Highland Secrets (Cree & Dawn)

Go, she mouthed, patted her stomach and gestured shoveling food into her mouth.

Cree leaned close and whispered, “I thought I heard your stomach protesting.” He kissed her cheek. “Save some food for me.” He waved to a young servant lass, and she scurried over to him. “Go fetch my wife’s shawl from our bedchamber.”

Dawn smiled and patted her chest in thanks.

“I can feel the slight shiver in you. Stay by the hearth and keep warm until I return.” He walked her to the table to join Flora and Tavia and saw her seated comfortably.

Beast was up on all fours as soon as Cree stepped away from Dawn, ready to go with him.

Cree was about to deny the dog when his wife waved them both off. She would not deny Beast’s love of the snow and she presently had no need of him with Dermid nearby.

Cree nodded with a smile, though it vanished when he called out, “Let’s go, Newlin. There is work to be done.”

Dawn settled in, enjoying the morning meal and the company. She hoped to engage Tavia in conversation about Hume to see if she could find out anything that would help with finding the young man.

Flora was of the same mind as Dawn and asked in a soft whisper, “Hume was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?”

Tavia nodded and smiled. “Since we were young. He has the kindest, gentlest soul. Da understood that and it is the reason Hume was assigned to the kitchen. He is no warrior. I have been trying to convince Da to let Hume work with Auda and Hertha. He is knowledgeable when it comes to plants and I believe he favors Hertha, though he does not have the courage to tell her. I cannot imagine anyone would want to hurt him.” She shuddered. “I pray he does not meet the fate of the man found in the woods.”

Flora raised a questioning brow. “What man? What fate? Why was I not told of this?”

“What point was there when you were ill in bed. Besides, you are too stubborn for your own good. You would have never stopped asking questions,” Tavia said and knowing it would do little good she had to warn, “now stop talking.”

Flora bit at her lip trying to keep silent, but it did no good. She looked to Dawn. “Did you know this man?”

Dawn shook her head and cringed as she gestured as if ripping something out of chest.

Tavia hurried to explain, seeing Flora’s eyes go wide and ready to speak. “The man was found with his heart missing and we have no idea to his identity.” Her hand went up when Flora went to speak. “Not a word from you.”

Flora brushed her hand aside and whispered, “A ritual perhaps.”

“Or a hungry demon,” Tavia said with a shudder.

Dawn asked the question she and Cree had discussed, hoping one of the women would understand. She held up seven fingers now that there had been another abduction, spreading them wide, then tapped between each one and shrugged.

Tavia appeared confused, not so Flora, she watched with interest and, of course, did not pay mind to remaining silent. “Your seven fingers stand for the seven people abducted?”

Dawn nodded.

Flora smiled as if the rest was easy and kept her voice to a soft whisper, “The space between represents the time between each abduction. You want to know how long between each of them. It begs the question… how often does the demon need feeding?”

Both women looked to Tavia for an answer to how long between each abduction.

“Let me think,” Tavia said, holding back the shudder that threatened her. “At first I believe there was more than a week between the disappearances, which was why my da didn’t give it much thought. It was when Bronwyn disappeared that he finally took notice. Hume’s abduction was the first to be so close to the last abduction. There really was no steady pattern to it.”

“I would suggest slavers. But it is a waste of time for them to take a few people at different times from a clan. They strike whole villages, their reward for the lot much more substantial,” Flora said, releasing the cough that she’d been fighting to contain.

Dawn admired the woman for speaking her opinion but worried for her. She did not wish her affliction on anyone. She pointed to her own throat, then pressed a finger to her lips.

“Lady Dawn warns you like I do,” Tavia said. “Neither of us wish to see your voice restricted or permanently lost. Please at least limit your talking so you may heal.”

Flora nodded, pointed to Dawn, then tapped her lips.

“Are you saying you will converse like Lady Dawn does, through gestures?” Tavia asked.

Flora nodded, quite pleased with herself.

Tavia chuckled. “We will see how long that lasts.”

Dawn smiled, though an ache squeezed at her heart. She would love to have a voice and hear Cree’s name fall from her lips, to tell him how much she loved him, to tell the twins how much she loved them, to hear herself laugh and cry. The ache swelled in her heart, and she chased it away. This was not the time or place to feel sorry for herself.