Free Tangled (Handfasting) by Becca St. John

swallowed her whole. Even when she turned to him, she couldn’t
respond, couldn’t get words past her throat.
    Of
course he was going. He had to go. That’s who he was, what he was, why she
loved him. And she did love him. How could she ever have thought she didn’t. She
was no cuckoo in the nest. She needed a man like those in her family. She knew
that now, perhaps had known it all along. He wouldn’t have been such a threat
otherwise.
    Seonaid
picked that moment to enter the hall. Sun peaked through the only openings to
the outside, slim slits high on the wall.  Meager rays caught on the haze
caused by fire and torch light. They highlighted her, tall and aloof, as she scanned
the room. She drew Talorc’s gaze. He called her over, took her arm and led her
to a quiet place, away from the others.
    Did
he trust the woman that much?  Did he confide in her when he couldn’t even tell
Maggie of his plans for trade?  Whatever he said angered Seonaid.  She yanked
her arm from his grasp, backed away, her head shaking back and forth in denial.
 His response was lost in the distance but it fueled Seonaid to turn her back
on him and run to the kitchen.
    Had
he accused her of something?  Was Seonaid connected to the renegades?  Is that where
she went when she left the keep?
    Trouble
usually looked for trouble.  At least, now, there was something Maggie could
do.  She set out after Seonaid.

CHAPTER 7 – TROUBLE FINDS HER
     
     
    The
kitchen was a bustle of women filling sacks, preparing for the men to ride out.
Maggie wasn’t certain how the word had gotten to them, but it had. Judging by
the concise way they worked, they knew exactly how many were going and that
they were leaving quickly.
    How
was it then, from this experienced kitchen, Talorc and his men had ridden out
with tainted food and lost supplies, as they had only a few months before? That
could have been an accident?
    Maggie
fiddled with the talisman in her pocket. Love him or no, she had to return to
the MacBedes one more time. First, though, she had work to do.
    A
shout came from the back of the kitchen, a dark corner.  Seonaid held Deidre’s
arms as they quarreled. Other than the one shout, their voices were low, urgent
hushed whispers. Still, there was no mistaking the sharp hand movements, the
deep frowns, the bits of strident argument.
    Busy
as the kitchen was, the women were give a wide a berth, though no one shied
from glancing their way. Eyes rolled when they took their fight to the outdoors.
    Maggie
wove through the bustle of preparation, down the stairs and out a far door to a
courtyard.  It was empty.
     At
a tug of her skirt she found Eba pointing toward a small mound. “The guard is
following her.”  The lass whispered. “In the cellars.  They go all the way to
the center of the earth where great hungry monsters live.”
    ‘following her’  Of
course, she meant them or her mother but a child doesn’t always know which
words to chose.
    In
the caves?  Maggie shuddered. Diedre told her about the caves beneath the
castle. “Great monsters?” She asked as they circled to the mound to find a short
flight of stair down to a small door.  She could wait for the guard to return.
    If
that’s who he was following. There’d been no time for the two women to move out
of site in any other direction.
    She
had to find out. Maggie took a step down. Eba held back. “I don’t like it in
there.”
    “No
need for you to come, Eba. Go on back into the kitchens.”  She directed
doubting she would like the place herself. Cellars were dark places and Maggie
did not like the dark.
    Prepared
for the worst she was surprised to find the space lit. A lantern fitted into
the wall beside the door, which meant someone was in there.
    She
stood for a moment, becoming familiar with the chamber, listening.
    Caves
they may be, but it was much the same as the storehouses at home. Built below
the surface of the ground, they held a steady temperature, perfect for