Page 81 of Captured by a Laird
“I was just looking for them,” Will said.
“They must be upstairs,” David said, and started for the stairs.
He took them three at a time, with Will and the pup behind him.
“I’ll check the Tower Room,” Will said, and continued up the stairs while David pushed open the door to his and Alison’s bedchamber.
He stood in the empty room. “Damn it, where is she?”
Moments later, Will appeared in the doorway. “They aren’t in the Tower Room, either.”
“When did ye see them last?”
Will scrunched up his face in thought, then said, “Last night.”
“What about breakfast?”
“I was working on the tricks with Jasper and forgot to eat.”
Just then, Robbie came running up the stairs, shouting, “David!”
“What is it?”
“Everyone’s saying Lady Alison and her daughters are gone.”
“Gone?” David asked, hoping he had heard misheard.
Robbie nodded.
“How could they be gone?” Fear clenched David’s stomach as the image of Leana face down in the mud and reeds filled his mind. “Where did they go?”
“No one knows,” Robbie said.
***
“I’ll give you a moment alone with your niece,” the prior said, casting a murderous look at Alison. “I’ll be in the chapel praying that God grants her wisdom.”
Her uncle pulled her to his side with a grip that hurt her arm. He tilted his head toward the door and pressed a finger to his lips to indicate that the prior or one of his minions could be listening.
“The Blackadders have gone to the King’s Council,” he said in a hushed voice, “and argued that your dead husband’s male relations have a higher claim to inherit his lands and castle than your daughters do.”
“Surely their blood tie is too distant?”
“Not too distant when the political winds blow against us,” he whispered. “Your marriage to the Laird of Tulliallan, however, will resolve the dispute to both families’ satisfaction.”
“Tulliallan?” she hissed. How could he think she wouldeverwed that disgusting man?
“A child of yours will still inherit the Blackadder lands,” he continued, as if it should not matter to her that he was speaking of a child she would conceive with the despicable Blackadder laird—or that Beatrix and Margaret would be disinherited.
“More importantly, this will ensure that the Blackadders support your brother Archibald as the rightful guardian of his stepson, the king.”
“David Hume would make a far stronger ally in that fight than the Blackadders,” she said, knowing that arguing for what would be best for her and her daughters would be useless.
“Ifhe chose to be an ally,” her uncle said.
“Let me speak to him.”
“Wedderburn is too unpredictable,” he said with a sour expression. “He prides himself on being his own man.”
