Keir didn’t seem entirely pleased. His lips twisted into a grimace of distaste, but he said nothing in protest. It was better this way; Archer craved the quiet, and he wasn’t going to have much of it moving forward. The better he got, the more responsibilities returned upon his shoulders. And now there was this—finding out who had attacked him and why.
“Now if ye’ll excuse me, I would like to see me wife,” said Archer, pushing himself up from his chair. Keir opened his mouth and,for a moment, Archer thought he was going to disagree, but then he only let his head fall back against the back of the chair.
“Are ye certain?”
“Och aye,” said Archer. “Very much so.”
“Fine,” said Keir. “It’s yer head. It’s nae as if the entire clan depends on ye.”
“I’m nae dead yet, am I?” asked Archer with a raise of his eyebrows, only for Keir to roll his eyes at him.
“Let us try token it this way,” he said. “It doesnae take much to kill someone.”
“It’ll take more than a wee lassie to kill me.”
With that, Archer gulped down the rest of his wine and followed Keir out of the study. The hall outside was filled with guards, much to his chagrin, but it had been that way ever since he had woken up in his bed, remembering little. He couldn’t even sleep in peace anymore without someone barging in every so often to see if he still lived.
He ignored them all as he made his way to the eastern wing, knocking on his wife’s door. There was no answer, though, not even when he knocked gain and again.
“Have ye seen the Lady O’Douglas?” he asked the guard closest to him—a spotty-faced young man with a mop of blonde hair, who quickly shook his head. “Any of ye? Have ye seen her?”
There were a few mumbles and a few more shakes of the guards’ heads. No one seemed to know where River was. Turning on his heel, Archer searched the entire eastern wing and found it empty, from one room to the next, until his feet carried him to his new chambers.
Those, too, were empty when he entered them, though he hadn’t expected to find River there anywhere.
Where has she gone? Is she avoidin’ me?
It wouldn’t surprise him. He had been quite aggressive with her, and besides, with Keir breathing down her neck, it was no wonder she didn’t want to see Archer either.
Still, he was far from pleased.
He would have searched for her more, tore up the whole castle from one end to the other, had it not been for that piercing headache that refused to let him out of its clutches. His temples pounded and the space between his brows hurt as if he had been hit with a hammer. Releasing himself to his fate, Archer undressed for the night and decided to retire to bed, hoping he could start the search afresh the next morning—this time with a clear head.
And in his dreams, all he saw were those two blue eyes, staring right through him.
5
“Alright, off ye go, ye wee rascals!”
With that, Arya and Colby’s laughter filled the halls as they rushed out of River’s chambers and out into the eastern wing. River, just as she had promised, turned around and faced the wall, counting up to one hundred under her breath. When she was finished, she spun around and peered into the room, in case either of them was still there, and when she found it empty, she stepped out of the door.
“Here I come!” she called.
And then she ran.
The hem of her forest green dress swished around her feet. Her slippers thudded softly against the stone floor, cold under her feet. It was a dreary day—clouds gathered above the castle right outside the grand windows that lined the eastern hallway, heralding a storm. The only games they could play were inside,but with the sheer size of Castle O’Douglas, that was far from a problem.
Hide-and-seek was a favorite of the two children, and River had gotten quite good at discovering them—especially Colby, who had not yet grasped the fact that, even if a hiding place was really good, once it was discovered, it was practically useless. Now, River rushed to the first place that came to her mind—the small nook near the stairs, where a child Colby’s size could easily hide in the shadows, and had done so plenty of times before.
This time, though, she found it empty.
Her search continued along the hallways and the rooms of the eastern wing, where they confined their games. River always refused to leave that part of the castle, and besides, she didn’t want her or the children to become a burden to the other residents of the castle and the servants who already had too much to do every day.
Her search led her to a room that she knew was empty—a good hiding spot for any child who could fit into the tightest nooks and crannies, melting into the shadows. There was nothing there but tapestries and a few forgotten pieces of old, heavy furniture, but it was enough for Arya and Colby to contort themselves and vanish from sight.
“Och, I wonder where Arya and Colby could possibly be!” She called playfully as she approached the door. “Could it be...that they’re here? Found ye!”
She opened the door, a smile on her face as she expected to find them there?—
