The Castle bells tolled to alert everyone of what had happened. His people hadn’t experienced the horror of living in fear for seven years since he took the Lairdship and Jack had vowed never to let them go back to that time of fear.
I will find this killer and end him before this gets out of hand.
He didn’t know what the end game was yet, but from experience when strange murders began, it always hinted at a coming war.
“For anyone to murder a mere stable lad and his sister then it means they knew somethin’,” Aideen said. “I believe we must be watchful from now on.”
“I will address the servants. Ye address the guards and let them ken that we are in desperate times henceforth. There is nay room for slackin’ anymore. I want any suspicious activity reported and anyone who defies the curfew arrested.”
“Aye, My Laird.”
Jack hurried into the courtyard where the members of his Castle had slowly started to gather, then he clapped to gain their attention and began his speech.
“There isnae need for panic among us yet—”
* * *
Isla was still shaken from the news about the dead stable lad and his sister hours after the frenzy in the Castle had subsided. She was in her chamber now, and Faye was brushing her hair as she sat in front of her dresser.
“I can’t believe someone murdered them,” she said out loud even though she was thinking the words to herself. What sort of person murdered a child?
Faye dropped the brush she held and replied, “The Laird will handle it, My Lady. Ye shouldnae worry as we all trust him.”
Faye sounded as if things like this happened frequently, and she shuddered at the thought of what Jack had to deal with each time it happened.
Before now, Isla would have found it stupid that anyone would entrust their fate to someone else. If Jack made a mistake and failed to protect the servants, then what would happen to them? She had always hated blind trust. It was why she did not believe in love and happy ever afters.
They trust that a person will keep them happy for the rest of their lives.
Isla believed it was more logical to trust no one else but herself. She had survived through her toughest times and pain after her parent’s death that way.By depending on only myself.
“Ye trust the Laird that much?” she asked Faye and turned around in her chair so she could look at her.
“I dae and everyone here does. He has taken care of most of us and made sure we were safe by risking his life. He had also won many battles to defend this Clan,” Faye replied. “He has saved the Clan from ruin many times. He has fought and won countless battles for his faither and there is nay man more deservin’ to lead us than him.”
Isla didn’t contend that Jack was an honorable man. It was the trust she was not so sure off.
But you trust him to help you go back to your time?
The doubting question entered her mind and made her realize she wasn’t so different from Faye. She too trusted Jack to help her, and he had already saved her once.
Isla remembered their kisses as she sat there, and heat bit into the skin at her neck and back. The flush made her clear her throat and she put her hands on her cheeks.
How was it that she kept wanting more of him each time he touched her? It wouldn’t matter anyway. Once she went to Kirkpatrick or the fair and found the gypsy, she would get back to her time and none of these growing feelings would matter.
All her feelings would not matter to either her or Jack. Jack especially. He had a life here, and in history he turned out as a great laird who died fighting for his people. Isla had a feeling that this murder had set the pedestal for the trend of events that would lead to his death.
I wouldn’t want to see that happen.If anything happened to Jack while she was here, then her heart would never recover. Isla had come to care about him.
She had supper in her chamber that night after Faye served her. The Cullen skink did not taste as horrible as it did the first time she ate it, and she enjoyed the rolled scallops by its side.
Isla went to bed with thoughts of Jack on her mind, but she dreamed of the gypsy and the curse.
It’s a horrible fate.
Those words played in her mind as she jerked awake, sweaty, and shivering. Isla got out of bed and opened her dresser. The medallion was still there, and it shone brightly.
She just needed to find the gypsy and end this once and for all.