Page 33 of Christmas Secrets

CHAPTERTEN

“Brother, wake up!” Percival was in the middle of a dream involving making love with Holly, when his brother’s voice disturbed him.

“Go away,” he mumbled with a swipe of his arm, wanting to go back to his dream.

“Percival, ye need to wake up. Holly is in trouble,” said Morag.

“What?” Percival’s eyes snapped open. Everyone was sideways. That’s when he realized he’d been sleeping with his head down on the trestle table in the great hall of Rothbury Castle. “Holly. Where’s Holly?”

He bolted upright, his hand hitting something and sending it skittering across the table. He looked down to see Noel’s wooden toys. “What’s going on?” he asked, not seeing Noel either. “Are Holly and Noel back from the garderobe yet?” He vaguely remembered something like that, but honestly wasn’t quite sure. His eyes felt sunken in his face and his head hurt like the devil.

“Percival, Lord Neville Winfield from Kestwick is here, asking a lot of questions about Holly and Noel,” said Willow. God’s eyes, who wasn’t standing over him right now?

“Lord Neville?” Why did that name sound so familiar?

“It seems Holly and Noel are runaway serfs. Lord Neville is here to collect what is his,” explained Bedivere.

“What?” Percival was wide awake now. And now he knew why that name sounded so familiar. Noel had said that Rothbury Castle was so much bigger than Lord Neville’s castle. Plus, Holly had told him that they lived in Kestwick. God’s eyes, he hoped he was still dreaming because there is no way he wanted this to be true.

“Percival, is it true?” asked his mother, making him groan inwardly that she was here too. “Were you harboring runaway serfs?”

“That’s highly punishable,” said Morag’s cousin, Maira. “I hear those who harbor an escaped serf receives the same punishment as the serf.”

“That’s true,” agreed Bedivere. “And it has been known to happen. It’s not a pretty ending for either the serf or the one who helped them.”

“Wait a minute.” Percival tried to stand up too quickly and almost fell over and sat back down. “I didn’t know they were runaway serfs. Holly didn’t tell me that.”

“Of course, she didn’t,” said Bedivere, sounding disgusted. “Just like you didn’t tell her about being in prison. I told you the girl was hiding something and you didn’t want to listen to me.”

“I told him the same thing,” said Maira, making Percival want to send them all away.

“So, I lent a serf one of my best gowns?” gasped Willow, sounding horrified at the thought.

“Where is she? Where’s Holly?” Percival slowly stood up and looked around the room. There were servants sleeping on the floor. It was barely daybreak. He could see the sun starting to rise. “Oh, hell. Is it already morning?”

“Yes, it is,” said his mother.

“And Holly and Noel are missin’,” added Morag’s sister, Fia.

“What about Lord Neville? Where is he and what did you tell him?” Percival blurted out. “I will personally kill anyone who leads this devil to Holly and Noel.”

“Calm down, Brother.” Bedivere placed his hand on Percival’s arm. “I played dumb, but I think Kestwick knows I was lying.”

“If anything happens to Holly or Noel, there will be hell to pay.” Percival got up and started pacing back and forth.

“Ye’ve go to find them before Lord Neville does,” said Morag.

“Where do you think they went?” asked his mother.

The squire, Branton, entered the great hall, walking up to join them. “I just came from the stable,” he said. “Lord Bedivere, did you know there is a man named Lord Neville Winfield from Castle Kestwick here looking for a couple of his runaway serfs? It seems they even stole his horse. He’s furious about it.”

“Yes, Branton, we know,” said Maira through clenched teeth. “He is looking for Holly and Noel.”

“Who?” asked Branton.

“Holly is Percival’s girl, and Noel is her little brother,” Morag explained. “Ye ken. The lassie and the little boy we saw in Imanie’s secret garden?”

“Oh, them? Uh oh,” said Branton, seeming suddenly uncomfortable.