Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

E loise's eyes flickered open. She jerked her head upward, feeling a strain in her neck as she looked around at her position. That heaviness was leaving her head but with some difficulty, and as she blinked her eyes madly, she found them sore, as if they had been closed for a long time. Her mouth even tried to yawn, but something tight across her jaw restricted her movement, making it almost impossible.

"Mmhm!" she raged against that binding, shifting as she realized that it was not the only binding across her body. She sat in a chair, with her ankles fastened to the chair legs, and her arms behind her back fixed to the rear of the chair. The rope around her mouth cut into the sides of her cheeks, gagging her, though she tried to bite down onto it to get some sort of purchase on it. Her whole body felt bruised and sore, as if when she had been dragged across the floor, she had struck every rock and step on the way.

Where am I?

Eloise jerked her chin upward, trying to make sense of her location though that soreness was leaving her eyes. The stench of mold grew strongly in the air, the dampness making her skin shiver. She glanced down, noting that she was no longer in her wedding own. She only wore her chemise and her corset, along with the court shoes she'd put on that morning.

She took my gown. Why would she take my gown?

Nothing made sense to her.

Eloise leaned forward as best as she could, trying to pull at the ropes around her wrists and force herself free, yet as she tugged, she simply made those ties somehow tighter, so the coarse material cut into her skin.

"Mmhm!" she complained loudly again. Realizing it could be her best chance of an escape, Eloise tipped back her head and attempted to scream for help around the gag. It merely came out as muffled and strangled cries, not half so loud as she hoped they would be. With no words capable of being distinguished from one another, her breathing became gasping and labored.

She took a break, resting forward and pulling at the ropes around her wrists once more.

None of this should be happening. Nay, what is going on?

She was supposed to be marrying Murdoch. Today was to be a happy one. She was not supposed to be in some cell or dungeon, fighting for an escape.

Her eyes darted across the room once more as she became increasingly confident that it was indeed some sort of dungeon. She was blocked in by four high stone walls. In one wall was a door with a hatch that was barred in iron. There were marks on the door, scored there by former prisoners. She saw names, even dates where people had inscribed their marks, determined to be remembered. They can't have been tied down as she was now.

"Mmm," she bent back, lifted her chin, and cried out again. She fought harder now, trying to get her teeth around the gag to make some sort of sound. At last, she managed more volume, but it didn't yield any results. All she heard was the jangling of metal beyond the door.

She gave up, breathing heavily as she realized that there had to be others in the dungeons too. After the attack by the Douglas clan, some of their soldiers had been thrown into the Gordon cells. If she was amongst them now, there was little chance of anyone paying attention to one of her cries. Most likely, the Douglas soldiers had been calling for help for days and had received none.

How did she get me down here? She must have planned it well tae avoid being seen.

As Eloise pulled at the ropes around her wrists, shifting her feet to try and tear at the bindings across her ankles too, a sound caught her ears. That sound made her completely freeze.

In the distance, she heard pipes. It was joyous music, and an all too familiar tune to her. It was the song that was played at the end of weddings in this part of the highlands. With her jaw hanging open, she realized in horror why exactly her gown had been taken.

Another has taken me place.

She must have put the veil over her face to hide her features completely, then taken Eloise's place in the church. Eloise's good sense wished to argue against such a possibility. After all, wouldn't Murdoch have noticed it wasn't her? Surely Avery, who had known her for her whole life, would recognize something was off? They were the same height but still…

This doesnae make sense!

That music grew louder, suggesting the pipers were even nearer than before. When she realized there was a possibility that Murdoch was with the pipers, leading the crowds toward the feasting room, she tried to call out again. Yet each word was dampened, the cries merely strained and animalistic noises that escaped her lips. No words were uttered cleanly, and nothing made sense.

Tears wracked her body as she gave up, bending her body as far forward as she physically could do again. Her stomach trembled with those cries as she didn't bother trying to get a handle of her breathing.

She has ruined everything. What does she plan tae dae with me now?

Eloise realized that this woman was already capable of a lot. She had drugged Eloise with that mead laced with some sort of sedative. She had then dragged Eloise from her chamber all the way to the dungeons, which was no small feat. It took strength, planning, and a lot of gall to do that whilst risking being seen. She wasn't just determined but mad, for what else would have persuaded her to take such a risk?

Eloise closed her eyes as she thought of the face that was revealed to her when that hood had slipped down. She remembered the eyes she had once thought were rather sweet, and how they had stared back at her, with such hardness that Eloise wondered how she could ever have been so mistaken about the woman's character at all.

I must get away from here.