“Where did you get the dagger, lass?” he demanded. “And where is Lady Bowlin? Where is my sister?”
The little girl looked at him with her big, blue eyes. “The bad men took her,” she said. “Tibelda is sleepin’.”
Desmond and Thomas looked at each other over the top of Dyana’s blonde little head. The child wasn’t making much sense, but what she was saying was wholeheartedly alarming.
“I must go to Edenside,” Desmond muttered, his voice trembling. “I must see for myself what has happened.”
Thomas was struggling desperately not to panic alongside Desmond. He was overwhelmingly worried for his father, and now his fear for Maitland was exploding. What in the hell had happened at Edenside after he’d left? He’d only just left there and he’d inspected the entire place for threats. There hadn’t been any sign of hazard.
Not one…
Was this his fault? Had he missed something?
Clearly, something had occurred. He could only imagine that there was some level of truth to what the little girl was saying because Maitland would have never let the child out of her sight if she could help it. Thomas felt as if he were being pulled in all different directions and trying so very hard to keep his wits about him.
It was a nightmare.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to evaluate his priorities– his father was crucial, but so was whatever happened at Edenside. He had a frightened little girl that told him something very bad had happened. He wanted so badly to go with Desmond to Edenside but, in the same breath, he knew he had to go to his father first. The man was badly injured, perhaps even dying, and Thomas would never forgive himself for not being there when his father needed him. It was a horrible choice to have to make, but he made the only one he could– he had to go to Northwood.
He prayed that Maitland would understand, wherever she was and whatever had happened.
I’m so sorry, Mae.
It was a choice that broke his heart.
“Go,” he barked at Desmond. “Take some men with you and go. Find out what has happened and then send someone toNorthwood to inform me of your findings. I will take the child with me.”
Desmond was already running for his horse, shouting at the soldiers and taking at least six with him. Thomas handed Dyana up to Markus, who took the child until Thomas could mount his horse. Then, he handed the little girl back to Thomas, who then tore off down the road, heading for Northwood, as Desmond took off in the opposite direction for Edenside.
Even though Thomas wasn’t heading for Edenside, his focus was with Desmond, wondering what in the hell had happened at Edenside that a tiny little girl had wandered miles away trying to find help. The more he thought about it, the more his heart sank because he knew, over and over again, that Maitland would have never let Dyana wander away from Edenside had she been able to help it. Unless the child simply slipped out and wandered off when everyone was sleeping…but no. He stopped himself from thinking that because he knew it wasn’t true.
Something very bad had happened.
Something very bad, indeed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Maitland had noidea where she was.
She hadn’t slept all night, tossed around and battered with the old blanket over her head, dulling her senses, until the group finally stopped moving. Then, someone pulled her off of the horse she’d been slung over and dumped her onto the ground.
The blanket came off her head.
It was just before dawn and the land was covered in dew, a mist rising from the fields all around her. She’d been brought to the ruins of a castle or some other type of structure. It was difficult to tell, but the entire thing was crumbling around them, set amongst a gentle landscape of green fields and tall trees.
But there was nothing bucolic or gentle about the ruins. It smelled like human habitation, that acrid stench that assaulted her nostrils. Men had been living in these old stones, exposed to the sky and the elements except for one small area that had once been part of the vault, for it had a barrel ceiling and was buried under rocks and grass and fallen trees. The interior of the ruins was stripped for the most part, as men cleared the ground forthem to live and sleep and eat, and burn their cooking fires when they could.
It was a den of animals.
Fortunately, Maitland had been dumped with the children, who now huddled with her. She had her arms around most of them, as many as she could, and Artus sat on the other side of them, pressing his body against Phin and Nora for some heat and protection. They were notably missing Dyana, the littlest, but Maitland was afraid to ask about her, afraid that if she asked and the abductors didn’t realize there was a child they had missed, that they’d go back to Edenside and look for her.
She didn’t want to tip them off.
So, she sat there with the six children and kept her mouth shut. The children were terrified, exhausted, and hungry, and Maitland tried to comfort them as best she could. Considering she had no idea what was going on, it was rather difficult to do so. She had no idea what to tell them. As she sat there rocking the twins, trying to soothe them, a shadow fell over the group. Looking up, she could see the figure of a man as he blocked out some of the morning sun.
“Greetin’s, my lady,” he said in a Scottish accent, although it wasn’t particularly heavy. “I apologize for yer rough treatment, but it was necessary.”
He sounded gallant, which enraged Maitland. “Necessary for what?” she asked. “Necessary to frighten us half to death? You know that you raided a foundling home, don’t you? We have no money to give you and no one to pay a ransom. It was a wasted effort on your part.”
