Page 43 of The Darkland

“Where’s Mara?” he demanded.

Micheline’s eyes were wide. Accusing, he thought. “What did you tell her, Kirk?”

Kirk shook his head. “Nothing, my lady. I have not seen her. What hap…?”

Micheline cut him off, as livid as he had ever seen her. “Some fool told her of Edmund and Johanne. After she realized I was not going to tell her all that had transpired in my wedding bed, she ran from here like a madwoman. I have no idea where she might have gone.”

Niles, lingering by the chamber door, cleared his throat guiltily. Kirk glanced at him, a look of pure exasperation on his face before returning his focus to Micheline. “When did she leave?”

“A minute or so before you arrived. I was just coming to find you myself.”

“Did she say anything that might lend clue to where she was heading? Anything at all?”

Micheline shook her head. “Nothing. I tried to keep her here, but she shoved me to the ground,” she sighed, her anger replaced by a genuine fear. “I am worried for her, Kirk. There’s no knowing what she might do.”

Kirk scratched his head, a nervous gesture. “Why are we so sure she is going to do anything,” the itching hand dropped to his side. “I came up here merely to prevent her from forcing the truth from you and thereby preclude a hysterical situation. Since you refrained from telling her anything, mayhap she’s simply run off to sulk.”

Micheline shook her head. “Even if I did not tell her, it was evident that she suspected… something,” she kept her voice low lest Niles hear of her shame. “Mara is not stupid, Kirk. She suspects something humiliating happened. But she does not know what.”

Kirk stared at the woman a long, long moment. “And the only other person capable of telling her…”

“And gladly, I would think.”

“…would be Edmund.”

Kirk was already moving for the door, a sense of urgency filling him like nothing before. Micheline ran after him, her chest swelling with terror.

“She is capable of using a dagger,” she gasped. “I have seen her!”

Kirk paused long enough to cast her a disturbed expression. “You haveseenher?”

Micheline nodded, pale and trembling where she had been furious not moments before. “When… when she was young, nine or ten years of age. She defended me in a tavern against a zealous soldier. She was forced to stab the man while our father stood by, drunk and inactive and involved in his dice game. There was no choice, mind you; if she hadn’t stabbed the man, he would have done unspeakable things to me.”

Kirk stared at Micheline before letting out a sharp, ragged sigh. “Christ,” he muttered. “Has she always been defending you so, Micheline?”

“Always,” Micheline whispered in reply. “She will do what she feels necessary.”

Kirk did not like the sound of that at all.

*

Mara hadn’t beenhard to follow. There were very few raven-haired ladies running about Anchorsholme with murder in their eye. Kirk and Niles tracked her to the kitchen yard, helped along by four children who indicated that Lady Mara had left the enclosure through the tunnel in the wall. Emerging into the tall grass, the knights continued their pursuit.

The children in the yard were chatty enough to inform Kirk that Edmund and Johanne were also beyond the walls, feeding Kirk’s anxiety that Mara was either intent to do them great bodily harm or that, in doing so, she had been overcome and now lay dead or dying. Either scenario was terrifying and as he entered the cool grove of oak, he found himself praying for Mara’s safety. Fervent prayer that hadn’t touched his lips since his knighting ceremony.

He and Niles quieted as they reached the shielding trees, alert for any sounds or movements. Kirk split away from the knight, taking a path through the heavy foliage, hoping he could find Mara before it was too late. Knowing that, in spite of her hasty judgment and foolish nature, her true motivation was the protection of her sister. In however form that protection might come.

Aye, the woman had a heart of gold. And the mind of an imbecile at times. Kirk shook his head even as he moved silently among the trees, thinking that mayhap he should spank her again for being foolish enough to take the offensive against Edmund and Johanne. And after he spanked her, he would plead forgiveness for his harsh words and beg her to marry him once again. He simply couldn’t stand to be away from her, not even for a few lonely hours.

Twisting his way along a holly bush, Kirk suddenly came to a halt. In the distance, he could hear the faint rumble of conversation and immediately recognized Edmund and Johanne through the trees. Crouching low so they would not see him, he saw Niles do the same from the corner of his eye. If Mara was after the pair, then she had to be close. Very close.

And he wanted to get to her first.

*

The bark ofthe tree was scratchy. As Mara pressed herself against the bark, bright blue eyes watched Edmund and Johanne as they moved through the dense brush, holding hands and giggling softly. And the more Mara observed, the more sickened she became.

To have an intimate relationship with one’s own sibling was beyond her comprehension. Niles had been delicate when had explained their association, but even so the pure wickedness of their actions was more than she could bear. And poor Micheline had been thrust into the middle of it, unknowingly.