Bound to the Highlander(81)

After an eternity, Aileana reached the castle and entered the dark, cheerless keep to find many men and women standing in a circle, mourning. Unable to see for whom they wept, she pushed her way past those gathered to see a kindly faced man laid out on a stone slab.

He opened his eyes and spoke to her. “I’m your uncle Aileana. I’m your uncle and I love you, lass.”

Aileana screamed and bolted. She exited the castle and ran until she fell to the ground from exhaustion. The rain fell in sheets. She looked up from the cold, muddy earth to see a man approach her on a large white horse. He bent down, picked her up off the ground and tossed her onto the back of his horse. He didn’t speak to her and she had to hold on tight so she wouldn’t fall off.

They came to a small dark inn where he dragged her from the horse and shoved her inside. The cloaked man paid for a room and pulled her with him up the stairs toward it. He opened the door and pushed her inside as she turned to face him. When he pulled down his hood, she discovered it was the man from the meadow. He didn’t look happy and relaxed anymore—he looked dangerous.

“Aileana, where are you? You must help me find you!”

His emphasis on the last two words was so loud he almost shouted it. She was afraid of him and tried to get around him, but he would not let her leave and instead, took a key from his pocket as he left the room. The man locked the door from the outside leaving her there in the cold and dark, all alone and terrified. She yelled at the top of her lungs, but no one would come to help her.

Aileana awoke with a start, gasping for air and bathed in cold sweat. A wave of nausea overtook her, forcing her to dash outside to empty her stomach. She retched by the side of the cottage and prayed Gawain would not witness her illness.

She composed herself and looked up to the sky to measure the time by the moon’s height then retreated into cottage to return to her bed, expecting to see Gawain there. He was not. She looked to the heavy chair near the fire he often slept in on nights when she was particularly restless, but he was not there either.

The wood and peat supply was not replenished outside either, meaning he’d not returned. What if her uncle’s men had found him? Did they know where she was? Would they soon come for her as well? Her fear grew as she rocked on her bed well into the early morning hours, waiting.

* * *

James was escorted through the stone walls of MacKay House, near the northern most region of Scotland in the village of Tongue, hoping to find Fergus in a generous mood. It had been a long time and much had passed since they’d last seen one another in Edinburgh. Three months. Christ, James couldn’t even imagine what his life had been like back then.

“MacIntosh? Is that you? You look like hell, man. Come in, and feed yourself and your men.”

James entered the great hall with its ancient, Norse-inspired design and sat at the largest table he’d ever seen. Nothing in the north was small or quaint. As he took his seat, he could see concern on Fergus’s face and imagined it was because of James’s haggard appearance.

“I owe you my life, but I didn’t expect you to come all this was to claim it. What brings you here?”

Fergus didn’t waste time on pleasantries. Thank God.

“We arrived late last evening. Your house servant let us in and gave us a warm bed. Your hospitality has already been extended and I thank you for it.” James scrubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t know where to begin, but let me tell you, much has changed since we last met at Edinburgh Castle.”

James told his story. As he talked, he and drank and ate from the plentiful spread at Fergus’s table. He couldn’t remember when he’d eaten last. The tale he recounted had everyone at the table riveted, it sounded too fantastic, too impossible to be true even to his own ears. His brand new bride had been abducted a second time from right under his nose.

James struggled to tell his tale. The rage in him for having to say those words threatened to overspill like so many times in the last while. He was worn out from attempts at control, but he would do her no good any other way.

When he and Calum had returned to Linlithgow Palace, Aileana had already been taken. They scoured the palace twice and spent the next fortnight searching all of Linlithgow and Edinburgh. He couldn’t believe she could disappear without a trace. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, a fleeting thought emerged that she’d gone willingly.

His initial disbelief turned to panic. Although he questioned everyone extensively, he had no doubt Gawain was responsible and cold fear swept over him at the thought of what that man would do with his beloved wife. With her, Gawain possessed James’s soul.