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Nay matter,she convinced herself.I can reach them.
Trembling with nerves, she reached down to where the reins were knotted. Jabbing her finger into the loop, she did her best to tease it loose, but the leather was old and worn, and the knot was tightly fastened. Nevertheless, she continued, growing more frantic with every passing moment that she did not have. It was only a matter of time before Victor came out, and all of her hard work would be for nothing if he saw what she had done.
At last, the knot loosened, and, with a sharp tug, she freed the reins from the gatepost and hauled them up, ready to ride away. She did not know where Castle Moore was, exactly, but if she followed the road, she hoped she would find her way back.
“Halt!” Victor’s angry bellow rattled in Edwina’s ears.
Her gaze snapped toward him, as she watched him sprint from the farmhouse door. Realizing that it was now or never, she squeezed her thighs and braced for the horse to start moving.
But the beast did nothing. Instead of running toward freedom, it lowered its head and began to snatch at the grass, chewing contentedly as Edwina squeezed her thighs again and again in utter desperation.
In a panic, she snapped the reins. Immediately, the stallion’s head rose up, and it seemed like the creature would finally start to run. That was, until it suddenly reared on its hind legs, sending Edwina tumbling off its back. She tried to reach out for something to keep her upright, but her hands just flailed wildly in the air, as the ground came up to meet her.
Her back thudded against the dirt, knocking the air clean out of her lungs and leaving her gasping on the ground, while her hands came up to protect her face as the stallion began to stomp in annoyance.
A moment later, the gate opened, and Victor tore out, grabbing Edwina by her wrists and hauling her to her feet.
“If ye’d just do as ye’re told, this would be much easier for us both,” Victor hissed. “We were goin’ to have a warm bed and hearty food for our bellies, but I’d say ye daenae deserve that kindness. Now, thanks to ye, we’re goin’ to ride through the cold night with empty stomachs. At least, ye are. Maybe, that’ll be enough to teach ye to behave.”
Edwina turned her dazed eyes toward the front door of the farmhouse, but no light spilled out onto the yard. Whoever the residents were, they had already closed their door on her, evidently not wanting to involve themselves in her plight.
“If anythin’ is broken, ye’ve only got yerself to blame,” Victor added, as he hoisted her back up onto the now-peaceful horse.
Glaring down at her bound hands, she knew that the only thing broken was her heart.
CHAPTER32
For two days,Felix and his men chased a ghost through the wilds and wildernesses of the Highlands. They stopped only to rest their horses and to eat whatever they had brought with them, though sleep was out of the question. They had also paused briefly in the villages and towns that they passed, to ask if anyone had seen a man matching Victor’s description, but that had proven fruitless.
“He cannae be far now,” John encouraged, as the horses plodded along a stretch of forest road, guided by the faint light of a new dawn.
Felix mustered a smile. “Ye ken that might nae true, John. We’re expectin’ him to return to his Castle, but what if he doesnae? What if he keeps on ridin’, to seek sanctuary at the Castle of a friend or ally? If so, there could be days of ridin’ ahead of us.”
“Aye, but he’s nae goin’ to do that,” John replied. “He doesnae ken that we ken that he’s the culprit, so he has nae reason to go anywhere but his Castle. He thinks he’s tricked ye, and he thinks he’s safe. He’ll hide himself away at Reindell Castle, just as we suspect he will. And that Castle isnae far at all. Half a day’s ride at most.”
Felix bit the inside of his cheek, for it was not the good news that John perhaps thought it was. “Then, we’re too far behind. We cannae let him take her inside the Castle walls, or I might never see her again.”
The entire endeavor had been a race against time, but now they found themselves in the final sprint, and they did not know how much distance stood between them and their opponent.
“Men, if yer horses are flaggin’, stay here and rest them! We’ll return for ye when we’ve retrieved my wife. If we daenae return, then ye must judge when to go back to Castle Moore on yer own.” Felix turned in his saddle and gave the order. “If yer horses have some strength left, we’re goin’ to run them as fast as they will go!”
At least half of the twenty-strong band of men slowed their horses to a halt, casting apologetic looks at their Laird. Still, ten was better than none, if this last effort ended in a fight.
“Onward, Lads!” Felix bellowed, praying that his wife was still alive as he squeezed his thighs and urged his gelding into a gallop.
Behind him, the drumbeat of hooves spurred him on, making his blood rise until he felt as if he was riding into war. Considering what they might face, perhaps that was not too far from the truth.
* * *
The new sun had just begun its ascent, no more than an hour after Felix had begun his desperate charge, when he began to wonder if it was all too little, too late. With the hour being so early, there had been no other riders upon the road, nor could he see any in the distance that might be Victor and Edwina. And with every stretch of road that they covered without a single sign of Edwina, Victor got closer to reaching the safety of his Castle.
Indeed, he was on the brink of leading his men away from the road so they could rest their horses, when his eyes caught a glimpse of something on the shallow rise of a hill, up ahead. The vague shape swayed from side to side. A movement that could only belong to another horse.
Immediately, Felix put up his hand to halt his men. They slowed to a standstill, the horses breathing hard, their muzzles frothing from the exertion, but it would be worth all of that strain if the rider up ahead proved to be Victor.
“Is it them?” Felix whispered to John.
The Man-at-Arms narrowed his eyes. “I daenae ken, M’Laird, but I see two figures.”
