Highland Shadows by Baldwin Lily

Author:Baldwin, Lily [Baldwin, Lily]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2015-05-30T07:00:00+00:00

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She tore her eyes away from the distant, blood-stained hill and looked at Alex. His heart was wide open. She took a deep breath. He deserved the truth. Closing her eyes, she allowed the pain to come to the fore as memory of that day crossed into the open...

Isabel’s golden head rested in Cora’s lap. Their mother sat across from them, poised and proper despite the heat and late hour. Cora absently fingered her sister’s thick golden braid as she turned to stare out at the moonlit countryside. They had passed several weeks in Inverness visiting father’s sister. William had chosen to stay behind not wishing to travel during the warmest summer month. Cora’s finger pulled at the wimple fitted around her head and at the long wool sleeves covering her arms. She decided then that her father had made a sensible choice. She longed to be home in her room where she and Isabel might strip down to their kirtles and sleep.

A horse and rider suddenly blocked her view of the shadowy hills. Cora leaned out the window and peered up at her favorite guard, Robert.

“How are ye managing with the heat?” he asked.

“I would fair better astride a horse and in the fresh night air than closed up in here,” she said, but from the corner of her eye she saw her mother frown. Somehow Kathryn bore the discomfort of travel far more graciously than either of her daughters.

“Is there still much ground to cover?” Cora asked.

Robert’s warm, brown eyes glinted with mischief. “Do ye wish me to tell ye the truth, or would ye prefer I lie and say Dun Brae Castle is just around the next bend?”

She was about to ask him to tell her another of his adventurous stories to help her rest when all at once his countenance changed.

“Get down,” he hissed. He reached inside and yanked the curtain in place over the window.

A horseman on the other side of the carriage did the same. The thick velvet blocked the lantern light. Trembling in the darkness, she held her breath and listened. A bloodcurdling scream rent the air. The carriage skidded to a halt. Suddenly, vicious growls surrounded them, raging over the guards’ cries for mercy. Isabel jerked awake and locked eyes with Cora. She clasped her hands over her mouth. “God save us.”

The carriage shook. Kathryn reached for her daughters, but an unseen force ripped the door off its hinges. A guard fell face down on Cora’s lap. She gasped at the raw, bloody holes where his arms used to be. Isabel screamed. Cora shoved at the corpse, pushing it onto its back.

“Robert,” she mouthed the word, staring down into his lifeless eyes. Her mother’s arms came around her. She squeezed Kathryn’s neck, hiding her face from the horror. Screams and howls blasted her ears. Her heart pounded. She dared peek out just as a shadow with unnatural speed flashed inside and snatched her sister away. Kathryn shoved Cora back and lunged after Isabel, falling from sight.

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