Page 71 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
Her friends were already running toward her. Lilian was pale and teary. Maddie wore the expression of someone who had just seen a ghost. Andnothingspooked Maddie.
“What’s wrong?” Grace urged.
But it was Hunter’s voice that answered, spearing her like a javelin from behind. His words pierced straight through her heart.
“It’s Ellie,” he said as she whirled around to face him. “Ellie is missin’.”
27
“Are you certain?” Grace asked as her hand snaked upward and curved around her throat.
Hunter understood the doubt. He’d had it himself when Ailis had come banging on his door in quite a state, screeching that his daughter was gone. Ellie was rarely where she was supposed to be, sneaking around the castle as she pleased.
“Aye, I am,” he replied. His heart was a block of ice in his chest. “Ailis put her to bed and insisted the lassie was fast asleep with that kitten, when she was called away to tend to an injury. But there wasnae an injury. She got to where she was supposedly needed and found nay one there. By the time she made it back to Ellie’s room, me daughter was gone.”
“You don’t think Snowflake might have escaped, and she went after him?” Grace pressed, her eyes widening in panic.
Hunter shook his head gravely. “I trust Ailis. She has an… uncanny sense of things.” He curled his hand around the hilt of his sword, which he’d grabbed on his way out of his chambers. “Even without that, the guards confirmed that they spotted what might have been a child leavin’ through the gates around the time Ailis was being led on a wild goose chase. With so many guests arrivin’ from the villages for the weddin’, they didnae think anythin’ of it.”
“She left of her own accord?” Grace said, squinting in confusion. “Why would she do that?”
Hunter’s lip curled. “I think the person who called Ailis away gave me daughter a message. And I think me daughter answered that message, venturin’ out into the night to meet with her ‘Uncle.’ A meeting she hasnae returned from, and isnae likely to without intervention.”
“So, she isn’t just missing,” Madeleine cut in, her expression hard. “She has been taken. Is that what you’re saying?”
Hunter’s gaze remained on Grace. “I just came to make sure ye were safe. Now that I ken ye are, I’ll be on me way.” He dipped his head. “I mean to bring me lassie home, and I’ll be bringin’ Trevor’s head with me.”
Grace lurched forward and grabbed his arm. “Be careful. Please, be careful.”
He peeled her hand off his arm and kissed it. “Aye, lass. I will.”
With that, he released her hand and left the ladies in the hallway, before breaking into a sprint.
Trevor had at least a forty-minute head start, and there was not a second to waste if Hunter didn’t want to trigger another four-year war to get his daughter back again.
“Where is he?” Hunter snarled, grabbing the innkeeper by the front of his nightshirt.
He’d broken through the door of the Ayrford Inn, barging straight into the innkeeper’s bedchamber, and dragged the man out of bed. It had been the first place Hunter could think of where he might find Trevor and Ellie, considering the encounter earlier that day. And as it was on the road to MacRannock lands, it had made sense to get as much information as possible before he crossed into enemy territory.
The innkeeper put up his hands, trembling like a leaf. “Who, M’Laird?”
“Laird MacRannock. I ken he was here in Ayrford today, and I ken he didnae just arrive. He must’ve been here last night,” Hunter replied, threat thrumming in his voice.
He was lyin’ in wait, and I just let him wander off.
The innkeeper shook his head as his eyes widened to the whites. “I wouldnae let Laird MacRannock into me inn, M’Laird. Me boy died in the war with him. I wouldnae!”
“Then he gave ye a different name,” Hunter snapped, convinced he wasn’t wrong about this. “Light brown hair, pale blue eyes…”
He cursed under his breath, trying to think of anything else that might aid in the description. Otherwise, he was just describing countless men.
“A birthmark!” he said, remembering. “A birthmark on his cheek, close to his eye. Dark red, like a blackberry got squashed on his face.”
Horrified recognition flickered across the innkeeper’s face. “Aye… such a man was here. Said his name was… Finn MacCool.”
“Ye fool!” Hunter barked, wanting to shake some sense into the man. “That’s a name from a myth! Anyone with half a bit of sense would ken that! Ye let the enemy walk right through yer door, and now he’s taken me daughter. And I swear on me life that ye’ll suffer for yer part in this!”
The creak of a floorboard drew his attention. There was someone in the main room behind him creeping forward. The intruder was heavier than a woman, but not so heavy that he’d be hard to beat.
