But the relief he should have felt did not come. Instead, a heavy knot of regret continued twisting in his chest. His thoughts drifted again to Arianna riding alone through these hills. He had known the raiders were somewhere to the north. He had known the roads were dangerous. Yet he had said nothing to her about it.
His fingers tightened painfully around the reins. “I should have warned her,” he muttered.
Flynn glanced over. “Warned her?”
Ian nodded grimly. “About the raiders,” he said. “Had she known the danger, she might never have left the castle.”
Flynn frowned. “Or she might have gone anyway,” he replied.
Ian gave a quiet, humorless laugh. “Aye… that sounds like her.”
Flynn smirked slightly. “She doesnae strike me as a woman easily deterred.”
Ian’s expression softened slightly despite the tension. “Nay,” he admitted. “She never has been.”
His mind filled with the memory of her fierce eyes when she argued with him. The stubborn set of her jaw. The fire in her voice. God help him, he loved that stubbornness now more than ever. They rode onward for another stretch of road before Ian suddenly slowed again.
Flynn followed his gaze. “What is it?”
Ian pointed toward the ground ahead. “The mare broke into a faster pace here,” he said. “See how the stride lengthens.”
Flynn nodded slowly. “She must have been pushing hard.”
“Aye.” Ian’s stomach tightened.
That meant Arianna knew she needed speed. Which meant she feared something. His mind darkened with possibilities he refused to speak aloud.
Flynn noticed the tension returning to his friend’s face. “We’ll find her,” Flynn said again.
Ian looked ahead toward the distant hills rising along the northern horizon. “I must,” he said quietly.
Flynn studied him for a moment. “Ye care for her deeply,” he said.
Ian did not deny it. “I would sacrifice everything just to see her safe again,” he admitted.
The words came easier now that they had been spoken aloud. His lands. His title. His power. None of it mattered if Arianna was lost to him.
Flynn nodded slowly. “Then we’d best ride faster.”
Ian lifted his hand once more. “Onward!”
The riders surged onward again, hooves pounding across the rugged trail as they followed the faint tracks northward through the wild Highlands.
And with every mile they gained, Ian prayed silently.
I hope I am nae too late. Or I will make anyone who has hurt her suffer.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Well now… what have we caught here?” the raider said.
Arianna lifted her chin despite the pain in her wrists and spat at the ground near his boots. “Release me, ye cowards.” Her voice rang sharp with fury, though her heart pounded wildly in her chest. The men barked with laughter.
The raiders dragged Arianna through the trees until the forest opened into a rough camp hidden beside a narrow stream. Smoke drifted from a crooked fire pit while several rough men sat sharpening blades or drinking from battered flasks.
One man, Walter, stepped forward as they shoved her roughly toward the center of the clearing. He studied her with a slow, amused grin.
“I am the leader of this lot. Ye seem to be a fiery one, lass,” he said with a crooked grin.
