Perhaps I didn’t have a distinct affliction, like Will or Lady Margaret or Mary Wallace, but my mind certainly didn’t work like everyone else’s. I saw things differently, questioned them more. Would Dr. Sloane see enough peculiarity in me to make him want to add me to his collection of subjects?
I frowned. Was that why Donovan had been asking my maid questions about me? Had he been probing for information for his employer? I remembered how Gage had stiffened up when I mentioned it to him. Had he suspected something similar?
I pulled the flapping ends of my cloak tighter around me and glanced up at Will to find him watching me with a mixture of sympathy and affection.
“I see your point,” I told him. “And though I don’t concede that Sloane will be coming after me next, perhaps it would be a good idea to return to Dalmay House. I’m sure Mac is wondering . . .” my gaze swept the ground at the base of the castle “. . . what’s taking . . .” I leaned farther out to see closer to the foundation “. . . so long. Where’s Mac?”
Will leaned forward to join me in my search for Mac’s familiar stooped form, but he was nowhere to be found.
My heart began to beat faster and I had to tell myself there was no reason to panic. “Do you think he decided to join us?” I would have thought his head injury would prevent him from doing such a thing, but Mac was nothing if not stubborn.
“I doubt it,” Will replied and then flushed, obviously recalling the blow he had given him to the head.
I raised my eyebrows in gentle chastisement.
“I know. I’ll apologize.” He swiveled to the side and lifted his legs up onto the battlements. I backed up so that he had more room to maneuver, but kept my hands out should he begin to lose his balance. “I just wanted to stun him long enough to get away. I couldn’t let him catch me until I reached here, where I could end it.”
I breathed easier having his two feet planted safely on the roof with me. Well . . . I glanced over my shoulder at the caved-in portion of the roof, perhaps safely was not the right word, but regardless, I was relieved he was no longer dangling from the battlements.
“And speaking of apologies . . .” He stepped closer to me, his face pained. “I’m sorry, Kiera. I don’t know what came over me.”
I lowered my gaze, feeling a lump form in my throat.
“Did . . . did I hurt you seriously?”
I shook my head. “No.” I lifted my right hand and let Will take hold of it. “It’s just a little sore.”
He cradled it almost reverently, his chill, rough fingers skimming over my skin. “Maybe they’re right. Maybe I’m not fit for company,” he murmured under his breath.
I squeezed his hand gently and offered him a tight smile. There wasn’t time to discuss it, not with the rain beginning and Mac still nowhere to be found. I peeked over the edge of the battlements again, disturbed by the fact that Mac was no longer standing below. “Where do you think he’s gone?” I asked as a fat raindrop fell on my forehead and rolled down my face. I pulled my cloak hood over my hair, wishing I’d taken the time to grab a coat for Will. His thin shirt and waistcoat could be doing nothing to protect him from the cold wind, and they certainly wouldn’t keep him dry.
His face tightened with growing worry. “I don’t know. It wouldn’t be like Mac to abandon us.” He leaned farther out, peering to the left and to the right of the castle, down the shoreline. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see better in the encroaching darkness.
I tugged on his arm. “Let’s get out of the rain.” And out of this derelict, old castle, I added, unspoken. “Maybe he’s waiting for us under the trees on the other side of the castle, where we can’t see him.”
Will nodded, but there was a new watchfulness to his movements that set me on edge. I tried to follow where his gaze had gone, wondering if he’d seen something I hadn’t, but he took hold of my hand and pulled me toward the stairs, taking the lead.
“Stay at my back,” he told me and, upon seeing my look of apprehension, added, “I know the way better than you. I can guide you down.”
I couldn’t argue with that, though I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me. I could feel it in the taut muscles of his shoulders and back as I rested my hands against them and began to follow him downward.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
If I had thought the castle was dark before, it was black as pitch now. It felt like we were descending into an abyss, into a chasm of nothingness, and soon the stairs and walls and everything solid around us would drop away, tumbling us into the void. My hand fisted in the silken material of Will’s waistcoat, anxious that at least he remain with me.