“Leave him go. He needs time to himsel’ to calm down.” His gaze slid to the unconscious Willie Dunbar and he shook his head on a sigh. “Duncan never could stomach bullies.”

“May I go to him, me lady?”

Iliana glanced at Mavis in surprise when she asked the question, but nodded. “Aye. If you have a wish to.”

The woman gazed at her unconscious husband with pity. “Fer good or bad, he’s me husband. ’Sides, I don’t think he’ll be eager to raise his fists to me again.”

“Nay,” Iliana agreed quietly, and the other woman moved to her husband’s side.

Angus glanced at Iliana’s worried face as she peered toward the stables into which Duncan had disappeared, then urged her toward the keep. “Rabbie has a muckle o’ manure he was wonderin’ if ye would like fer yer garden.”

Iliana frowned at him, distracted. “Rabbie?”

“The stablemaster,” Janna reminded, falling into step on her other side.

“Aye. He cleans the stables every other day or so and has been collecting the manure at the back o’ it,” Angus told her. “He wondered if ye would like some o’ it.”

“Oh. Aye,” she murmured. “’Twould be helpful.”

“I’ll have a couple o’ men bring some up to the garden after lunch then. That way it’ll be handy when yer ready fer it.”

“Thank you,” Iliana murmured.

Nodding, Angus glanced toward Seonaid, who was sidling toward the stables. “Daughter!”

Duncan’s sister froze in her tracks, then turned reluctantly toward her father.

“I believe the gardens are this way,” he said pointedly.

Grimacing, Seonaid slumped and moved back toward them.

“Ye’re not suppose to be workin’ hard.”

Iliana sighed at those words from her sister-in-law. Straightening, she brushed the hair back from her face and peered at the sun overhead. It had been more than twenty-four hours since the incident in the bailey that had sent Duncan charging off on his horse. Iliana still did not know where he had gone, only that he had left the castle and ridden off alone into the woods.

She had not been surprised when he did not appear for lunch, but had begun to fret when he was not at sup either. Angus, Seonaid, and Janna had all assured her that he would be fine, but she had found herself oddly worried about him. Iliana was sure he could take care of himself, but he had appeared oddly vulnerable to her when she had first seen him standing on the path to the garden. The conversation he had overheard had appeared to truly stun him. Iliana suspected it had to do with Mavis declaring that he cared little for the well-being of the women of his clan. She supposed the comment had hit too close to what she herself had accused him of only moments earlier.