“I have to find her.”
“Ismay Drummond?” Molly asked.
Word hadn’t reached Gairlochy that Ismay was the famous child who slew the mighty chief MacDonald. If MacRae didn’t hurt her, someone else taking revenge would.
“He went to search fer her. Ye are to stay here and recover some. Please, Lochaber needs ye.”
Constantine gritted his teeth. Then, finally, shook his head. “I have to—Whowent to find her?”
“Och, Lochiel,” she admonished, finding her courage to place her hands on his shoulders to push him back down. “Ye were in such a poor state. We all thought we lost ye. But he….”
Constantine hated himself for passing out again.
Who in blazes went to find his wife?
“Ismay,” his voice echoed in the darkest chamber of his heart.Where are ye, my love. Please…“Come back to me.”
The silence of his dream drove him mad until—he opened his eyes. Golden firelight softened the blare of his solemn wakefulness. Outside the window, moonlight shone into the room.
Ismay.
He felt someone’s presence and looked into the shadowed corner. He put his hand to his side, where he usually carried his dirk. It wasn’t there. “Step forward,” he commanded like a king from his bed.
A man stepped into thecandlelight.
When Constantine saw his steward, confusion fogged his sleepy thoughts. All but one. “Did ye find her?”
Hugh shook his head. “Not yet.”
“How hard are ye lookin’?”
His steward came closer and pulled a chair with him. “I am only able to travel as far as it takes to be able to return here to ye at night and make certain ye live.”
“Dinna worry over me, Hugh!” Constantine couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Didn’t Hugh dislike him? “Go and find her. We are losing her trail by letting time pass by while we do nothin’!”
He swung his legs off the bed and ignoring a wave of dizziness, stood to his feet. “I will find her myself.”
“Lochiel—”
“What is it with ye, hmm, Hugh? What were ye doin’ in that house the night Ismay escaped with her life from the nearby barn? If ye were innocent, why did ye run?”
Hugh frowned at what he was hearing. “I left the study after an argument with the man at the desk. I didna even see ye until I spotted ye and Ismay on the road. I knew she was safe, so I left.”
“What were ye doin’ there?”
Hugh squirmed in the chair and looked up at the rafters. “Lochiel…the owner of that house is my uncle, Padrig MacDonald.”
“Why does that cause ye such affliction?” Constantine asked him.
His steward sighed and continued. “He wanted me to bring her to him, so I did. But then…I regretted my decision. I was trying to talk him out of his plans, but he wouldna listen. That’s when ye showed up.”
“What were his plans?”
“To kill her. Stone her at dawnas she should have been stoned the first time, to be precise.”
Constantine stopped wrapping his plaid around himself. His heart stopped. He was sure of it. His thoughts faded. They knew. TheMacDonalds knew who she was. He stared at Hugh wanting to kill him. “I should have killed him,” he said of Hugh’s uncle Padrig.
“Aye, ye should have.”
