we will do.” He nodded toward the hearth in the Great Hall. “At least we know where King and Princess are.”
Purity looked to see King curled against Princess close to the hearth. They had filled themselves with food and attention and were sound asleep. She kissed her husband’s cheek. “You are a good husband.”
He nibbled at her ear. “I’m going to be a wicked husband tonight.”
His nibbles sent a shiver through her and she drew her shoulders up. “I love when you’re wicked.”
“Then you’re definitely going to love me tonight, wife,” he whispered near her ear and nibbled along it some more.
Purity almost regretted asking her husband to stop at her father’s bedchamber when he placed her on her feet. “A quick peek,” she said, wanting to return to his arms. She eased the door open and with the light of the blazing flames in the hearth it was easy to see the bed was unoccupied. She pushed the door all the way open and entered the room, her husband entering right behind her. She looked around, then turned to her husband, stating the obvious. “He’s not here.”
Arran heard the concern in her voice and took her hand. “We’ll find him, then we’ll settle in our bedchamber for the night.”
King and Princess came awake when some of the servants were asked when they had last seen the chieftain. Quiver soon joined them, having been in the kitchen with Iona as she finished up for the day.
“The last time I saw the chieftain, he was talking to your father,” Quiver said to Arran, “but that was before nightfall. I’m not one to ask, since I spent a good portion of the time with Iona.”
“With the guests gone and most everyone retired for the night, it’s difficult to find out who saw my father last,” Purity said.
“Have you seen Freen?” Arran asked of Quiver.
He blushed. “He retired to his cottage with a woman from the kitchen.”
Arran turned an inquiring eye on his wife. “Could your father have—”
“I am ignorant when it comes to my father and women,” Purity confessed.
Arran scratched at the back of his head. “He’s either with a woman or has passed out somewhere due to drink.”
Purity didn’t want to voice her own thought, but felt it necessary. “Or he’s been met with foul play.”
“It’s the dark of night, searching for him will do little good. We can walk right by him and not see him,” Arran said, knowing it didn’t help soothe her worry any, but she needed to see reason. A search now would be senseless.
“So I pray the night away that he is unharmed and morning will find him well?” she asked, uncomfortable with the thought. “What if he’s been harmed and needs help? What if morning is too late?”
Arran wanted to kill his father-in-law, searching for the man on his wedding night was not what Arran intended. But if he didn’t, he’d find no peace with his wife tonight.
“We’ll search,” Arran announced. “Quiver go get Freen. He will join in the search.
It was a grumbling Freen who joined them a short time later and with the keep having already been searched top to bottom with no sign of the chieftain, they spread out to search the village.
“You should wait inside,” Arran urged his wife.
She shook her head. “I can’t sit and wait. I must help.”
He didn’t argue with her. He knew it would be senseless. He did, however, order, “You will keep close to me.”
And she did.
It seemed they only started the search when Quiver called out, “Over here!”
His anxious tone alone warned Purity whatever he had found wasn’t good.
Arran grabbed her arm and held her from going any farther when they reached the barn and Quiver shook his head at him.
“Stay here,” Arran ordered sternly.
“No!” Purity protested. “He is my father and I will see for myself.”
“It is better you don’t,” Quiver advised when Purity stepped forward.
Her legs suddenly grew weak and for a moment she thought they wouldn’t hold her up. Thankfully her husband’s arm slipped around her waist and held her firm.
“Let me see to this, Purity,” he said gently. “Believe me when I tell you that you want the last image you see of your father to be one you want to remember, not one you will regret.”
Something told her to listen to her husband, and she nodded.
He saw her to a bench near the barn and ordered Princess to keep watch on her, then he walked around back and saw Freen