Hearing a creak of the floorboards, I opened my eyes. It took me a few seconds to focus, but when I did I was stunned to see Laria standing at my bedside.
I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. It was only half past three in the morning.
What on earth was she doing here, in my room and at this hour?
My confusion at finding her in my room must have shown on my face because she took a quick step back. “My apologies, sir. I did not mean to wake you. I thought to put an extra log on the fire,” she said, motioning to the fireplace where several new logs had been placed on the grate.
Instantly I relaxed a little. “Thank you,” I replied.
The past few weeks since I had returned from my travels, I had come to know Laria better, and had even sat with her and talked about poems and poets she liked. I was highly impressed with her knowledge.
Her gaze shifted to my naked chest and I felt the heat in her gaze when our eyes met once more. The open invitation there could not be misinterpreted, and I realized what a precarious situation I was in.
The last thing I needed was anyone, namely my parents, finding her in my chambers in the middle of the night.
“Laria, I am going back to sleep now. I suggest you do the same—else you will be exhausted come morning.”
She stopped just shy of the door. “I could keep you company if you would like.” Her dark eyes skipped to the space beside me. “I would not say a word to anyone.”
The invitation shocked me. “Laria, I think you should return to your room.”
Something dark flashed in her eyes—what looked like disappointment and surprise. Apparently she had not expected my refusal.
I wondered about Randall. The man already couldn’t stand me. I often felt his jealous stare whenever Laria and I were in the same room.
She nodded curtly. “Of course, sir.”
So disturbed was I by the encounter, I couldn’t fall back to sleep.
Finally, giving up on sleep altogether, I tossed the covers off and went to the window, pushed the curtains aside, and stared out at the gray morning.
The woods seemed to call to me. I had seen my fair share of sunrises from the forest where I hunted with my father and brother.
I went to my brother’s chambers.
Duncan was sprawled on his back on the mattress, his hair sticking out in every direction.
“Wake up,” I said, nudging him. “Let’s go hunting.”
He instantly opened an eye. “Bloody hell, it is still dark. What time is it?”
“Nearly five.”
“Too early,” he said, sounding disgusted. “Less than a month ago, we’d just now be getting ready for bed.”
“Aye, but we are home now and those days of freedom are far behind us.”
“Speak for yourself,” he said, releasing a loud yawn. Brushing a hand over the scruff of his beard, he stretched and sat up. “Just because your betrothed is en route to Braemar as we speak, does not mean I have to give up women as well.”
I was getting tired of hearing his jabs about my so-called impending marriage. There was a part of me that would be incredibly relieved to have Margot Murray’s visit over with.
“Hand me my breeches, will you?”
***
An hour later we were far into the hills. I breathed in deeply of the crisp spring air. Normally we didn’t walk this far in order to find game, but the hike had done me good and Duncan hadn’t complained. Like me, he seemed to enjoy reconnecting with the forests where we learned to hunt with our father and grandfather.
I cleared my throat. “I woke to a visitor in my room in the middle of the night.”
Duncan stopped in mid-stride. “Ah, so now the truth of why you wanted to hunt comes to light. Let me guess, was your visitor Laria?”
I was surprised by his response. “Aye. How did you know?”
The side of his mouth curved. “I have heard the murmurings within our household. Even our own sisters have remarked that you have spent time in Laria’s company…reading poetry, of all things.” He laughed under his breath. “Tell me, are those love sonnets you are reading?”
I pushed him, and he nearly ended up on his backside but managed to catch himself.
“You read with her, and then you wonder why she shows up in your room in the middle of the night? Come, brother, you were always smarter than me.”
“Reading with a woman is harmless.”
“Is it?” Duncan said just as quickly. “She’s not visiting my room, is she?”
He had a point. “Aye.”
“Distance yourself. You cannot afford to make a mistake here.”
I knew he was right. “I understand.”
We continued walking in silence, when Duncan nudged my side. He glanced past me, and he slowly put a finger to his lips. He nodded toward a buck, roughly fifty yards away. Drawing back on his bow, he took a deep breath and blew it out at the same time he released the arrow.
The buck flinched and raced off.
“I think you missed him,” I said, keeping any humor from my voice. Duncan prided himself on being a crack shot.
“We shall see about that,” Duncan replied, already racing after the buck that had disappeared into the trees.
All the worry I’d been feeling melted away. How I missed this—rushing through the brush just after dawn, with the sunlight spilling through the tree branches, the scent of heather so strong.
Heaven on earth.
We followed along the trail when from the corner of my eye I saw someone—or something—move. I couldn’t tell if it was animal or human, it had moved so quickly.
Duncan, aware that I had stopped, looked back at me with a frown. “What is it?” he whispered under his breath, his voice and expression saying he was irritated.
“I swore I saw someone.”
“Probably just an animal,” he said, motioning for me to continue.
I gripped the bow tighter in my hands and we walked in silence.
Ahead of me, Duncan went down on his haunches. He looked up at me, a triumphant smile on his face. “Ha, I told you.”
There, on the ground, was a trail of blood. I reached down and touched the crimson stain. “Look closer. The blood is dry.”
“Damn, I thought for sure I had hit him.” He stood and kept walking down the pathway while I stayed where I was, bothered about the stains and the figure I had seen.
I followed the blood spatter. There were fresh impressions of boots in the earth…and what looked to be drag marks, because the grass and brush had been trampled. Why weren’t there drag marks before now? I wondered. “I thought father said that no one had been hunting beyond the marker.” The marker was a tree with a large cross carved into its trunk. No one normally hunted beyond that point because the distance to carry the kill back to the castle on foot was too far.
“Aye, he did,” Duncan said, sounding exasperated.
“Why would a hunter dragging an animal venture off the pathway? Wouldn’t it make more sense for whoever it was to stay on the main road?”
Duncan frowned, his gaze following mine. “Unless they were poachers.”
I shifted my bow to the other hand and walked a few yards. The blood roared in my ears when I saw what appeared to be footprints from a woman’s boots—and then impressions in the dirt where the toes of the boots bit into the earth, right before the drag marks began.
My heart raced in my chest. A person had been dragged on the trail.
I walked through a cobweb, or what I thought was a cobweb. I brushed the web from my face. “Damn spiders.”
“That is no spider’s web,” Duncan said, reaching for my hand and pinching a long blonde hair between his thumb and index finger.
I turned back to the tree I’d passed, and there, hanging from a low branch, were several strands of long pale hair.
I scanned the area.
“When you said you saw someone—or something—what did you see?” Duncan asked, the game we were chasing now forgotten.
“I don’t know. It went by too fast.”
“I say we follow the footprints.”
We quickly continued down the trail, my strides lengthening.
The presence of blood, the long blonde hair, the footprints that clearly belonged to two men and one woman…it did not bode well.
A branch snapped nearby, and I put my hand out, signaling my brother to stop. There was another crack, and yet another. Duncan’s eyes widened. Then the footsteps ran right upon us.
My stomach clenched in a tight knot. I searched the area, but didn’t see a soul.
But the phantom footsteps continued, coming at us from different directions.
I reached for my knife, pulling it from the sheath, and saw Duncan do likewise. Instinctively, we put our backs to each other.
After a few agonizing seconds, there was nothing but silence.
I went to take a step back down the trail when a blood-curdling scream filled the air.
My heart gave a jolt. “What was that?”
“A scream,” Duncan said.
I rolled my eyes. “I know…but from where?”
It sounded a few feet away, just like the footsteps had sounded that came upon us so quickly moments before.
“We need to leave here.” Duncan’s voice was very matter-of-fact.
“What if someone needs our help?”
“The blood has dried, Ian. The footprints are newer but not fresh. What happened here was not within the past few days.”
Aye, he was right. I ran a trembling hand through my hair. “Let’s follow the footsteps and see where they lead.”
I kept my knife in hand as we made our way down the hill, following the trail closely. My brother was right on my heels. I had seen the look in his eyes when we heard that shrill scream.
I’m sure he was wishing that he had not agreed to go hunting with me. Right now, we could both be snoring away the morning hours instead of both being scared out of our minds.
“The drag marks stop,” I said, as the footprints ended. Duncan ran into my back. “Look at the indentations of the heel marks of this one. They’re so much deeper now.”
Meaning one of the men had lifted the person they had been dragging.
“This does not bode well,” Duncan said, his knuckles white where he gripped the hilt of the knife. “I was in town yesterday and there was mention of a young woman who has gone missing. She had long blonde hair and had worked at the Blackwood farm for the past four years.”
The Blackwood farm was less than an hour away from the castle.
I lengthened my strides, my concern growing as the footsteps turned off onto a well-worn pathway. A pathway I knew all too well…because it led right to the castle.