“Was me maither in the carriage?”
“I apologize, I daenae ken.”
The man was wearing Muir colors, so he was clearly one of her husband’s guards.
She felt terrible for not telling Kaden where she was going before she left. Who knew how many guards he had sent out just to locate her?
She really ought to have made more of an effort to learn the guards’ faces and names. Then, at least she would have been able to greet this guard by name.
“Will ye take me to the carriage? Do we need to fetch a healer?” she asked, already starting to walk out of the square.
“Nay, I was only told to fetch ye and be on our way as quickly as possible.”
Emily nodded once. “Aye, I’ll fetch me horse and meet ye at the edge of the village.”
“Aye, hurry up,” the guard answered, then hurried off.
Emily hadn’t spoken to her father after the wedding. She hadn’t even so much as said goodbye to him. Her mother had attempted to come and find her after one of the dances that she had shared with Kaden, but she hadn’t spoken more than a couple of words to her. Never mind the last conversation she had had with her father. Neither of them had ended on a good note.
Just because she wasn’t ready to forgive them didn’t mean that she wanted anything bad to happen to them. If that was the last time she had been able to speak to them after leaving the air so clouded between them…
She was angry with them, disappointed even, but she had never wished for anything bad to happen to them. She didn’t know what she was going to do with herself if either of them were harmed.
Certainly, if they were in any real harm, Kaden would have had the guard inform her immediately. For whatever doubts she had about their intimacy, she didn’t have any doubts about whether or not he was honest with her about issues of this nature.
Her parents had to be all right. There was simply no other option. They had to be all right so that she could clear the air and apologize, so that her father would at least have the chance to apologize to her.
Panic started to build in her chest as she mounted her horse and took off toward the entrance of the village and the long winding path that would lead up to the castle or to the woods. The guard was waiting for her on his own horse, but she didn’t stop to address him. She simply followed the moment he turned and led his horse in the same direction.
“Faster,” she called.
The guard galloped faster, leading the way. She just hoped that they would get there in time to help.
30
It had been a long time since Kaden was this excited to share news with somebody.
If he were being honest with himself, it had been a long time since he had been moved to attempt to help somebody in this way. But with how excited Emily had been about getting all of those books delivered, and the way they had shared their evening last night, he figured that his news would be very well received, indeed.
Only, Emily wasn’t at breakfast, and he hadn’t seen her sneaking toward the library.
Arrogantly, he wondered if their wedding night antics had exhausted her and she was sleeping in. The very few nights they had spent in one another’s company did show that she was a rather heavy sleeper, but he didn’t want to assume anything at this point.
Shona had given him some really great insight that he might have otherwise overlooked. All of the books that they had ordered from the bookshop would only have the official documentation and records. They were written either by other lairds or councilmen, so of course, they would be heavily biased toward whatever clan they were being authored from.
But Shona had reminded him that there was another perspective he ought to look into. Just like how children tended to snoop on adult conversations when they were young, or delighted in knowing things that they ought not to bother with, the servants in most castles were the same. It would be another whole perspective for the chapters that Emily was presently working on.
Shona had said that she would reach out to some of the servants to see if any of them would be willing to speak with her or to perhaps be interviewed by Emily directly about the things they had seen or heard about how the Lairds handled conflicts, or whatever other interesting tidbits that she might be able to include. Of course, they would have to ensure that there would be no repercussions for whatever they would choose to say, but it was somewhere to start.
Emily had said that she wanted to have something that would give her a leg up on books of similar content, and he thought that this might be the thing to help her achieve that. Never mind that one could tell a lot about what sort of man a laird was from the way he chose to treat his servants.
Kaden had the cook prepare a tray of breakfast and a fresh pot of tea to take up to Emily when he realized just how much time had passed and she still hadn’t come down to join them. He pushed open the door to her room and backed into it, tray in hand. The room was still dark, but warmed from the fire burning low in the grate. If anything, it was only further proof that she was still sleeping.
“Emily?” he called softly, wanting to wake her as gently as possible.
He placed the tray down on the table beside her books, clearing a small space for it so that nothing would be damaged.
It was a little strange that her journal wasn’t sitting on the top of the pile like it usually did. He wished that he could remember how her things had been laid out the night before so that he might be able to tell if anything was different in her workspace.
