“Stay here, Mora. I’ll take Alaric and Eli with me. Promise me you’ll stay here, and I promise to bring her back.”
She’d given him a swift hug and said nothing more, urging him down the staircase. Her lack of words spoke louder than her previous ones. She wanted this for him.
For them.
Her last words caught him just before the door closed. “We all need her, Thane. Find her and bring her home.”
Home. Something he’d wished to make for his brother and sister, but he hadn’t quite accomplished it yet. He’d been too busy focusing on revenge. Finding their mother to right her wrong.
Now he was headed, in the dark, across the water to the Isle of Ulva. “Do you have a suggestion, either of you, on how to proceed?”
Alaric said, “Eli and I will go in the largest building, you go in the next. There is no other way. There are only four buildings in use near his home. The main manor home and three behind it. I would guess Garvie would be in the largest one, so we’ll go there. The lass is probably kept in one of the back buildings. One looked to be more in use than any other. We listened for bairns but didn’t hear any.”
Thane gave them a wry smile because he knew exactly why. “Magni said they were not allowed to speak. They had to sit quietly, or they’d be punished.”
When they approached the dock, something else occurred to him. “Did you know that we were treated the same? It’s the reason why Mora will ask four or five things at once. She had to get everything out quickly because she’d be slapped and forced to hold it all in.”
Eli clasped his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You have done a fine job with both of your siblings.”
“It’s why I let her ask as much as she needs to.” He grinned and said, “When I told her where I was going, it was the first time she had little to say. Just told me to find Tamsin.”
They reached the island and climbed out. Because it was dark, no one was around the pier, so they tied the boat and disembarked. It was a short walk to the open gate with no one around to protect it. The sounds of drunken revelry came from the tavern.
Alaric said, “Eli and I will take the main home. You start in the building behind it.”
Thane nodded and headed toward the back of the building. Listening carefully, he was surprised to find there was no oneabout. Raucous voices carried from the inn closer to the water, but that was all.
As soon as he stepped behind the manor home, he saw a path that went on through the forest and between three buildings: two on one side and one on the other side of the path. The buildings were a bit behind where he stood, but beyond the path that headed into the forest, it was so dark he could make nothing out.
Voices cut through the night from the farthest building, so he hurried to see if he could uncover who was inside. Moving closer, he waited.
One voice was Tamsin’s, that much he recognized. But the other voice was vaguely familiar.
“Where is Alana? I want my daughter.”
“You’ll never get her. She belongs to Raghnall, not you. He’ll do what he wishes with her.”
“Where is she? Tell me now or you’ll find an arrow embedded in your black heart!”
The woman laughed, and it sent a chill down his spine.
“You think you frighten me? You are nothing to me. Just someone to do my bidding …”
Thane bent over at the waist, holding his head, memories flooding through him that were so painful, he couldn’t bear to listen anymore. Visions of a sobbing Mora, of Brian fighting the bitch, of himself as a young lad, screaming at his mother to stop …
His mother! This voice was his mother’s voice! Could it be possible? She’d taken them across Loch Tuath and dumped them on Mull. Of course. Why had he thought Coll or Tiree? His thoughts tore in so many directions that he had trouble making sense of everything, but the woman continued to babble on. This was definitely the voice of his mother.
A figure came from behind the building, carrying a sleeping child of around two years old. Alana. It had to be Alana.
The figure headed straight for the forest. She was getting away with Alana, probably with the intent to hide the lass where no one would ever find her. In the forest of Ulva, one could probably hide for many moons.
First, he’d kill his mother, then he’d go after the woman carrying Tamsin’s daughter. He had time.
Surely, he did. He’d settle the vengeance that had ripped at his soul for years. For the siblings who’d been deserted, left to fend for themselves in the middle of the wilderness with nothing but a few pieces of clothing. For the abuse, the cruelty, the neglect. He could gain the revenge he’d sought for so long. Finally, it was all within his reach!
A sudden shock hit him, a jolt as if a bolt of lightning tossed him into the air and flipped him onto his backside.
His gaze went to the path into the forest.
