Page 6 of Bond of a Bewitched Highlander

Elsea bit her lip, scarcely able to breathe as all this new information spun and clashed within her head. Was Brodie the chief they talked about?

Selkie women being abducted.... Elsea could not fathom the cruelty. What on earth was Talnaroch doing with them? Selling them like livestock to the highest bidder? For twisted perversions? Rape?

Nausea roiled inside her.

Brodie was savvy about defense, but Talnaroch's garrison could outnumber him and the selkie men. The earl traveled with a large force, but he likely had dozens or hundreds more back at his main keep. The MacCains would not have that many soldiers unless Brodie called on his allies, the MacTavish clan, the MacElrath clan, and others.

Did Brodie know Talnaroch was behind the kidnappings?

A deep urgency compelled her to help the poor female selkies who were being taken into captivity, used and abused horribly.

The miscreants had to be stopped.

Once the voices drifted away, and the stables grew quiet, except for the horses eating, blowing, and snorting softly, she pulled the hood over her head to hide her pale hair and slid beneath the stall door. After rising to her feet, she hurried outside into the darkness and along the side of the castle to the kitchen entrance.

Inside, she rushed through the hot, busy room and up the stairs. The maids and staff ignored her, for they were used to seeing her slip in and out.

Two floors up, she entered her chamber.

"There you are, m'lady!" Her maid threw her hands in the air.

"Indeed, Tilly. Calm yourself." Elsea eyed the middle-aged woman who wore a white kertch over her silvery-gray hair. "Why are you so distraught?"

"I thought the Bodach-sith had abducted you out on the moor and taken you to his lair."

"Och. There is no such thing." Elsea removed her cloak.

"Humph, so you say, but we well ken witches, curses, and shapeshifters are real. Aye?"

Elsea scowled. How had her maid learned so much about Brodie and his situation? The servants certainly gossiped aplenty below stairs.

"Come, lass. You must bathe forthwith. Look at you... mud spattered on your lovely face and in your hair. The chief bid me dress you in your finest and style your hair. He said we have important visitors."

"Bollocks," Elsea muttered, her stomach clenching.

Tilly's eyes rounded. "M'lady! Such language. You've spent far too much time with your brothers. 'Haps you should've gone south with your ma."

Elsea rolled her eyes. "And have my aunt and cousins whisper behind my back and call me a trollop? I thank you, but nay!"

"Well, never mind them." Tilly waved a dismissive hand. "Why are you nay excited about the visitors?"

"'Tis Talnaroch," Elsea spat the words, as if he were the plague itself.

"Oh!" Tilly's face flushed. She well knew of Elsea's past association with him, as did everyone in the country, apparently.

"They say he is here to ask for my hand," Elsea went on.

"Oh heavens, m'lady! You will be a countess!" Beaming a smile, Tilly near bounced on her toes.

"I have nay wish to be a countess. The man is a beast."

"I hope he does nay ken of your impertinence."

Elsea didn't care what he thought of her, but she had to be on her best behavior if she was to get close enough to him to learn more about the kidnappings. She had never imagined rescuing or freeing people. Could she do it? She might be leaping in over her head, but she knew how to swim.

She considered herself physically strong for a woman. Mayhap this was what her many years of training had been for. She would pretend to go along with Talnaroch, but she would not marry the knave.

Tilly helped her out of her arisaid and smock, revealing the tight-fitting plaid trews she wore beneath her skirts.