No Other Woman (No Other Series)

by Shannon Drake

  "I'll escort y'down, lass," he said.

  He slipped his arm into hers, seeming both very worried and far older today than usual. "No clues, no hints of anything regarding Sabrina, nothing?" she asked him.

  "None. And we've the celebration coming up so quickly now. It means so much to so many. Everyone is worried about Sabrina, but Lady Douglas has just come here for the first time and she and her sister are foreigners, and the people are restless because, although they care, they don't want to be cheated out of their feast and a day's rest. We must use most of our manpower to continue to search for Sabrina, but the castle staff must make preparations for the Night of the Moon Maiden."

  They were the last to enter the great hall. Hawk and Skylar Douglas were already seated, he at one end of the table with her beside him to the right. Skylar looked drawn, but as Mary Jane had said, she looked very determined as well and composed. Alistair and Aidan were seated to the side of Skylar, Lowell and Alaric were across from them. The place at the other head of the table awaited Shawna, and Gawain seated her there while taking the empty chair next to Lowell at her side.

  "Good morning, Shawna," Hawk said, watching her with his sharp green eyes. She was convinced then that he had spoken with his brother. David would have gone to Hawk before leaving the castle to carry out his plans for the day. "Poor thing, she looks exhausted, don't you think, Skylar?"

  "Simply exhausted." Skylar managed something of a smile. "Aye, quite exhausted."

  "We are an exhausted group!" Gawain said.

  "It'll be a harder day today, mark me," Lowell said. "Eat up, now, all of you."

  "Aye, it will be a busy day, searching for Sabrina while the preparations go forth," Alaric said, glancing down at Laird Douglas. "It will be the first time you rule as laird at the Night of the Moon Maiden, Hawk. Will you and your lady come in costume?"

  Shawna cleared her throat. "I don't think that Skylar wants to be bothered with the Night of the Moon Maiden right now—" she murmured, but Skylar interrupted.

  "Thank you, Shawna, but I like to have my mind occupied, and I don't mind hearing more. Hawk will not let me go searching again until I've eaten, so please, I'd like to hear about the local customs."

  "Well, then," Shawna said, "aye, people come costumed. We've trunks filled with old clothing in one of the tower rooms. Mary Jane can help you find something later if you wish. Hawk, what would you come as to rule over the night with your lady wife?"

  "Do I rule?" Skylar queried. "I thought the Moon Maiden had to be a young village girl. A lass, a—"

  "A virgin?" Alistair suggested. "Remember, they quit sacrificing a Moon Maiden centuries ago!" he said impatiently.

  There was an uncomfortable silence at the table. Shawna felt Hawk staring at her and she knew he was worried that someone might well intend for Sabrina to be a sacrifice. She spoke quickly.

  "The laird and lady—when there exist both a laird and a lady—have special chairs placed on a dais from which they open and guide the festivities. The laird chooses his lady, of course, to rule with him, but then the people choose a lass for Moon Maiden, and the laird and lady give her a crown of flowers—and a horse from the Douglas stables."

  "A horse?" Skylar said.

  "Aye, a fine horse, so that she can ride throughout the year and observe her domain," Aidan said.

  "I crowned Gena Anderson Moon Maiden last year," Shawna said.

  Gawain sniffed. "Ah, and thank God, for it seems she was no sacrifice. She walks around alive and well. She does, doesn't she, Alistair," he said, staring at his son.

  Alistair arched a brow. "Indeed, Father. To the best of my knowledge." He lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. "Father, Danny is not my child."

  Gawain grunted.

  There was another moment of uncomfortable silence. Forks could be heard scraping against plates as everyone suddenly pretended to be greatly interested in the food.

  But then Hawk set his napkin upon the table. "Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me, we've all got a busy day ahead of us. Shawna, may I have a word before we get started?"

  He rose, and awaited her. Shawna rose as well, following him as he headed toward the stairs. "What is it?"

  "Come along with me," he told her.

  She was startled when he started up the second flight of stairs to her third floor tower room.

  "Hawk—"

  He stopped in front of her door, opening it. "Go in now," he said.

  "You've summoned me—to go to my room?" she queried.

  He smiled. "I heard you had an exceptionally eventful evening."

  Shawna felt a soft tide of red seeping over her features, and she wondered just what information brothers shared. Was he speaking of events before or after they'd swum to the cavern?

  "Aye, that! In the crypts—"

  "I've been there briefly, but I have to return to search the place more thoroughly."

  "I'll help you—"

  "No, Shawna, I've brought you here because I want you to lock yourself in for the time being. I can't be with you right now."

  "But, Hawk, there's so much—"

  "Shawna, I'll not leave you locked up in a tower all day, I swear it. But I have promised my brother to keep you out of trouble and he seems to think that you have a ready penchant for falling into it. Please, bear with me for the moment. We need to know you're safe, and you surely need some sleep."

  "But I'm not—"

  "You are tired. You look like hell!"

  "Well, thank you, Laird Douglas."

  "I'm not Laird Douglas, and you know it well. Despite that, Lady MacGinnis, I am giving you an absolute directive—if you've any care for my brother or yourself, pay heed to me, I beg you. I'll send someone in the late afternoon, after you've slept. All right?"

  He wasn't really giving her a choice.

  "All right."

  She stepped into her room. He closed the door. "Slide the bolt, my lady."

  She did so. She heard him walking away.

  She was never going to sleep. Never.

  She was wrong. She lay upon her bed, but her clothing felt too constraining. She changed back into her nightgown, and lay down once again. She stared at the ceiling, telling herself once again that this was torture, she was never going to sleep. Her mind was filled. With David. With the things he had said. With the way that he had touched her.

  With Sabrina, poor Sabrina. Where was she?

  What was happening here?

  She would never sleep...

  But she had lain there for just a few minutes when she realized that she was drifting.

  Then she was sleeping.

  And dreaming...

  This time, she was running, but there were sounds coming from all around her.

  Bagpipes... playing a mournful tune upon the air.

  Shouts, laughter...

  She ran to the high hill, where the Druid Stones lay.

  And there was Sabrina, stripped naked, stretched out upon the stone while a cowled creature stood over her, bearing a knife, ready to tear into the girl's throat.

  She started to scream. "Nay, not Sabrina... !"

  Then the creature saw her. She couldn't see its face, so she didn't know how she knew that it was staring at her, but she did. And she was aware that it was smiling with evil intent, and beckoning to her.

  "It should have been you, you, you, m'lady, it should have been you... but you defiled yourself so long ago! Still, your blood would so well feed the earth!"

  Then the creature was suddenly coming after her. She could still hear the bagpipes, the shouts, cries, laughter. All across the hills men and women were dancing, drinking, laughing...

  None of them heard her scream.

  Then she was running. And running. She turned back. The cowled creature was nearly upon her.

  She turned to run faster...

  Another creature was coming...

  And another, and another.

  Cowled creatures, tall figures in their capped black cloaks,
were emerging from everywhere.

  Chanting her name.

  They surrounded her. She cried out, trying to find a different way to run, but in each direction, there was a figure.

  And each figure bore a knife. Indeed, as she spun around, she saw them all raised. Huge knives, with razor-honed blades glistening beneath the glow of the full moon.

  "Shawna, Shawna, Shawna..."

  She cried out, swirling around.

  She stood directly beneath one of the cloaked figures. She could see the face.

  The face of a burnt corpse. The horrible, decaying face of the burnt corpse she had awakened beside all those years ago.

  "No!" she shrieked.

  The cowled creature began to laugh.

  In a circle around her, they all began to laugh.

  And again, they began to move, closing in on her.

  Chanting her name, raising their knives...

  Seeking her blood...

  "Shawna, Shawna..."

  Chapter 18

  Shawna awoke with a start, bolting to a sitting position and swallowing back a scream of terror as she shook herself free from the horror of the dream.

  She stood and walked to the window, looking on the landscape and shivering. Was David right? Was someone seeking a sacrifice? She couldn't deny that the man killed in the crypt last night had been very scary indeed, as his words had been. But she had been friends with the witches of Craig Rock all her life. They were not killers.

  Someone was.

  She hugged her arms to her chest. If a cult needed a virgin sacrifice, Sabrina was not it. But she hoped desperately that Sabrina didn't tell her kidnappers about her condition. They might simply kill her quickly to get her out of the way.

  Shawna shivered. The man had said that they wanted her as well. That she would see Sabrina soon enough. Yet, she would hardly be the proper sacrifice at all herself. She wasn't an innocent maiden. She had borne and lost a child.

  Consequences.

  Most of the time, she didn't even allow herself to remember the consequences of their night in the stables. It was far too painful.

  She bit into her lower lip. She should have told David last night about the child she had lost after his death. She had run away from Craig Rock when she had discovered that she was going to have his child. She had desperately wanted the babe—she had believed herself that she had been responsible for David's death, and having his child would in some way give life back to him. She wasn't going to have anyone pressuring her to give up her child. They would have expected her to do so. She was Lady MacGinnis. Milkmaids had illegitimate children; ladies did not.

  But running away hadn't mattered. Because her infant had died at birth. She had felt as if even God were mocking her. And she had come home then because Alistair had come for her, offering her a brotherly love and care she needed very badly at the time.

  How did she tell David now that he'd had a child, but that his child had died? When he had just come back from the dead himself.

  The dead among the living.

  The living among the dead!

  She gasped out loud, suddenly realizing that the dying man had given her a clue as to Sabrina's whereabouts after all.

  She tore about her room, digging into her wardrobe for her clothing. She paused, realizing even in her hurry that she didn't see David's tartan. She dug beneath her own belongings, certain that it shouldn't have been buried so deeply. Just when she was truly afraid that someone had come in and found the tartan, she discovered it herself.

  She exhaled on a sigh of relief. She brought the wool against her cheek, and for a moment, she trembled, just feeling its warmth.

  Then she set the tartan aside, dressed quickly in a deep purple riding habit, and slipped quietly from her room, hurrying down the stairs.

  Yet when she came to the foot of the stairs, she was startled to find Skylar there. She'd assumed that Skylar would have been out looking for Sabrina with the men.

  "Skylar!"

  "Aren't you supposed to be locked in your room?" Skylar queried her.

  "What about you? It was your sister who was kidnapped."

  "They wouldn't let me out of the castle," she said mournfully.

  "Has anything new been discovered?"

  "Nothing I know about," Skylar said. "Gawain and Alaric have ridden south to search through the forests, and stop by and speak with some of the forest folk. Lowell and Aidan are still searching the tunnels with the miners. There are so many shafts."

  "Aye—and caverns. The mines are very near the caverns and cliffs at the loch's edge. They actually all tie in together. The cliffs here give access to so very much going on beneath the earth. It seems that there are more ways than one to get into or out of anyplace on the property," Shawna said. "Except for..."

  "Except for what?"

  Shawna shook her head. She came very close to Skylar and whispered, "Where is David? Do you know?"

  Skylar shook her head. "I've no idea. I was told to stay here—watch you when you came down. But surely, Hawk knows where David is."

  "Aye, I must find Hawk then."

  "A bit later. He's in the crypt now. And I was told to keep you here. I will not take you to the crypt. It's very nearly dark, and the night seems to be an especially dangerous time in these parts."

  "How do you feel about the chapel? We could wait there if you're afraid of the crypts."

  "Actually, I pride myself on being hard as rocks, and afraid of nothing. If we must, we'll go to the crypts."

  "Thank you. I've just had an idea. About Sabrina. But I don't want to ask anyone but Hawk or David to help us."

  "Pray, God, she's not in the crypts!" Skylar said anxiously.

  "Nay, not in the crypts, but somewhere very close, and it may be important that we reach her quickly!"

  "You think she is still alive?" Skylar demanded bluntly.

  "I think she's alive now, but I'm afraid someone may think she'd make a good sacrifice. We must hurry."

  Yet just as they were about to slip away, Myer, who had stood as butler at Castle Craig for nearly fifty years, made an appearance in the great hall. "Lady Douglas, Lady MacGinnis! Anne-Marie requests your presence in the kitchen for just a moment. She has one quick question regarding tomorrow."

  They glanced at one another and silently agreed to go to the kitchen as requested, since neither woman was supposed to be anywhere other than at the center of activity in the castle.

  Anne-Marie was bustling about. She was as plump as Myer was thin; she was as chatty as he was taciturn. Anne-Marie was preparing all the traditional treats for the Night of the Moon Maiden, and she had half a dozen village girls in the kitchen and young Danny Anderson and three more little tykes washing away at the dishes and flatware to be used for the feasting, and turning a spit with a haunch of venison upon it.

  "Ah, Lady Douglas!" she said with delight, seeing Skylar first. "I canna fer the likes of me figure Shawna sleeping so late on such a day as this, but she'll be along! But then, well she did tell me when she first heard you were coming that you were the lady of the castle, and that you were to be the one givin' the instructions." Anne-Marie rolled out a round stretch of dough, powdered her hands, and clapped them so that her flour dusted the air and all around her.

  "I'm here, Anne-Marie," Shawna said.

  "Ah! Well then, ye can both give me assistance!" Anne-Marie said with a rosy smile. "Now, tomorrow, for the prime beef cattle to be roasted on the spits near the Stones, will we be needing three or four animals?"

  Skylar looked at Shawna and arched a brow.

  "Four," Shawna said. "If any meat is left over, the villagers may take it home."

  "Fine then. I'll make sure the herders know. Today, Lady Douglas," Anne-Marie informed Skylar, "we're working on our scones and meat pies and sweetmeats for the morning. We'll have our traditional haggis, a delicacy made from a sheep's heart, liver, oatmeal, onions and seasonings—and all prepared in a sheep's stomach. But if it doesn't appeal to
an American appetite, there'll be so much more to choose from. The roasted meat is exquisite when done so long over an open fire, and my shortbread and scones are the finest in all the Highlands, I do promise!"

  "Skylar will enjoy everything," Shawna said, anxious to lead Skylar from the kitchen and to the chapel. She put a hand on Skylar's shoulders to move her along, then paused, seeing that an old man in a friar's garb stood at the doorway to the kitchen, which was open because of the intense heat from the hearth and ovens. Brother Damian! she thought with irritation and dismay. This would delay them still further.

  "Why, 'tis Brother Damian," Anne-Marie said with delight, looking around. She lowered her voice. " 'E's up to our parts on pilgrimage. I have him in for tea when he drops by." She crossed herself. " 'Tis good luck!" she assured Skylar and Shawna.

  "Well, then," Skylar said, "we'll have to have him in."

  "You have him in," Shawna said quickly. She couldn't stand to be drawn into a conversation with Brother Damian right now! "Skylar, I'm going—to pray," she said, disappearing through the kitchen door before Brother Damian could see her, or Skylar could stop her.

  Skylar had no choice then but to walk to the door, extending a hand. "Brother Damian. I am... Lady Douglas, wife to Hawk Douglas, in from America."

  "My lady." Brother Damian took her hand in his own and bowed. "Forgive the intrusion. I understand your sister is missing. I intend to join the search as soon as I leave here. Anne-Marie is oft kind enough to give a wayfarer a cup of tea."

  "Of course," Skylar said politely. "Please do come in."

  Brother Damian entered the kitchen and Anne-Marie quickly padded over to greet him, smiling broadly. "Come now, my good Brother Damian, and sit. You will be good for Lady Douglas, who must keep her mind off her fear! The scones are fresh, just this minute out of the oven. What a fine day for you to visit here at the castle, since ye've such a keen interest in local fests and the like! You'll see all the preparations for the food."

  She winked, managing to sit both Skylar and Brother Damian at the long table where the servants usually took their meals.

  Skylar longed to jump up and go running after Shawna.