Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“I am grateful, sir, and will be sure to keep a keen ear for any news,” Wadely said.
“Not a word,” Cavell cautioned his wife in a whisper as he hurried her away, Wadely returning to sit on the log and finish his meat pie.
She went to speak again and once again he stopped her.
“I know what you intended to say.”
“He knows my sister. Why not let me ask him to keep watch for her?” she asked, confused. “The more who search for her the more likely she will be found.”
“What if your da is right about his daughters’ safety? What if someone means one or all of you harm? Wadely inquiries would alert whatever culprit may be involved and possibly place Leora in more danger.”
He made sense and it also raised a question Elsie had not given thought to. “How did you know I was at the abbey and not with my clan?”
“That is a good question and one my father can answer for us.” Cavell hurried them along.
“Please slow down,” Elsie said after several stumbles. “Your strides far outpace mine and you need not grip my wrist so tight. I intend to stay by your side.”
That brought Cavell to a stop, and he released her wrist, annoyed at the red mark his hand had left.
“I did not mean to cause you pain,” he said in the way of an apology.
“I never thought you did,” she said. “I trust that you mean to protect me.”
“Always,” he said with a firm whisper and wished to say more to his wife, but first he had to speak with his father and see that he and Harcus took their leave. “We need to talk with my father.”
“Aye,” she said, though would have preferred they talk alone, sensing he had more to say to her. She would make sure they talked later, for now… she took hold of his hand and they hurried to the keep.
Cavell walked over to the table where his father and two men sat drinking and without preamble asked, “First you told me I was to go to Clan Murdock to meet my wife, then I was told she wasn’t there, then you said you weren’t sure where she was until finally you sent me to the Dundren Abbey. Why the confusion?”
“You would need to ask your father-in-law,” his father said. “I wondered if he had had second thoughts about our agreement when he failed to present his daughter, but he assured me he hadn’t.” He squinted his eyes in thought. “I do recall him saying something about your wife being required to help him with something concerning her sisters and I reminded him that Elsie’s duty was now to her husband. It wasn’t long afterward that Norris told me Elsie was at the abbey awaiting your arrival.”
“Did he tell you why his daughter waited at the abbey?” Cavell asked.
His father shrugged. “I assumed that he sent her there to spend time in prayer so that she would make you a good wife and see to her duties withoutcomplaint. Now tell me what problem took you from having a drink with your father.”
That his father had not found his questions curious reminded him how self-absorbed the man was, and he had no intentions of telling his father what went on here. He would, however, alert him to what happened at the abbey.
“I received word the abbey burned, and the monks were attacked and killed when they left to seek shelter at another abbey.”
His father’s eyes shot open wide in shock, and he stumbled over several words before he was finally able to speak. “They are all dead?”
“All,” Cavell confirmed.
“Who? When?” his father asked at a loss to say more.
“A group of rogue mercenaries from what I hear and within the last day.”
His father rushed to his feet. “We need to go. Our trade with the north could be affected by this murderous bunch. We will talk again, and I expect you to honor the agreement I made with Norris.”
“My clan. My decision,” Cavell repeated what he had already told his father several times.
“You might want to remember that it is your clan because of my decision,” his father said and stormed out of the room along with Harcus, and his two men took quick steps to follow behind them.
“I wonder if it is possible, though reason puzzles me, that Leora did not head home after her escape,” Elsie said, after entering her bedchamber with her husband later that evening.
“Where would she go if not home?” Cavell asked, stretching his shoulders back to ease the aches that plagued him.
Elsie stared at him as she gave his question thought, though it was more the way his chest and arm muscles grew taut as he stretched. She could not help recalling their one night together and how he so easily lifted and shifted her when they coupled.