Page 67 of Stealing a Kilted Heart

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“What dae ye mean she’s gone?” Knox asked, his ceremonial dress suddenly forgotten. He was in the middle of getting ready for the wedding when Magnus came into the room, claiming no one could find Fia, and his clothes hung off him half-buttoned, his heart beating a mile a minute.

“We cannae find her,” Magnus said again, his tone carrying an urgency that only served to worry Knox even more. “Effie said she had gone tae pick flowers outside the walls, but she hasnae been seen since. We’ve looked over the whole castle fer her an’ she’s naewhere tae be seen.”

“How can this be?” Knox asked. Could it be that she had gotten cold feet, he wondered? Could it be that she had fled, regretting ever agreeing to marry him?

But no, she had been so excited for this day. She had waited for it with bated breath and Knox could not believe she had simply fled.

She wouldnae dae this. She wouldnae.

Which could only mean that something had happened to her—though what that could be, Knox couldn’t guess. According to Effie, she had been just outside the castle walls, where it was safe. It couldn’t have been brigands; it couldn’t have been an accident either. Someone would have heard her ask for help, Knox knew, and he also knew Magnus would have already sent men to look for her in the surrounding area.

Knox had to reach out for the nearest wall to steady himself. The entire world seemed to tilt off its axis, his vision going blurry and fuzzy around the corners. Panic, cold as ice, swept through him violently and for a terrible, terrifying moment Knox was convinced he would never see her again—at least not alive.

He quickly pushed such thoughts out of his mind. Nothing could have happened to her, he told himself. The guards would have heard it, seen it; someone would have done something.

And yet, despite the desperate attempt to force his logical mind to take over, his panic and fear didn’t dissipate. He was scared for her. He knew she wouldn’t have left on her own accord and so he couldn’t help but dread whatever it was that had pulled her away.

His knees almost buckled at the thought of what it could have been. The only thing that kept Knox upright was another thought—that Fia needed him.

“There is somethin’ else,” said Magnus.

“What?” Knox demanded, stepping up to him on shaking legs. “Tell me.”

“Callum is gone as well.”

Knox’s blood ran cold. What has he done tae her?

There was no way Fia had left with him of her own accord. There was no way she would follow that man anywhere after everything he had done to her.

“We have reason tae suspect he is workin’ with Alistair Gordon,” Magnus added, reaching into his pocket to bring out a pile of letters. “One o’ the men in his group found these. Most o’ them are in code an’ the rest dinnae provide any useful information, but look at this one,” he said, as he picked a letter from the stack and opened it for Knox. “Doesnae this look like Clan Gordon code?”

Knox’s spies had intercepted plenty of communication from Clan Gordon and as he looked at the symbols on the paper, he thought Magnus was right. It did, indeed, look like their code, and though they hadn’t yet decoded it, it was all Knox needed to be convinced Callum was, in fact, working with Laird Gordon. There was no doubt in his mind. There was no other reason for him to have such a letter in his possession.

Even for Callum, this was a new low, Knox thought. He had known the man was ambitious, that he was willing to do plenty of things to get what he wanted, but he did not think treason was one of them. His father had loved the clan. He had done much to help its people and Knox’s own father. How could Callum to come along and destroy that legacy?

Or was it Knox who simply didn’t inspire loyalty, he wondered?

It was true that he had not chosen Callum for the position of war leader. It had been the wise choice, the one that made most sense, not only to him but to Magnus as well. And naturally, he had expected some sort of pushback from Callum, but it he had never expected this. To go not only against him, but also against Fia, against the clan itself and its people, it was all too much. The betrayal stung like a knife wound, sharp and tender and raw, and the force of it was so staggering that once again, Knox felt as though the floor was sinking under his feet, pulling him under.

His father had commanded respect and loyalty so effortlessly, so naturally, that Knox had always thought it would be the same for him. Now, he couldn’t help but question it; he couldn’t help but question himself as the laird of the clan, to second-guess every decision he had ever made. He didn’t know how Callum could have put everyone in Clan Stuart in so much danger by colluding with the Gordons. He didn’t know how he could possibly stomach the betrayal, the knowledge that his actions could very well be Clan Stuart’s undoing.

He couldn’t think of this as his fault, Knox realized. Perhaps somewhere along the way, he could have done something to pull Callum to his side, to show him the right way of doing things, but ultimately, it was Callum who had made this decision, knowing the consequences. It was Callum who decided to put everyone he knew in danger, simply to have his revenge.

Gritting his teeth, Knox looked Magnus in the eye, rage flaring up inside him. “Rally the men. By nightfall, I want us tae be in Castle Gordon.”

The siege was inevitable—only Knox had thought it would be his castle that would be under it, not Gordon’s. And yet there he was, his men attacking Castle Gordon, pouring in through their defenses and wreaking havoc in their path. Everything around him was on fire. Everywhere he looked, there were corpses and blood seeping into the ground, drenching the earth. Everywhere around him, the clang of steel against steel was deafening, the screams of the fallen soldiers who were injured, lying on the ground in the hopes that help would arrive or crawling themselves through the battle in the hopes of finding help, mixing with it in a wild cacophony.

Death and devastation. Knox would have done anything in his power to stop this before it even begun, but Alistair Gordon had other ideas in his mind, and Callum, the traitor, had helped him with them.

Cutting down anyone in his path mercilessly, Knox looked for Fia. It was the only thing on his mind, the only thing he cared about in that battle. Failure was not an option. He could imagine her in Gordon’s hands, frightened and perhaps even hurt, in pain. His rage flared inside him, bubbling over with every passing moment.

He was going to kill him. And he was going to kill Callum, too, with his own two hands.

As he crossed the courtyard and made his way into the keep, Knox had a select group of men with him. He hadn’t thought Malcolm would be put to the test quite so soon, only two weeks after he was given the role of war leader, but now Knox had left him in charge of the attack while he, Magnus, and a dozen more men infiltrated the keep, searching for Fia. It was not an easy task. Out of all the places in a castle, the keep was the most well-protected, but in the chaos of the battle it was possible for Knox to find an entrance at the back that wasn’t as heavily guarded, he and his men spilling inside the structure and splitting up to search the place. Knox’s feet thudded against the stone floors as he ran, swiftly dealing with every guard who came his way as he moved deeper and deeper into the keep, searching for its most guarded room.

He knew that was where Gordon would be keeping Fia. Somewhere inaccessible, somewhere away from everything and everyone else.