Torin’s orders were urgent. He told his guards to search the hills, the glens, the mountains, the caves, the coast, the city streets, and the byres and storehouses of crofts. To study the knoll between his land and his father’s property for a blood trail and broken grass from boots that had fled, to look for a man with a wound in his back.
No one would be spared, Jack had discovered.
Torin challenged his guards to question even their own fathers, their brothers, their husbands, and friends. To doubt their kin, down to every branch and root of their family tree. To doubt those they loved most, for sometimes love was like dust in the eyes, a hindrance when it came to seeing truth.
The culprit could be any one of them in the east, and the air felt grim and heavy with disbelief as the news spread—another lass was missing, and the spirits were not to blame.
Jack had searched five crofts and the span of eleven different men’s backs when Adaira appeared, riding a mud-splattered horse. Her countenance was rosy from the wind, her hair braided into a crown. She was dressed in a simple gray dress with a red plaid knotted across her body. She dismounted before the mare had even come to a halt, and Jack watched from where he stood in a yard as she went to her cousin.
She knew about Maisie then. Jack could see it on her face as she spoke to Torin. The panic, the fear, the desperation. The cousins spoke for a moment, low and urgent. Adaira’s eyes suddenly flickered beyond Torin to find Jack in the shadows. Her gaze remained on him, the tension easing in her expression.
It still shocked Jack when she called him over. He felt like he was intruding on a private moment, especially when Torin raked his hand through his tangled hair.
“Jack,” Adaira greeted him. “I think we should tell Torin what we’ve been doing.”
Jack’s brow arched. “Indeed?” It was not a light decision to reveal a secret she claimed had been held by bard and laird alone, but Jack saw how necessary it was to bring Torin into their confidence.
“What is it?” Torin barked. “What have the two of you been up to?”
Adaira turned to the wind. It was blowing from the south. “We need a private place to speak. There’s a cave not far from here. Both of you, come with me.” She reached out to snag the reins of her mare and began to walk into the hills.
Jack trailed her. He could hear Torin give his guards commands to move to the next croft before he followed Jack with a heavy tread.
Adaira led them to a steep hill, its exposed side showing layers of rock. About halfway up was a cave, indiscernible unless one squinted. Jack stopped abruptly, staring up at the cave’s small, shadowed entrance.
He remembered this place. It had been one of his favorite caves as a boy, given how dangerous it was to climb into its mouth.
“Adaira,” he began to warn her, but she was already climbing, nimble and confident, even with her long dress and shawl. Jack watched, but his stomach churned when he imagined her slipping and falling.
Within moments, she had made it to the perch of the cave, and she paused to look down at them.
“Are you coming, Torin? My old menace?”
Jack frowned up at her. “I think we are a little old for such antics. Surely there’s another place more accommodating for this talk?”
She made no reply, but he watched her vanish into the cave. Jack glanced at Torin, who was regarding him with a strange gleam in his eyes.
“After you, bard,” the captain said.
Jack had no choice. Here they were, grown adults, and they were clambering up to a cave like they were ten years old again. He swore under his breath as he approached the rocky wall. All of this was ridiculous, he thought as he began to climb. He slipped, caught himself, uttered another curse, and then slowly ascended, following the path Adaira had taken.
He eventually made it to the cave, trembling from the height. Jack chose not to look down and eased into the cool shadows of the hollow space. It was dim, but he could faintly see Adaira sitting on the stone floor. He crawled to sit across from her, leaning back against the jagged wall, their boots touching.
The captain soon appeared, slipping into the cave in spite of his great stature.
As Jack waited for Adaira to speak first, he listened to water dripping, deep in the heart of the cave, and realized they were truly sheltered from the wind’s curiosity. Adaira was wise to take such precautions.
“I delayed in sharing this with you, Torin,” she began, “for two reasons. The first: I didn’t know if Jack would return to the mainland when I summoned him. The second: I didn’t know if what my father said was actually true. It seemed fanciful, and I wanted to see its proof before I gave you any hope.”