A Forbidden Night with a Scot (Sins in a Kilt #1)

Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

S amuel told no one but the guards at the gates where he was heading, too eager to catch up to Alicia to seek Nerian first. He knew his guards would give him the message, and he also knew he would come after him, but he didn’t mind. As long as he reached Alicia, nothing else mattered to him.

A pounding headache gripped him before he had even crossed the gates on his horse. His head felt heavy on his shoulders and all he wanted was to rest, but how could he when he knew Alicia was about to slip right through his fingers? For all he knew, Laird MacTavish could still want this marriage, and even if he didn’t, Samuel wouldn’t risk Gavin taking her back home and locking her in a room for the rest of her life, forbidding them from seeing each other. He had to reach him. He had to plead with him and make him see just how much he loved her.

But what if he doesnae understand? What if he doesnae care?

Samuel didn’t know what he would do then. He had half a mind to simply steal her away and marry her, so that no one could tell them what they could and couldn’t do, but there was no telling what the consequences of such actions would be. For all he knew, Gavin would declare a war against his clan, as was within his rights, and claim that the wedding was unsanctioned and unwanted. He could even get the support of the king, and then Samuel’s clan would be doomed. It wasn’t something he could risk.

It wasn’t something he could entertain for too long, so he pushed the thought aside. When the time came, he would know what to do, he told himself. He simply prayed Gavin would hear him out. He prayed he would understand.

His horse’s hooves thundered against the ground as they moved down the path and Samuel had his hands curled tightly around the reins, fighting the dizziness and the nausea. The cold air that whipped his face helped only slightly with his condition, keeping him awake and alert but doing nothing to lessen he pain in his head. There was nothing he could do but endure it, thinking about the moment he would see Alicia again; the moment the two of them would be reunited.

Had he been in a better state, Samuel would have noticed the signs of a trap in his path, but as it were, the four men who jumped out of the trees to surround him surprised him, and all he could do was hold onto his horse as it reared, frightened by their sudden appearance. As much as he tried, though, he couldn’t help but slip off the saddle, landing on his back on the ground as his horse fled to a safe distance and stopped farther down the road.

His hand reached for the sword at his waist, pulling it out of its sheathe. He took a moment to assess the situation: four men, soldiers by the look of them, all of them advancing towards him at the same time.

He had beaten worse odds in the past, but never injured as he was now. It wasn’t just his head that ached; his shoulder had yet to heal, the wounded flesh protesting with each movement he made.

As one of the men reached him first, Samuel raised his sword and parried his blow, their blades meeting with a deafening clang. The other three quickly closed in around him, and he swiftly dodged another hit, then another.

But he knew he stood no chance. The only comfort was the fact that those men didn’t seem to want him dead—only subdued. They never went for a killing blow.

When the next attack came, it was from the man who had snuck up behind him. A familiar dull pain exploded in Samuel’s head, radiating out from the back of his head where the man had struck him with the handle of a knife. For a moment, Samuel swayed, resisting the pain and the darkness, but no matter how much he fought it, he could not keep his eyes open.

By the time his body hit the ground, he was already unconscious.

Rushing pairs of hooves echoed around Alicia as she and her family silently rode down the path. Alarmed, she looked over her shoulder along with her sisters and her father, the three of them surely thinking the same thing she was: that they were under attack.

She heard her father unsheathe his sword, the blade scraping against the scabbard. She, too, reached for the small blade she always carried with her when travelling, just in case. If they forced the horses to a gallop, would they manage to escape? Whoever was coming was fast, hurtling down the path, and Alicia’s heart hammered in her chest at the thought that perhaps they had no chance of escape.

Could brigands be this fast? Could it be someone else?

As the party crested the small hill behind them, Alicia instantly recognized their leader. It was Nerian, along with a few soldiers, all of them looking frazzled and riding with abandon, only coming to a halt when they reached Alicia and her family.

“Nerian,” her father said, moving to the front of their small group, brows stitched into a frown. “What is it?”

“Samuel,” Nerian said breathlessly, as though he had been running instead of riding. “I was told he came after ye. Where is he?”

Alicia didn’t even have the chance to feel any joy at the knowledge that Samuel had run after her, reluctant to let her go. She was flooded with fear instead, remembering the state he was in after her father’s attack. Nerian and his men had come from the castle, so they should have encountered Samuel if he was following the same path, she thought. The fact that they hadn’t come across him could only mean that for some reason, he hadn’t been there.

“We didnae see him at all,” said Emmeline, joining their father at the front of the group. “Did ye nae see him? Perhaps he stopped tae rest.”

“He wouldnae stop,” Alicia said under her breath. No one heard her, of course, but she knew he wouldn’t rest until he had reached her, even if he wasn’t feeling well. Samuel was a stubborn man. Even injured, he would have kept going.

It could only mean that something had happened to him. Could it be that he was so unwell he simply couldn’t go on? Could he have gotten confused while searching for her and veered off the path, getting lost? After all, he was in no state to travel.

Or could it be that he had been attacked?

“We would have seen him,” Nerian said. He was pale, Alicia noticed, his forehead covered in a thin sheen of sweat. “We searched everywhere fer him. He isnae here.”

When Alicia turned to look at her father, curious to see his reaction, she found him just as pale, as though the blood had been drained from his face. Despite everything, all the anger and the hatred he felt for Samuel now, he was still concerned, and that was a small comfort to Alicia. It meant he still cared, despite it all.

“Will ye help us find him?” Nerian asked hesitantly, as though he didn’t think her father would agree.

There was no hesitation when he spoke, though, nodding as he joined the other party. “O’ course,” he said. “Send one o’ yer guards back with the lasses an’ the rest o’ us will look fer him.”

“Nay!” Alicia was quick to say, joining them too. “I wish tae come with ye. I wish tae help.”

Instantly, she was met by her father’s stern look, his eyes boring a hole right through her. “Ye will dae nae such thing. Ye will go back tae the castle an’ wait without causin’ any trouble.”

Her father should have known by then, Alicia thought, that if there was one thing in which she was an expert, it was causing trouble, and if he didn’t want her doing such a thing, then he should simply agree to let her join them.

“If ye send me back, I will simply go out an’ search fer him on me own,” she said defiantly, eyes narrowing as she stared at him.

Her father stared right back, and for several moments neither of them backed down. Alicia wanted him to know she was serious. Either way, she would make sure she went out to look for him, and there was nothing that could stop her.

“Fine,” her father said in the end, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. “Fine, but ye will stay with me the entire time. Dae ye understand? If ye stray fer even a moment, I will personally take ye back tae the castle.”

Alicia nodded immediately, not daring to argue. If her father wanted to keep an eye on her, then she was fine with it. She had no plans of straying too far from him. All she wanted was to be there and make sure Samuel would be found.

“We’re comin’ too,” said Katherine, bolder than Alicia had ever heard her before. “We wish tae be with Alicia.”

Their father’s gaze slid over to Katherine and he seemed entirely unimpressed by all his daughters. He knew better than to try and argue, though, already aware it would lead him nowhere when all three of them had made up their minds.

“Fine!” he said. “Anythin’ else? Any other demands?”

When none of the three girls spoke, only glancing at each other as they always did whenever their father had an outburst, he motioned to Nerian to lead their group. As they rode back the same way they had come, searching for any signs of Samuel, their father stayed close to them and Alicia knew he was especially keeping a close eye on her, as though he expected her to run away.

She wished he would understand she wasn’t doing any of this simply to be rebellious or to hurt him. She wished he would see how much she and Samuel loved each other, how much they needed to be together.

She wished he would see her worry and recognize it for what it was. Alicia wasn’t trying to get in trouble simply for the sake of it. Everything she did, she did because she loved Samuel.

For a long while, they searched the forest for him, all of them looking for any sign of his presence only to find none. It wasn’t until they reached a small clearing that her father brought them all to a stop, jumping off his horse to take a better look at the ground.

“There was a fight here,” he said. “The tracks are recent. It must have happened after we passed.”

Alicia’s heart stuttered in her chest, concern gripping it like an iron fist. Glancing around her at everyone else, she realized they were all thinking the same thing.

Samuel had been attacked.

“MacLaine’s men?” Nerian asked, and though he sounded calm, Alicia caught the slight waver in his voice which betrayed the fear they all felt.

“It could be,” her father said. “It is… likely.”

More likely than he wishes tae admit.

“There are tracks leadin’ away from here,” said one of Nerian’s men, pointing through the trees. “Look, they are fresh.”

Alicia followed the path he was tracing with his finger, though she couldn’t quite see what he could. But Nerian and her father were trained for it and followed the tracks easily, weaving their group through the first trees that lined the forest.

“Where have they taken him?” Alicia asked.

“Perhaps naewhere,” said her father. “Perhaps they are still here.”

“Or perhaps they’re takin’ him tae Castle MacLaine,” said Nerian. “The port is this way.”

At those words, Alicia’s heart stopped.

There was no sign of Samuel in the path they took as they followed the tracks. At some point, they met a path, one that led to a harbor town—the very same port Nerian had mentioned when they had first found traces of activity. The town was large, though, and Alicia didn’t even know where they would start looking for Samuel, as they had long since lost his tracks, when they reached the part of the road that had seen too many travelers.

There was no way of knowing where he was. They would have to ask the locals and the travelers and hope that one of them had seen him, but also that they would be willing to talk. For all Alicia knew, many of them could be reluctant to give any information, either because they feared for their own safety or because they had been paid to keep quiet.

“We will split intae four groups,” said her father, the soldiers nodding along. “I will stay with me daughters.”

“Very well,” said Nerian. “Let us meet here in an hour if we dinnae find him.”

As Nerian turned around to give his men orders, Alicia turned to her father. “Faither, I need a moment.”

The entire ride, she had managed to ignore the need to relieve herself, but now it simply could not wait any longer. As her father parted his lips, surely to question her, she gave him a meaningful look, one that he had come to know ever since she was a child.

“Ach, alright,” he said, waving her off. “Take yer sisters with ye an’ meet me here.”

Grateful, Alicia quickly jumped off her horse along with Katherine and Emmeline, the three of them leaving their father to deal with the animals as they rushed through the small street, looking for a suitable place. When they finally found a secluded place, Alicia made her way as her sisters stayed nearby, right around the corner, relief washing through her now that the strain was gone.

Just as she came to stand once more, though, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, as if the very air had taken on a strange quality. Looking over her shoulder, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, and yet the feeling remained, urging her to meet back with her sisters as quickly as she could.

She took one step, then another. And then suddenly, a blinding pain exploded in her head, so savage and unbearable that she couldn’t even cry out, as though she had lost her voice. The world spun around her as if it had been unmoored, the solid earth becoming a void under her feet.

Within seconds, the darkness claimed her, pulling her into its depths.