“Go to the lady’s chambers,” he ordered one of the guards. “Awaken her and tell her that her family are here to see her. Now, go!”
The guard hurried off, and Kiernan watched after him until he vanished out of sight. He could feel a creeping uncertainty at the back of his neck, as though his instincts were warning him that there was something amiss.
A heavy silence filled the hall as they all waited for the guard to return. Kiernan thought of trying to make conversation with Arran, but he could tell from the man’s stoic silence that he hardly considered this a social visit. He doubted that it had been his idea to come to this place at all, more than he was reluctant to allow his wife to go alone.
Soon, the guard re-emerged into the hall, slightly out of breath, his face flushed from the exertion. Kiernan peered behind him, expecting to see Mary following close, but, to his surprise, she was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is?—”
“She’s no’ in her rooms, my Laird,” the guard panted, and Kieran’s heart slammed into his ribs. Not in her room? Then where could she be?
“Where is she, Kiernan?” Arran snarled at him, his eyes narrowing to a furious slit as he glared at the other man. Kiernan raised his hand, trying to soothe the situation before it spun out of control.
“I’m sure she’ll just be down in the garden by now,” he replied, doing his best to keep his voice steady. “Dinnae fret. I’ll find her.”
He made his way to the door, moving as quickly as he could without making it look to them as though he was in any rush. Why would Mary have left her chambers so early? She had scarcely emerged from them at all over the previous few days, perhaps only to pass on this letter to a messenger that had drawn Amelia to come here and check on her sister. He’d had no idea that Mary had been writing to her sister, and he wished he could see what was contained in those notes, what exactly she had said about him that had driven her sister to come rushing so quickly to her aid.
Once he reached the gardens, an eerie silence settled around him. He called out her name, praying that he would hear her reply to him.
“Mary?”
Nothing. He made his way down the path, picking his way across the fallen leaves and towards the pond he had often seen her retreat to. Had she known, when she had come here, that he was watching her? He wished he had joined her. Perhaps, if he’d been able to put his pride aside for a moment, he would not be searching for her that morning. She would have been in his bed, where she belonged, at his side.
But, as he scouted the garden, he could see hide nor hair of the girl. It was then that dread began to snake up his spine. Where was she? It was not as though she had made much of a point of exploring the Keep in the time she had been here. No,she had kept to herself, for the most part. He knew she would hardly have gone wandering. Which meant…
Which meant that there had to be some other reason for her sudden vanishing. And he intended to find out what that was.
But first, he had to admit to her family that she was missing—a job that nobody would have envied. He barked orders to the guards waiting at the door as he entered the Keep once more, sending them off to continue the search.
“I want this entire place searched from top to bottom!” he bellowed at them. “Not a room unsearched, no’ a stone unturned! If anyone sees Mary, report to me at once, ye ken?”
As he reached the main hall, it seemed as though her sister had overheard his commands. She rushed towards him, her eyes wide.
“What did you tell them? Where is Mary?”
“I dinnae ken,” he admitted, finally. She clasped a hand to her mouth in horror, and staggered back from him, where Arran caught her around the waist, pulling her into him protectively.
“What have ye done to her?” Arran roared at him, as Amelia lifted her son from his arms and clutched him to her chest, like he might be next to vanish if she took her gaze from him for a moment.
“I’ve done nothing to her!” Kiernan snapped back, furious. “She’s my wife, for the love of?—”
“Aye, and I know what men like you do to their wives,” he snarled, striding towards him, stabbing his finger in the air as he approached. “Especially to wee things like Mary, who’ve no?—”
“I didnae lay a finger on Mary,” Kiernan cut him off, and his voice cracked as he spoke, the sudden rush of emotion getting the better of him. His jaw set tight, he met Arran’s gaze steadily, daring him to argue, daring him to disagree.
“Then where is she?” Amelia interjected, her voice trembling with fear. “What—where is my sister, Kiernan?”
“As soon as I ken, you will,” he promised her. “I have my guards searching the Keep. After that, I’ll send them further afield, in case she’s?—”
“In case she’s what?” Arran demanded. “Fled from you? You think she’d have reason to do that, aye?”
“I didnae say that,” Kiernan growled back at him, furious. “I’ve done nothing to hurt her. Nothing to make her flee from me…”
“That’s not what it sounded like in her letter,” Amelia countered.
“And what exactly did she say in her letter?” he asked her, flicking his gaze to hers. Arran stepped in front of his wife protectively, lifting a hand to bar him from getting any closer.
“Dinnae speak to my wife like that,” he warned Kiernan. Kiernan glowered at him, the anger and guilt and fear at Mary’s vanishing starting to get the better of him.
