Page 78 of Lady Len and the Mysterious Mac

Si read the words three times before they began to sink into his brain.

“The coach never made it,” Angus told them. “They fear it must have crashed. Gone over a rim in the rain.”

“Did ye see any signs of such a thing on your way here?” Mrs. Kynoch interrogated the messenger. Her voice sounded far away.

Si had to remind himself to inhale and exhale or he would stop breathing all together. And honestly, maybe that would be the best thing for everyone.

He was forced into a seat, a dram placed in his hand.

The next thing he knew, he looked up into the faces of Alys and Leask, Bram, Sam MacPherson and his daughter, Angus and Gawyn and Mrs. Kynoch, all watching him with concerned faces.

“What d’ye want us to do, lad?” Mr. Leask nudged his shoulder.

He looked around at all of them, waiting to follow his lead. He didn’t deserve such allegiance. “Organize a search,” he rasped. “Only those we know are loyal to the Kintail and not to Norval or Blair.”

It would be dangerous, going out to search the roads in the rain and the dark.

“We’ll need food for the searchers,” he added to the cook. “Strong tea and parritch if that’s all we’ve got.” She nodded.

“And the oaths?” Leask asked.

“None of that matters.”

“I should have gone with them instead of Fraser,” Gawyn muttered. “I knew, I felt it in my bones, but I thought—”

“Stop,” Si interrupted him, shaking his head. “Blame’ll do no good. I need you, Gawyn. No one knows these hills better than you. I need you to direct the search parties to places where they’d be most likely to…” He cut himself off, unable to say it.

“Aye, of course.”

“Bram?”

“Yes, cousin?” the boy asked in a creaky voice.

“Fetch every lantern you can find. Quickly. Take them from the campsites. From the nearer crofts, if you have to.”

The boy nodded and ran out of the kitchen with the smith’s girl on his heels.

“We’ll find her,” Leask said, and for the first time in his life, Silas prayed he was right.

“Has something happened?” Blair called from the doorway. “Your wife finally take the measure of you and run away?”

Angus and Mr. Leask stepped between Blair and Si. “Leave off, you,” came Ced’s deep growl.

Si had to find her. He couldn’t possibly lose them both. He couldn’t bear the guilt of killing both his parents and his wife. He’d be forced to stand before God and answer for ending it all in a desperate attempt to join them.

* * *

This cold, dark weightlessness was not how Ellen had ever pictured heaven. And, she realized with a bitter laugh, it was far too damp and chilled to be hell. Perhaps Purgatory then, a great black screaming nothingness, had swallowed her whole.

But no. That wasn’t right either. The screaming was only a creaking sound, and she registered the rhythmic drip, drip, drip of water on her face. There was water all around her, in her ears, and in her dress, and nearby, a ragged sort of wheezing.

They’d been riding in a carriage. And then there was shouting and the crack of a rifle shot, and then a scream that might have been her own.

She forced her eyes open, but it was still blackness and everything ached. A shiver ran through her, bone deep, and the air smelled brackish and musky. Something rocked her, gently, like a boat anchored in a current.

The laird coughed.

Ellen turned her face towards the sound. Her head throbbed, her neck burned, but she was relieved that it turned, submerging her cheek in icy water that made her splutter. “Milord?” she whispered.