Page 93 of Wedded to the Twisted Highlander

“Nay, my Laird,” they answered.

“And nay one has left?” Thomas felt the question scrape his throat as he looked at his men. “Ye havenae seen anyone cross the field? Cloaked or nae?”

“Nay one,” they answered.

“See that the east wall has double the men,” Thomas ordered. If she had left the castle, he’d need eyes on the field between his lands and Chalium’s.

Where are ye lass?

There was nay telling where Astrid was or even how long she had been gone.

He glanced at the strips of sheets she had twisted together. It was a far better rope than the one she had made before. But back then, she had enough time to make it.

“She couldnae have gotten far,” he whispered as he calculated the distance for a moment.

I can catch her and bring her back before she does something foolish.

30

Astrid’s heart thumped an uneven pattern as she pulled the low-hanging branch down, causing it to snap from the base. The sound echoed through the desolate landscape, shattering any hope she had of sneaking up on Laird Chalium.

She swallowed hard as she noticed the oppressive darkness that made the land feel more dreary. The sunlight was masked by thick clouds that made the world appear ghostly and surreal. Each step she took felt like a step further into madness as her heart pounded a dirge of dread.

She pulled her smock closer as if it could shield her from the icy winds that whipped through the dried, weathered trees that dotted the moors. A low howl stole the last bit of warmth she had managed to hold on to.

She froze in her place, listening for an answering howl that would indicate her doom. When silence answered, she let outthe air trapped in her lungs and continued onward, hunting for Olivia.

“Where are ye?” she grumbled as she took the small piece of parchment out of her pocket.

She could barely call it a map. It was more like a few chicken scratches on paper that gave her no real indication that she was going in the right direction. For all she knew, Laird Chalium was sending her out into the bog to die and had no intentions of letting Olivia go.

The thought of having been made a fool of irked Astrid. She never thought herself dull or daft, yet as she ventured deeper into the wilderness, she couldn’t calm the knots twisting in her stomach.

“Please, ye cannae leave me out here. I’ll be dead before anyone finds me…”

Olivia’s pleas drifted through the fog and mist, reaching Astrid’s ears.

Astrid stopped, wondering if she was already starting to lose her wits. After all, the bog was no place to get lost in. How many people had lost their lives trekking through such a place?

Astrid shuddered as she turned around in a circle, praying that Olivia would say something else.

“Please. I ken ye’re still there. Ye cannae leave me here.”

“Olivia?” Astrid called, daring to expose herself to her enemy.

What choice did she have when she couldn’t see Olivia through the mist?

“Call to me again.”

“Astrid? Nay, it cannae… Ye cannae be here. Ye have to run.”

“Keep talkin’,” Astrid called as she followed the sound of Olivia’s voice.

She stopped and dropped to her knees the second she spotted Olivia. Her mouth dropped open.

If she could only describe Laird Chalium in one word, she’d say that he was cunning. He had Olivia tied to a tree on an island surrounded by moss, peat, and certain death. One wrong step and she could sink below the marsh, never to come up again.

“Where is me braither? Please tell me it’s nae just ye?” Olivia said as Astrid moved around, using the shadows and fog to her advantage.