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Isla nodded with a soft smile.

She left to prepare for the ride, picked up the tonics, and met Gavin at the stables.

“I am ready,” she said as she mounted her mare. “Lead the way.”

“Stay close, me Lady,” Gavin advised.

The guards opened the gates, and out they went. They took the well-paved path to the eastern villages, with the loch to their right, the sun glancing off the calm waters.

“It is bonnie, is it nae?” Gavin remarked.

Isla turned to him and smiled. “Aye, the land is bonnie.”

“Have ye been to the eastern villages before, me Lady?”

Isla looked back at the path ahead. “Once, with Lady Moira right after the weddin’.”

“It can be bonnie in these parts,” Gavin said.

Isla nodded, letting out a sigh.

Gavin drew closer to her. “Ye worry nae only for Lady Moira but also for the Laird.”

She tightened her grip on the reins. It seemed that all she did in her life was worry. Except for that brief moment with Alisdair. But that had also been snatched away.

“Follow me, me Lady,” Gavin said. “I will show ye somethin’ that will make ye forget yer troubles for a bit. It’s on the way to the village, so we willnae be late, daenae worry.”

Isla studied him. She knew that he was Alisdair’s right-hand man and everyone in the castle respected and trusted him. He seemed so eager to see her happier, and she couldn’t say no. And truth be told, she needed a distraction.

“If it willnae take us too far off the path, then aye,” she allowed.

“It willnae. It is a shortcut, actually, and will get us to Lady Moira faster. Of course it’s more ragged terrain, but I have seen ye ride, me Lady.”

Isla chuckled at the compliment, and he led them off the main path.

For a while, she savored the ride along a small stream that fed the loch and the life bustling around it. Her heart leapt at the sight of birds tending their nests and otters darting after fish.

“Told ye.” Gavin read her smile. “Worth the detour.”

“It is bonnie, thank ye. Let’s find Lady Moira now. She must be in agony.”

“Follow me, me Lady.” Gavin steered them into the woods.

The trees grew denser here, the vegetation wild, the path barely marked, but he never hesitated. He must have been born to this land.

“Up ahead,” he said, “the path gets narrow, so we need to dismount. It willnae be for long. We could ride around it, but it will take longer.”

“The sooner the better,” Isla said, climbing off Luath.

She took hold of the reins and followed Gavin deeper into the forest. The stream’s gurgle had faded to nothing, and what little there was struggled to break through the thick canopy overhead.

She was about to ask him if he was sure where they were going when she heard a rustling in the trees to her right. She thought it was an animal, when a strip of sunlight caught the glint of metal.

“Gavin!”

That was the only word she managed to utter before armed men broke from the trees. She counted six of them as they surrounded them. She took one hasty step toward Gavin, the only safety she could think to reach for. Only for him to take one slow step back.

She gasped, the blood running cold in her veins. He simply stood there, with an icy look in his eyes, as the men closed in and seized her.