Highland Blood

Chapter 26

It was dusk when we arrived at Madelaine’s keep. The snow was falling lightly. The sky was bathed in a deep red color as the sun set. The castle was a black silhouette against the early evening skyline. I could see the glowing blobs of torchlight moving inside the castle. Outside, however, it was eerily silent. All the hairs on the back of my neck rose as we passed through the castle gate.

“See what the matter is,” Madelaine whispered to Tavis as we dismounted.

Hurrying, Tavis headed into the castle. Wordlessly, one of the stable boys took the horses. A few moments later, Tavis and Ute came outside. Ute held a torch above her head. The flame made a patchwork of orange light and black shadows dance across her face, but I could see her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

“Oh, My Lady, thank goodness you have returned,” she said.

“What has happened? Why is everyone so quiet?” Madelaine asked.

“My Lady,” Ute said, turning to me as she fought back tears, “word has come that,” she paused, cleared her throat, and then said, “that Gillacoemgain and fifty of his men were burned to death in a fire. Lord Macbeth and Lord Thorfinn have won the war. We’ve had word that Duncan is racing from the south and Macbeth from the north to lay claim to you.”

Madelaine gasped.

My body shook.

It was true.

He was gone.

“Ute, dress in your riding clothes,” I said.

“My Lady?”

“We ride north…for Macbeth.”