The innkeeper nodded. “Me son can ride.”
“Aye? Get him for me, will ye?”
The innkeeper made no move to do anything of the sort.
Leo stamped his foot into the wooden floor, rattling the windows next to the door. He stopped short of bellowing at the man to do as he was told, though he was ready to do it if needed.
“We have nay time to waste,” he barked, even as he tried to keep himself steady. “Get yer son. I need someone to send a message to MacSween Castle.”
The innkeeper nodded again, then scurried away. He returned with his son, a boy much younger than Leo had expected.
“Do ye ken where MacSween Castle is laddie?” he asked.
“Aye,” the boy answered, his gaze darting between Leo and the innkeeper.
“Good. I’m goin' to lend ye a horse, and ye’re going to ride in that direction as fast as ye possibly can, understand? When yeget there, tell them Laird MacSween needs every available man to get on his horse and come out this way. Can ye do that?”
The boy locked eyes with his father, who shrugged but made no other gesture.
All right, laddie, we daenae have the time to waste on askin’ yer old man.
“I can do it,” the boy replied, swallowing hard. “Show me to yer horse.”
Leo clapped him on the shoulder. “Good lad. Let’s get ye in the saddle and on yer way.”
As he helped the boy onto the horse, the innkeeper watched from the doorway of the inn. Leo ignored him, though he had the feeling the man had not been entirely honest with him. He must have said something to Beatrice to chase her off.
But I might also be a bit paranoid at the moment.
Arsenic on a shawl meant for one’s betrothed could cause more than a little concern.
Leo gave no more thought to the innkeeper. No matter what his small role was, Leo knew he was only a pawn. Someone else was pulling the strings and planning the moves, someone who lurked in the corridors of his castle and called themselves a friend to his face.
“Ye willnae stop for anything,” Leo instructed the boy as he secured the saddle. “The only time ye can stop is when ye get to the castle. Do I make meself clear?”
“As a bell,” the boy answered, squinting at the windswept vista.
“Aye, that’s what I want to hear.” Leo pointed in the direction of the castle. “Go there, lad. As fast as ye can.”
The boy kicked the horse in the flanks and was off like a shot. He was faster than Leo had expected, but despite that bit of good fortune, Leo could not ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. He hoped that Beatrice hadn’t gotten too far or that she hadn’t been foolish enough to veer off the main road.
If ye’re listening up there, God,he prayed, something he hadn’t done in quite some time,please keep her safe until I find her.
He swung himself up onto the other horse, watching the boy’s figure getting smaller and smaller as he sped onward towards the castle. The message would reach the guards, even though the only message Leo wanted to deliver was the one meant for Bea. That he didn’t want her to flee. That he wanted her to stay with him, whatever that meant.
He kicked his heels into the horse’s flanks and took off in the opposite direction, scanning every inch of the forested world flying past him at an impossible speed.
The prayer kept repeating in his mind, looping in a rhythm like the pulse at his temples.
Keep her safe until I find her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
This may nae have been the best idea I’ve ever had.
Beatrice sighed to herself as the underbrush of the woodlands snatched at her skirt, the skeletal branches poking their fingers at her legs. She had stopped following the road when it appeared to be curving out of the way of the village she had spotted from a high point, and she had assumed, incorrectly as it seemed, that cutting through the forest would get her to where she wanted to go.
Well, perhaps the real problem was that I didnae have anywhere I really wanted to go.
