly spotted the footprints leading toward the water’s edge. It looked as though there had been a scuffle, and Magnus roared in rage as he saw the pin from Leah’s hair lying on the ground beneath them.
“Where have they gone?” he shouted.
“There!” Kenneth pointed. “It can only be this way—follow me.”
His horse reared as he kicked its flanks, and they both cantered around the edge of the castle.
As they passed the high walls, Kenneth’s gaze was focused on the ground. He turned his horse in a circle, analyzing something with interest, and then his eyes went wide and he looked up.
