“Thank ye.” Raphael nodded, looking about, his eyes searching for either Keira or Joan.
Endeavoring to keep himself calm, although questioning why Keira wasn’t here, he finally spotted Joan among the guests. With a furrowed brow and a sense of urgency, he approached her, his voice laden with concern.
“Joan,” he implored, “have ye seen Keira?”
Joan met his gaze with a knowing look, a blend of understanding and reassurance in her eyes. “Keira retired to her chamber for a brief moment to gather her thoughts. She mentioned that she would rejoin us shortly.”
“When was this?” he demanded.
She glanced at the clock that hung on the wall. “Maybe an hour ago?” she replied, but he could tell that she wasn’t certain.
Relief washed over him upon hearing Joan’s words, and he nodded his thanks to her. “Thank ye, Joan.”
As he hurried towards Keira’s chamber, Raphael couldn’t shake the inexplicable sense of dread that had enveloped him. His heart raced, and a feeling of unease gnawed at him.
He couldn’t understand why he was so worried, but the mere thought that she might have run away or faced some perilous situation left him with a deep sense of apprehension.
Raphael reached the door to Keira’s chamber, his heart still heavy with concern but his rational mind attempting to soothe his irrational fears. He tried to reassure himself that he was being overly dramatic, that Keira was likely in her chamber, safe and sound, as Joan had mentioned.
He knocked on the door to Keira’s chamber. There was no response, and the silence on the other side of the door only deepened his worry. He knocked again, this time with more urgency, but still, there was no reply. His concern increased, and he couldn’t suppress the unease that gnawed at him.
His hand pushed the door to her chamber open, and as he stepped inside, the eerie stillness enveloped him. The room was dimly lit by the soft, flickering glow of candlelight, casting elongated shadows over the walls.
“Keira?” he called out, his voice echoing through the silence, laced with deep concern and a touch of urgency.
The room remained still, as if holding its breath. There was no reply, no sign of Keira’s presence.
His heart pounded in his chest as he moved further into the chamber, his gaze scanning every corner. The four-poster bed, adorned with elegant drapes, lay vacant. The writing desk was neatly arranged, with no sign of recent activity. The dim light seemed to accentuate the emptiness of the room.
As Raphael’s eyes continued to scan the chamber, he noticed that the chair positioned by the bed lay on the ground. Itspresence on the floor was a stark contrast to the otherwise tidy room. The sight only intensified his worry. Something was definitely amiss.
His gaze was drawn to the window, which was ajar. The cool night air flowed into the room, and the curtains billowed gently in the breeze.
The room’s eerie silence deepened, and Raphael’s concern turned into alarm as the enigmatic circumstances of Keira’s disappearance began to take on a more sinister dimension. It was clear that something had transpired.
His eyes widened as he noticed a piece of parchment pinned to the windowsill, fluttering slightly in the breeze. He approached it with a growing sense of dread.
As he read the words scrawled on the parchment, his heart sank. The man he had been looking for all these years had been here, in his castle. He had touched Keira, damn him.
Raphael swore to make every single guard pay as he read the message again.
Find your lass before the time runs out, it read,or she will meet a fate worse than death.
Raphael couldn’t stay calm anymore. He’d find the bastard, and he’d do what he should have done long ago. He’d kill him, andhe’d very much enjoy the sight of his blood. If only he could find where he took Keira.
Driven by an urgent need to act, Raphael rushed out of Keira’s chamber and sprinted back to the grand hall, where everyone was oblivious to the kidnapping that had just taken place. Raphael’s eyes scanned the room, searching for Dallas.
As he spotted the man amidst the guests, he approached him hastily, for there was no time to lose. He had already wasted enough time in not realizing that Keira had been gone for over an hour. He grabbed Dallas by the upper arm and leaned closer to him, making sure that no one could overhear them.
“We have a dire situation, Dallas,” he told him. “Come.”
Raphael and Dallas rushed outside into the castle’s gardens, where the cool night air met them with a refreshing breeze.
“Dallas,” Raphael said, his voice strained with worry, “I found Keira’s chamber in disarray. The window was open, and I found a message from Gresham pinned to the windowsill. He’ll harm her, just like he did to Eleanor. He’s the bloody curse on me lands.”
Dallas, his expression steely and determined, nodded in understanding. “We’ll search all of Scotland if we must, Raphael.”
“But he hasnae left a single clue.” Raphael sighed heavily, feeling the burden of the entire world resting on his shoulders.
