Chapter 43: Chapter Two

CAYDEN

Cayden woke up a few hours later with a pounding head and slowly sat up to find Kyra asleep in the chair next to the bed.

He looked around the room, confused as to where he was for a second, but it all came rushing back. ~Ada. Where is Ada?~

Cayden stood up and shook Kyra awake. “Where is Ada?” he yelled at her. Sayer came running up the stairs, followed by Padriac. Still unbalanced, Cayden lost his footing and fell to the ground.

Kyra tried to help him up, but he was too angry to accept any assistance. Sayer called for Kyra to leave him alone and go downstairs.

“Padriac, make sure she eats something,” Sayer directed him. The two brothers stood in the room alone. Sayer didn’t have to say anything. He knew speaking about Ada would just agitate Cayden.

“Come downstairs. Father wishes to speak with you.” He turned to walk down the stairs and waited for his brother at the bottom. Cayden stood up and finished Kyra’s cup of water.

Even though his head was pounding, he had endured worse from battle. Cayden headed downstairs and took a seat next to his father.

“When you are ready to talk, you will let me know.”

A slave brought him a plate of food, but Cayden just looked blankly at it. He was ready to speak with his father, but then the door to the hall opened.

Sayer moved protectively behind his brother as their uncle and cousin entered the building.

“Why all the somber faces in here? Is tonight not our battle feast?” Rankin asked.

“Ada is gone,” Kyra answered her uncle sharply.

“Gone? It appears you have a hard time keeping track of her. Is it that she wants to get away from you?” Weylin replied sardonically.

Sayer placed his hand on Cayden’s shoulder. It was only a matter of time before Cayden flew into a fit of rage.

“She would never willingly leave,” Kyra shouted at her cousin. Barra gave her a silencing look and she sat back down.

“Then maybe we should get Ada a bell to wear like one of the cows. Then she would surely never go ~missing~ again,” Weylin went on, and even Rankin looked at him as if he had gone too far.

Cayden shot up out of his seat, knocking Sayer backward. Running on top of the tables, he jumped onto Weylin. Weylin was expecting this, and maybe even provoked Cayden to do it.

He pulled out his dagger. The men wrestled on the ground with Weylin trying to strike Cayden with the blade.

Rankin knew Cayden was too strong—even with his son equipped with a weapon, Cayden would eventually overpower him. Rankin, along with the other men, pulled the pair apart.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance! Watch yourself, cousin! One day, you will say the wrong thing again, and no one will be around to save you.”

Cayden shrugged Caxton off of him and walked back to where he was seated, while Barra ordered Rankin to take Weylin out of the hall.

Cayden looked his father in the eye, ready to hear what had happened to his wife.

“You will not like what I am about to tell you,” Barra started. Cayden was still out of breath from his scuffle with Weylin. “She is gone. Egil and Gosta rode out as far as they could this morning.

“There is no trace of her or the riders who took her.”

“Then I must go and find her myself.”

“Your duty lies with this family. We leave tomorrow for battle.”

“My duty is to my wife and child!” Cayden slammed his fist onto the table.

“Ready your things. We leave at sunrise,” Barra said, leaving Cayden alone at the table. Kyra felt her heart break for her brother and was the only one brave enough to join him.

She was not scared of him and understood his anger. She loved Ada just as much as he did.

“If you would like, I could try and trace the riders’ tracks tomorrow morning,” she said, resting her hand on his knee.

“I do not need you to be taken as well.”

“Then how can I help?”

“Go back to Dundalk and keep out of harm’s way.” Cayden kept his gaze on the table.

He knew he could not leave without his men, and for them to leave without Barra’s blessing would only bring more harm to Ada. He would have to think of a different plan.

“I do have something to tell you,” Kyra said, leaning in close. “Something I have not told the others.”

“What is it?”

“The uniforms of the men who took Ada…,” Kyra paused, afraid of the words she was about to say. “They were the same ones of the men who raped me.”

“Tell me what happened, sister. Do not leave out any details about the men or about Ada.”

ADA

“We are here, lady,” one of the horsemen called out. I looked over at the two servants, who began cleaning up the inside of the carriage. The nausea was beginning to return.

I did not know what to expect. My senses were on high alert. My escorts had assured me their master meant me no harm, but what did that mean? Was I to be his wife? His mistress?

What would he do to me once he found out I was already married and with child? I looked out the opening in the carriage to see a huge castle by the edge of a cliff.

The moon only shone so bright, so all I could see was that it was surrounded by a fairly large town.

As we passed through the quiet roads and got closer to the castle, a pit in my stomach told me that my new ~master~ was actually the ~king~.

Moments later, the carriage halted and I heard one of the men call up to the castle.

A drawbridge was lowered, and we continued into the courtyard where other servants came to greet me, including a very distinguished-looking man and woman.