“Ah, but why would Sabrina Connor be different from any other lass?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say that she knew Sabrina had been kidnapped, but as close as she and Mary Jane had been throughout the years, she remembered that David had chosen to hide the body of the man he had killed in the crypt. He didn’t want others knowing what they had discovered.
“Look at you, m’lady, begging your pardon!” Mary Jane said softly. “You were willing to risk much for the late young Master David Douglas. Aye, and for the MacGinnises as well. But look at all you endured—for want of a man.”
“Mary Jane!” Shawna said uncomfortably. “That was all quite long ago.”
“Well, shall I lay out your clothing for you?”
“No, no…I’ll be fine on my own,” Shawna said. She was determined to hide David’s tartan before anyone in the household could come upon it and ponder its presence in her room. “Please tell Laird Douglas I’ll be right down. What—what of Lady Douglas? How is she faring?”
“She is tired but well and quite determined. Thankfully, she is convinced that her sister is alive, and she is determined to find her.”
“Good,” Shawna said. David, she was certain, had seen his brother and sister-in-law and told them of the events last night in the crypts. “I shall be right along.”
When Mary Jane had gone, Shawna dressed quickly. She folded David’s tartan and hastily slid it into the one drawer in the tower room’s eighteenth-century wardrobe.
When she exited her room, Gawain was waiting there. “Uncle!” she said in surprise.
“I’ll escort y’down, lass,” he said.
He slipped his arm into hers, seeming both very worried and far older today than usual. “No clues, no hints of anything regarding Sabrina, nothing?” she asked him.
“None. And we’ve the celebration coming up so quickly now. It means so much to so many. Everyone is worried about Sabrina, but Lady Douglas has just come here for the first time, and she and her sister are foreigners, and the people are restless because, although they care, they don’t want to be cheated out of their feast and a day’s rest. We must use most of our manpower to continue to search for Sabrina, but the castle staff must make preparations for the Night of the Moon Maiden.”
They were the last to enter the great hall. Hawk and Skylar Douglas were already seated, he at one end of the table with her beside him to the right. Skylar looked drawn, but as Mary Jane had said, she looked very determined as well as composed. Alistair and Aidan were seated to the side of Skylar, Lowell and Alaric were across from them. The place at the other head of the table awaited Shawna, and Gawain seated her there while taking the empty chair next to Lowell at her side.
“Good morning, Shawna,” Hawk said, watching her with his sharp green eyes. She was convinced then that he had spoken with his brother. David would have gone to Hawk before leaving the castle to carry out his plans for the day. “Poor thing, she looks exhausted, don’t you think, Skylar?”
“Simply exhausted.” Skylar managed something of a smile. “Aye, quite exhausted.”
“We are an exhausted group!” Gawain said.
“It’ll be a harder day today, mark me,” Lowell said. “Eat up now, all of you.”
“Aye, it will be a busy day, searching for Sabrina while the preparations go forth,” Alaric said, glancing down at Laird Douglas. “It will be the first time you rule as laird at the Night of the Moon Maiden, Hawk. Will you and your lady come in costume?”
Shawna cleared her throat. “I don’t think that Skylar wants to be bothered with the Night of the Moon Maiden right now—” she murmured, but Skylar interrupted.
“Thank you, Shawna, but I like to have my mind occupied, and I don’t mind hearing more. Hawk will not let me go searching again until I’ve eaten, so please, I’d like to hear about the local customs.”
“Well, then,” Shawna said, “aye, people come costumed. We’ve trunks filled with old clothing in one of the tower rooms. Mary Jane can help you find something later if you wish. Hawk, what would you come as to rule over the night with your lady wife?”
“Do I rule?” Skylar queried. “I thought the Moon Maiden had to be a young village girl. A lass, a?—”
“A virgin?” Alistair suggested. “Remember, they quit sacrificing a Moon Maiden centuries ago!” he said impatiently.
There was an uncomfortable silence at the table. Shawna felt Hawk staring at her, and she knew he was worried that someone might well intend for Sabrina to be a sacrifice. She spoke quickly.
“The laird and lady—when there exist both a laird and a lady—have special chairs placed on a dais from which they open and guide the festivities. The laird chooses his lady, of course, to rule with him, but then the people choose a lass for Moon Maiden,and the laird and lady give her a crown of flowers—and a horse from the Douglas stables.”
“A horse?” Skylar said.
“Aye, a fine horse, so that she can ride throughout the year and observe her domain,” Aidan said.
“I crowned Gena Anderson Moon Maiden last year,” Shawna said.
Gawain sniffed. “Ah, and thank God, for it seems she was no sacrifice. She walks around alive and well. She does, doesn’t she, Alistair,” he said, staring at his son.