Chapter Fourteen
“Ye ken the king ordered the laird to marry by Beltane, which ye ken was yesterday.” Lady Chisholm was trying hard not to raise her voice since she didn’t want others in the keep to hear her. The elders just stared at her. She couldn’t leave Lady Beth in the dungeon too long.
“Lady Chisholm, we are well aware of the king’s edict. However, although we’ve sent for the laird, he has yet to address us,” Morgan said.
“He is no’ here.”
Abraham raised his brows. “Where is he?”
Not sure how much to tell them since she wanted them to make a quick decision, she shrugged. “I doona ken. But I believe he will be gone for a few days.”
She leaned over the table and tapped the table with her finger. “I suggest ye send a missive to the king that Laird Mackenzie has decided to marry Lady Alice Chisholm and get the wedding underway before ye face the king’s wrath.”
“Nay, Lady Chisholm.” The laird entered the solar, glaring at her.
She sucked in a breath. “I thought ye were traveling to Castle Grant?”
“And why would I be doing that?”
She didn’t care for the way he studied her. Even if he knew she’d had Beth hidden, the advisors would have to insist on the wedding to Alice to avoid whatever consequence the king would consider.
Lady Chisolm pulled her skirts close to her body and swept past him. Before she left the room, she turned to the old men. “I am merely trying to keep the Mackenzie clan from suffering at the king’s hand.”
*
Daniel watched the woman leave the room.
Abraham pointed his finger at Daniel. “Lady Chisholm has a point, Laird. The king expected ye to be married by yesterday. Marry Lady Alice and be done with it.”
“I have no intention of marrying Lady Alice Chisholm. Lady Beth Munro is my choice. I have proposed to her and she has accepted.”
Morgan perked up. “So we are able to plan the wedding and send word to the king?”
Daniel tightened his lips. “Yes. But now it seems Lady Beth is missing.”
“Missing?” Richard asked. “Please explain, Laird.”
With no intention of speaking about last night to these men, he said, “Two notes have appeared this morning. One to Lady Munro and one to me. In those notes—which I have every reason to believe are fake—Lady Beth says she went to visit her sister at Castle Grant.”
The three elder advisors all sat in silence.
Abraham tapped the table. “Then ye must marry Lady Alice and we will send word to the king.”
Daniel leaned forward, his fists leaning on the table. “I will no’ marry Lady Alice. Although I have no way to prove it, as I said, I believe in my heart Lady Beth’s notes to her mam and myself are fake.”
“If ye believe that, should ye no’ be on yer way to Castle Grant and fetch yer bride?”
Daniel sighed. “I just said I believe them to be fake. However, just to make sure, I sent Gregory to Castle Grant.”
Richard glared at him. “We have no idea what the king has planned for the Mackenzies if ye ignore his edict.” He waved his finger at Daniel. “Ye might be making a big mistake. I say accept Lady Alice. No’ everyone gets to marry who they want to.”
Frustrated and getting nowhere with the men, Daniel turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
He left the keep and headed to the stable.
After questioning James, one of the stable lads, he learned that Gregory and a few other men had left for Castle Grant and several men had gone to search the area for Beth.
He also asked if a horse was missing. James seemed insulted that an animal could be missing and he hadn’t notified the laird.
It was time for him to join the hunt. He had places that he and Beth had been to that the others would not necessarily know about.
With a heavy heart, but a strong determination, he headed out of the castle.
*
Beth had cried all the tears she thought could come out of her body. She even wondered if she was damaging herself since she’d had no water and couldn’t afford to use up what she had with tears.
Daniel, please, listen to me. I love ye and I want to marry ye. We’ll have bairns, and a wonderful life. Please don’t fall for Lady Chisholms’ plans, whatever they might be.
She really had no way of knowing what she’d told Daniel to go along with her plan.
Why was the woman so determined to have Daniel marry her daughter? It was obvious to anyone who had spent an hour in both their companies that Alice had no interest in becoming the laird’s wife and he had no interest in her.
She laid her head down on her raised knees and tried to sleep. It might help pass the time. But for what? Would Lady Chisholm leave her in here forever to waste away, die of thirst, and be eaten by vermin?
Beth awoke with a start. Someone was outside the heavy door to her room. “Hello?” When the noise stopped, she said, “Is someone there?”
The door slowly opened and a man walked in. She was pretty sure he was the man who had dragged her on this journey to hell. Was he here to finish the job. Kill her?
She climbed to her feet. “What do you want?” Her voice was gruff, dry, painful when she spoke.
He walked a few feet toward her and she backed up. “Her ladyship doesna want ye to die.”
She wiped her nose with the edge of her bedding. “How nice of her to be so considerate. If she is so concerned for my welfare, why do ye no’ bring me back upstairs?”
He shrugged. “She has her reasons.” He held out a mug of some type of liquid and a sack. “Here.”
She took the sack and mug from him. “Is this poisoned?”
“Nay. I said she doesna want ye to die.” He turned to leave.
“Wait!”
He stopped and turned back to her. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her.
“Y’er the one who dragged me down here, waving a knife in my face.”
He said nothing, which was no surprise.
She was about to tell him how serious the charges against him would be once she was released, but she didn’t trust him not to kill her, despite what he’d said.
She turned her back on him and returned to her corner that she had cleaned out as best she could with part of the bedding.
He didn’t hesitate and left the cell with no further comments. She sighed and, preferring to make a statement by ignoring whatever food and drink had been provided, she knew in her heart Daniel was right now trying his best to find her. She didn’t want him to find a dead body.
She sniffed the liquid. Ale. She looked in the sack. Bread, cheese, two apples, and cold meat.
Yes, Lady Chisholm did intend to keep her alive.
*
Lady Chisholm entered Daniel’s solar at his request. Without comment, he waved his hand at the chair in front of his desk.
He leaned forward, his hands resting on the desk. “Ye might think ye won by appealing to the advisors to set up a wedding with Lady Alice, but it willno’ work.”
Lady Chisholm sniffed. “I have no idea what ye speak of.”
Daniel slammed his palms on the desk. “Aye, ye do.” He took a deep breath, trying his best to get control of himself. He leaned back, his arms crossed over his chest. “Just tell me where Lady Beth is and ye, yer daughter and husband can leave Castle Leod with no consequences.”
The woman gripped the arm of her chair, her face as red as the last dish of beets Daniel had eaten. “I doona ken where Lady Beth is. All I ken is what I’ve heard around the keep and that is she fled to her sister’s home for a visit.”
He stood. “Pack yer belongings and send for yer carriage. The three of ye are no longer welcomed in Castle Leod.”
“Ye canno’ do that!”
“I can, and I will.” He stood and strode around the desk, storming from the room, slamming the door behind him.
He went to the stable and asked James to prepare Atlas for him.
The men were still out searching, but sitting around trying to get information from that despicable woman was doing no one any good.
He would join the search. She couldn’t be far since she disappeared from the time he’d left her bed until the next morning.
Once his head cleared he realized having Lord and Lady Chisholm leave the castle was not the best of ideas. He was certain she was the only one who knew what had happened to Beth.
In frustration, he turned around and headed back to the castle.
“Laird, the advisors requested ye join them in the great hall when you returned.” One of the grooms grabbed Atlas’s reins and held him while Daniel dismounted.
As much as he hated to do it, he summoned one of the maids and asked her to have Lady Chisholm join him in his solar in about thirty minutes.
That was all the time he would give the elders since he knew what they were going to say, and he didn’t want to go over it again when Beth was missing and he was beginning to go from fear to absolute panic.
“Laird, have ye heard anything new?” Lady Munro walked into the great hall just as he entered. The advisors sat at the end of the dais.
He took Lady Munro’s hands in his. Her hands were cold as spring water. “Nay, my lady. My men are still searching. Once I finish the meeting with these men here, I will speak one more time with Lady Chisholm, then head to the village and question everyone.”
She nodded and left the room, her shoulders slumped.
Daniel took in a deep breath and walked to where the council members sat. He stood in front of them, his arms crossed over his chest. “What is it now? I have more important things to do than meet with ye every few hours. My choice of bride, who has accepted me, is missing.”
Morgan held a parchment in his hand. “Ye best forget about Lady Beth, laird.”
Daniel reached for the note and read it. “Nay!”