“Maybe she decided to run away rather than do that,” Bàs said. His young brother, despite all the executions he delivered, still held onto hope that people were good. Could Cain?

Kenneth stared at Cain, swallowing hard. “I gave her the poison in case she could not live wed to ye.” The man exhaled through gritted teeth, anger and worry ravaging his face, making him look much older. “Ye carried her away, locked her up in your fortress.” He sneered at Cain. “Not in your dungeon but in your bedroom. Did ye rape her? Beat her?”

Cain stepped up to him. “Never,” he said, not caring if he spit on the man.

“Her life is worth more than bringing the clans together,” Kenneth yelled. “I gave her a way out that did not include killing herself. I raised her and will always protect Ella as best I know how. I gave her a weapon to use if marriage to ye was nothing but pain and torture.”

Fury and anguish smashed against worry inside Cain, creating a storm that threatened thunder and lightning. His calm, strategic mind churned in chaos, all the years of discipline and training crushed under the thought that Ella was gone.

Gideon stood at the door. “The lock was cleaved with a blade,” he said and dropped the heavy lock back onto the ground.

“It was not the Sutherlands,” Kenneth hissed, fury still etched on his face. “Ethan would not have ordered this without my knowledge.”

Cain’s fists clenched as he stared at Ella’s steward, searching his haggard face for truth.

“I am telling ye, dammit, I did not order this,” Kenneth said. “Whoever did…” He raised his bound hands to his forehead, rubbing it. “They could harm her.” The man looked completely stricken.

Cain turned to Gideon. “Ye have Viola Finley.”

“Keenan has her above,” Joshua said as he walked along, his gaze trained on the ground. He crouched, touching the dirt. “They left not too long ago.”

Cain clutched the beautifully carved queen in his fist. If it was not Sutherlands, then she was taken by force. Tears in her eyes. A look of regret and panic. “She went with them.”

“With whom?” Kenneth asked.

“We will follow the tracks,” Bàs said, but Cain knew.

He looked to Kenneth. “The Mackays have your Jamie.”

Kenneth’s eyes closed as if pain, too, radiated through him. He truly loved Ella, loved her enough to give her a way out of her marriage if it were worse than Hell. A weapon so she did not have to kill herself to escape.

Joshua straightened. “If we leave now, we can overtake them.”

“Prepare the horses and men,” Cain said. Joshua ran off toward the bailey.