“The Kincaid Clan is nae one to be messed with. Whoever is behind this has crossed a serious line. Nay one comes onto my land and harms one of my people. I guarantee that the whole of the Kincaid Clan and all our allies will gather to see that Taryn is brought back safely. We simply must be wise in the way we do this.”
He looked first to Aila and Sorcha before waiting for a nod from each of the children.
“Now, everyone has a verra important role to play. We must nae give into our emotions, nae when Taryn is counting on us. Can ye do that?”
Again, he waited to get nods from everyone in the room before continuing.
“Good. Now, Arran, I need ye to take Christopher and Elsie to Taryn’s room. Find something that smells the most like her. When ye are finished, go to Mary and ask her to pack a bag of anything someone might need for a long journey. When that is done, I need ye to find another bag that will carry a week’s worth of food. Can ye do that?”
“Aye, we can do that, Uncle Loch,” Arran answered for them all.
“I thought so. Now, the most important thing is that ye dinnae tell anyone what ye are doing or why. We dinnae want the entire castle to panic. If anyone asks, say ye are on a treasure hunt for me. Tell Mary that ye are following my direct orders, and she will nae question ye anymore. Understand?”
“Aye,” they all three said at once.
“Nae a word to anyone. Now, go.”
Scampering off the couch, Sorcha and Aila watched them go. Sorcha momentarily wished she could be so easily distracted.
“Up with ye both,” Lachlan demanded, clearly not finished dolling out orders.
He reached first to help Aila off the couch and then reached out a hand for Sorcha. When she took it, he surprised her with a reassuring squeeze before letting go.
“I think we could all use something a wee bit stronger than tea,” he told them, herding them both towards the kitchen.
Aila clutched Lachlan’s hand like it was her only lifeline, an anchor in the worry that threatened to overtake her at any moment. Sorcha had to make do with worrying her bottom lip between her two teeth. Though her red hair and brown eyes seemed to be the opposite of Aila’s brown hair and green eyes, they both wore such similar expressions that they looked like sisters.
“Here,” Lachlan said, pushing two small glasses filled with whiskey towards them both.
While Aila only sipped at hers, Sorcha poured the entire glass down her throat, savoring the burn as it traveled to her stomach.
“I was nae lying when I spoke to the children,” he assured them. “I will do everything I can to see that Taryn is brought back safe. Whoever has taken her will pay for his crimes.”
“How are ye going to do that?” Sorcha pushed, the bitter taste of the whiskey still on her tongue. “We dinnae ken where she has gone or who has taken her. Any tracks that might have been left will be covered by now. And every second we spend standing around arguing about what to do is another second Taryn gets further away. Ye have seen what the Baron does for revenge. He wiped out nearly an entire clan. What do ye think he will do to a single woman?”
Lachlan looked away at her sharp recollection of his clan’s history, but Sorcha refused to feel guilty over it. They all needed to come to terms with just how serious of a situation they were in.
“That is exactly where we start,” Aila said, rubbing a soothing hand on Lachlan’s shoulder. “We must figure out what these kidnappers are planning to do with Taryn. They could have been sent by her uncle and given orders to bring her back to her own clan.”
“Or,” Sorcha added, always the one to point out the negatives. “She is being dragged to the Baron’s lands for him to do with her as he pleases.”
“The bounty hunters will ken,” Lachlan told them. “They always have a finger on the pulse of anything like this happening. I can send a small band of men to the Fraser villages to make inquiries. They should be able to tell us if anyone was sent with orders to collect her.”
Aila rose to her toes and pressed a kiss to Lachlan’s cheek. He gave her a look that had Sorcha shifting her gaze, suddenly remembering that the couple should be focused solely on each other right now. She wasn’t ready to sit by and twiddle her thumbs, waiting for everyone else to solve her mistakes.
“I will go too,” she said, surprising herself.
“Dinnae be foolish and rash,” Aila disagreed. “Lachlan’s men can more than handle the task.”
“Aye, I ken that they can. I have another task in mind.”
Though Aila looked like she was ready to shake her head in opposition, Lachlan gestured for Sorcha to continue, clearly interested in what she was thinking.
“I ken that we cannae all leave the castle unguarded. And I agree that the bounty hunters will have heard of any word of someone being sent after Taryn. But that only helps us if it was her family who has come after her.”
“What are ye saying?” Aila asked, clearly anxious.
“I am saying that if Taryn is being taken to the Baron’s lands, someone needs to go there too. We cannae send an entire armywithout danger of leaving the castle undefended or rousing the wrath of the British army, but we can send one person.”
