“My name is Madeleine Green!” she yelled. “You might have heard of me. Get those bloody gates open and let me in!”
She marched right up to the gates and began hammering on the hard wood with her fists.
“Are ye alone?” a voice shouted.
“What does it look like?”
There was a long pause in which Maddy kept hammering for all she was worth, then the grille in the gate slid open and a face peered out at her.
“Itisher!” a voice exclaimed. “Go tell the master, quick!” The face peered left and right as if trying to see if she truly was alone, and then the grille slid shut again.
A moment later, she heard the sliding of huge bolts, the gates swung open a crack, strong hands grabbed her and pulled her inside, and the gates swung shut behind her with a boom.
“Take me to my son this minute!” she demanded of the group of guards who stood inside, watching her warily.
“Well, blow me,” said one of the guardsmen, looking her up and down and putting his hands on his hips. “The laird was right. He said ye’d come here.”
“Of course he was right!” Maddy snapped. “You really think I wouldn’t follow after he kidnapped my son?” She clenched her fists. “Now take me to Rory!”
The guard raised an amused eyebrow, then glanced at his fellows with a grin that made Maddy want to throttle him.
“If ye would be kind enough to follow me, my lady.”
He led her off and she couldn’t help noticing how the other guards fell into step behind her—she was clearly being herded rather than escorted—and she also had no doubt she would not be allowed to leave should she request to. She swallowed. She’d put her head inside the lion’s mouth and whether she would be able to escape before that mouth snapped shut depended on so many variables that thinking about it made her head swim.
The guards took her through the main doors of the keep, across the entrance vestibule, and into the great hall. Maddy looked around as she entered, desperate to catch sight of Rory, but the hall was empty. Her footsteps echoed hollowly as the guards led her across it to a door at the back.
They wound up a spiral staircase with a thick runner down the middle and into a wood-paneled hallway with several doors leading off. The guards knocked at one of these doors.
“Come,” called a voice from inside.Hisvoice.
She took a breath and steadied herself, despite the mix of fear and anger that coursed through her at the sound of his hated voice.
One of the guards entered the room and she could hear a conversation going on within. A second later, the guard emerged, held the door open, and nodded for her to enter. She strode past them into the room.
It was a large, luxurious study. Bookcases lined the walls and a large desk sat under the window. Rodric MacKay was sitting at that desk, watching her over his steepled hands.
She bristled at the sight of him. “Where is he?” she growled. “Where is my son?”
“Ourson is perfectly safe,” he replied, not looking in the least perturbed by her sudden appearance.
“Take me to him right now!”
“I dinna think ye are in any position to make demands, Madeleine.”
“I’m his mother, I have a right to see him!”
Rodric slammed his fist on the table. “Dinna speak to me of rights! I am the boy’s father! Ye didnae consider my rights when ye kept him from me! I am the one who will decide who sees him and who doesnae. Ye snatched my own son from me—ye are lucky I havenae had ye thrown in the dungeon!”
Maddy forced herself to take a deep, steadying breath. Rodric held all the power here and if her plan was to succeed, she must not antagonize him.
“I’m sorry,” she said in what she hoped was a conciliatory tone. “I shouldn’t have done that. I was frightened and so I panicked. All I wanted to do was take Rory home.”
“My spies reported that they found ye with Deryn Stewart. Is that true?”
She winced. “Yes, he helped me, that’s all.”
“And what was his price? Taking ye to his bed?”
