The entire room drank to their tributes, finishing with another song about a siege from long ago. The day had been filled with toasts and stories of his father’s greatness. Even George Sinclair’s senseless rages and harshness were being commended before the man’s corpse. When the sun began to set, he and his brothers would carry their father’s wrapped body outside Girnigoe to the dug grave beside Cain’s mother, who had died over twenty years ago from fever after giving birth to Bàs. Tomorrow Cain would begin to build the future for Clan Sinclair, a future full of glory and conquest, creating the strongest clan in Scotland.

He glanced toward the steps that led to the tower room. Was Ella catching up on the sleep she missed last night? Would she curl up with her kitten, Boudica? Cain smiled over the name. The fierceness of the wee beastie made it perfect, and the fact Ella had named her and tried to take her with her when she climbed from the window told him much. The little creature needed a champion. Ella had taken on the role immediately, as he knew she would. She was much less likely to request to die when she must remain alive to protect her little Boudica.

Dodging around the warriors laughing near the steps, Merida hurried over. She and Hannah had spoken fondly of George earlier, before the attendees had started passing the whisky around. They had vacated to work with the kitchen maids shortly after that, leaving only Viola, a wild lass from the village, and a few other maids who did not mind the leers and crude language of the somewhat drunk warriors. They remained mostly sober in case of attack, but the celebration of his father’s life would give several of them throbbing heads the next day.

Merida stopped before him, head tipping back to stare up at his face. “I just took a plate of tarts up to Ella.”

“I nailed her windows shut,” he said. Was it stifling in the room?

“Maybe ye should have nailed over her chimney, too.”

“What?”

“Cain, she is not in the tower room.”

Daingead. He’d left his guard in the stairwell. “Thomas?”

“Is searching her room and George’s chamber right now.”

“Bloody hell,” he said, setting his tankard down. “Is Da’s back stairway open?”

Merida shook her head.

“What is amiss?” Joshua asked, his face turning from laughter to death in the space of heartbeats.

“Ella is missing,” Cain said, as Gideon and Bàs came close. Cain didn’t wait for a reply but strode through the crowd that opened for him. He took the tower steps two at a time, yelling back over his shoulder.