“I would have soon.” He heaved his gaze back to Kyla. “Which guardsman did she take with her?”
“I’m unsure if she took a guardsman, only that she rides as far as the village beyond Ardan House, then hoped to cross the mountains on foot. She intended on asking the village stable master to have your animal returned to you as soon as possible.” Kyla’s gaze softened. “Do you sense the need to chase her? Because if you do, you should ride out as well.”
All he sensed was painfully deep anger, and mostly directed at himself. She’d left him, never given him the chance to explain his actions. She must hate him for what he’d done by touching her so freely. He certainly hated himself.
“Do you, Coll?” Kyla stared at him. “Wish to chase her that is?”
“Provided she’s taken a guard, there’s no need for me to follow her to her father’s home.” His future was here, with a lass named Elizabeth MacRae, not with the woman he’d given up sixteen months ago. Only, everything within him recoiled at that thought.
With her black cloak flapping back from her shoulders and red velvet skirts plastered to her legs, Fiona bent low over her horse’s back as she rode the high cliff side trail between Carron Castle and Ardan House. The forest rose high on her right, the towering pine trees swaying in the brisk breeze, while to her left the cliff fell sharply away and the churning waters of the loch crashed hard into the black rock wall and misted high.
The hunt had begun, and now ’twas time to see if a bond had formed between her and Coll.
She certainly wanted him to stake his claim and come after her.
With her mare’s reins firm in hand, she slapped her knees harder into the animal’s flanks and quickened her already fast pace. She jumped jutting tree roots and ducked under the odd low branch, the satchel she’d packed with some necessities bumping about on her back. Pine needles scraped her arm, and the cool wind nipped at her nose.
She rode on, until she finally neared Ardan House, although before she could be seen by Duncan’s guardsmen on duty, she brought her horse to a halt at the top of the winding trail that veered steeply downward toward his stronghold. Below, the castle sat at the edge of a secluded bay along the loch, its gray fortified walls rising high with a two-story gatehouse built to the right of the main arched gates. This keep stood as strong and secure as Carron Castle did, while two days’ ride to the south, Colin MacKenzie’s stronghold sat at the gateway to their MacKenzie land on Loch Alsh. There, she’d find her father, not that she wished to find him. Nay, she wished for Coll to catch up with her first.
Although no stopping for now. She had to make certain the hunt would be good.
She turned away and urged her horse onward along the wooded trail toward the village where she’d be able to safely leave Coll’s horse with the stable master to have the animal returned to him. One could cross the mountainous plateau by horse, but ’twas best done on foot considering the sheer ruggedness of the land.
Determination spurred her on and she hugged her horse’s neck as she rode.
Chapter 3
Coll stormed through the bailey and out the postern gate, such unease rolling through him. Over a hundred of his men already trained along the shoreline near the meadow leading to the forest, dust swirling into the air as they battled, their swords clanging and fierce grunts ricocheting toward him.
“I take it we’re riding out as well?” Duncan questioned from beside him.
“Nay, I simply need to check she took a guardsman with her.”
“So, you’ve touched her, hmm?” A glint of intense interest flickered in his brother’s eyes.
“What of it?”
“When I first sensed the mated bond forming between Ella and I, she enforced the hunt in her determination to ensure I saw the truth about our bond taking form. You and I never had the benefit of living within the Matheson fae village, never saw firsthand how deep and all-consuming the bond could be.”
“What are you trying to say?” The wind whisked his hair about his neck, the soft touch as gentle as Fiona’s fingers had been on his skin last eve.
“You’ve never been able to abide the touch of another woman, just as I never have.”
“Again, your point is?”
“When two are mated, ’tis their touch alone and no other’s which we can allow. Might I ask if you enjoyed touching Fiona last eve?”