Page 65 of Highland Jewel
She heard footsteps moving outside the door. Niall’s arms dropped to his sides; he heard the sound too. Cinaed had warned her that she had only a few moments.
“Why did you come to Dalmigavie?” She had to know.
“I was sent here.”
“By whom?”
He motioned toward the door, indicating that someone was listening. “You should ask your sister and her new husband. They know.”
Everyone in the castle was expecting the messengers from the Borders. But no one knew why they were coming.
Maisie heard the bolt on the door slide open.
She studied Niall and saw an inscrutable expression masking his features. The door of the cell swung open, and they separated. The hulking guard waited just outside.
She forced herself to move toward the door, her eyes staying on him.
Outside, as the door closed and the bolt slid into place, Maisie felt an invisible axe strike her in the chest and split her heart in two.
Cinaed stood near the stairwell, and she hurried to him. “Niall says you know why he is here. Can you set him free? At least have Searc or the laird speak to him. Please don’t go by my earlier words.”
He shook his head. “We have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Why? Why wait?”
“Right now, Searc is questioning the other two who traveled to the Highlands with Campbell. Tomorrow, he’ll have the opportunity to explain himself.”
CHAPTER24
Faces from past dreams loomed up, but he forced them to disappear into the mists.
Niall was searching for Maisie, but he couldn’t find her. He was told she was here, but he couldn’t see her. He moved down a city street, tenements rising like shadowy giants on either side of him. A man’s gruff laughter came from a murky close to his right. He steered away from it, only to have a dog rush toward him, baring his teeth and nipping at his heels before running off.
From behind, he heard the clatter of wheels on the cobblestones. He jumped aside as a carriage bearing down on him careened past, the driver whipping the horses furiously. Niall caught a glimpse of his sister and his nieces through the window, their faces white with terror.
“Fiona!” One moment the carriage was passing him, the next it had vanished before his eyes.
“Help me.”
Niall spun around, hearing Maisie’s voice near him. He reached out and touched the shoulder of a woman standing near, but before he could see her face, she disappearedlike a wisp of smoke in the wind. A well-dressed couple hurried by, moving on the edges of the shadows, averting their eyes from him. Panic seized him. Cold, unreasoning dread washed down his back.
“Help me, Niall.”
He turned around again, and he saw her. She was leaning against the arched stone entry to a wynd.
Niall called to her, but his voice caught in his throat; only a whisper emerged. “I’m coming.”
She beckoned to him, her face drawn and pale, her hands outstretched.
His feet dragged, he struggled to breathe.
She backed away and disappeared into the darkness. He tried to run but tripped, going down hard. When he struggled to rise, he realized he had shackles on his ankles, and the chains were thick and heavy. Dragging himself across the cold, wet stones of the street, he finally reached the wynd and crawled through the arched opening.
Her cries for help reverberated off the walls, but they were growing weaker, like a dying echo.I’m coming.
Niall opened his eyes. He was staring up at a dark ceiling. He was no longer in an alleyway. The wynd was gone. He was in a cell. He heard the faintest noise, a slight, almost inaudible scratching.
The summer days were endless this far north, and a dim light was visible in the small window. The bone-weariness Niall had been ignoring for weeks had overwhelmed him, fogging his brain. He’d slept, but he didn’t know for how long. He couldn’t tell if it was evening or morning. The restless sleep had brought a dream. A trying, horrible dream. Maisie was there, but he couldn’t find her. She needed him and he couldn’t reach her.
