She tried to step past him once more. This time, he did not just block her. He stepped closer, close enough that she could not move without brushing against him.
And then, through the shifting chaos of the market, two men emerged. Contrary to everyone else around them, they weren’t running. They didn’t seem panicked. Worst of all, they moved with purpose, towardher.
Then, her breath caught because she realized that they weren’t moving just toward her, butforher. Every instinct within her sharpened at once. Her fingers tightened around the herbs she still held as her pulse began to thunder in her ears.
Panic surged, but she forced it down, forcing her mind to think, to react.
“Duncan!” she shouted, her voice breaking free, louder than she intended.
The two men reached her. One of them grabbed her arm.
“Nay!” she gasped, fighting harder now, her heart racing and her breath coming too fast.
“Easy now,” the man muttered, tightening his hold. “Wouldnae want tae make this harder than it needs tae be.”
“I said let go of me!” she snapped, trying to drive her knee forward, to twist her body, to do anything, but they were stronger.
The guard stepped aside, letting them take her. Rage flared through her fear.
“Ye traitor—” she began, but the words were cut short as one of the men yanked her forward.
The smoke thickened, curling through the air as more people began to run, to scream, to push past one another in blind panic, but none of it mattered.
Only the fact that she needed him and he wasn’t there.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Duncan was standing at the edge of the market square, with his attention fixed on the scout before him, though his mind was already turning over the implications of what he was hearing.
“Say that again,” he demanded.
The scout shifted slightly, glancing around before continuing. “Men have been asking questions, me laird. Nae loudly, nae enough tae draw notice at first, but enough. They’ve been asking about the castle, about who comes and goes.”
Duncan’s jaw tightened. “What else?”
The scout hesitated only briefly. “About the healer.”
A cold stillness settled in Duncan’s chest. His gaze hardened, while his thoughts sharpened instantly. “What did they ask about her?”
“I have naething precise, but enough tae make it clear they were nae asking out of idle curiosity.”
Duncan exhaled slowly, his mind already moving ahead into calculating, assessing and piecing together the pattern.
“How many men?” he asked.
“Hard tae say. They keep changing. Never the same face twice, from what I’ve gathered.”
That was enough. It was too careful and too deliberate. That meant it was not coincidence.
Duncan’s posture shifted. “Ye should have brought this tae me sooner.”
“I wanted tae be certain,” the scout replied.
Duncan nodded once, already preparing his next order, when something sharp cut through the air.
It was a scream, not close and not distant either.
Duncan stilled. His head turned slightly, his senses sharpening in an instant. Another shout followed. Then, he smelled smoke. The scent hit him like a strike to the chest. Everything inside him went cold. His instincts surged forward, overriding thought and overriding reason, while leaving behind only certainty.
