Wild and Wicked by Lisa Jackson Read Free Book Online

dying?
    Christ Jesus, it could not be. But a dark pain cut through Devlynn’s soul and he suddenly knew a fear deeper than any he’d met before. “Fetch the captain of the guard. Now!” He stormed down the hallway and the crowd parted. The baron of Black Thorn’s temper was legendary—no one dared cross him.
    “You cannot hold your guests prisoner,” Collin warned, catching up to his brother.
    “Like hell.”
    “But—”
    Devlynn whirled and, ready for a fight, advanced upon Collin. Every muscle in his body tensed. “Am I not the baron?”
    Collin’s lips tightened. “Aye, but—”
    “Then do it. And do it the hell now!”
    “Brother,” Collin said in that ingratiating, irritating tone that scraped on Devlynn’s already raw nerves. “Listen, you cannot treat the baron of Wybren as you would a common thief or pickpocket and you cannot delay Lady Monteith.”
    “You listen to me,” Devlynn ordered, grabbing Collin’s mantle by its laces. “My son has been stolen. Kidnapped. Mayhap injured. Or . . . or worse.” The vision of Yale’s limp body burned through his mind. “We will find him and the culprits who did this atrocity. And we will find them tonight.” His lips barely moved as he added, “Tell the sheriff to interrogate every man, woman and child within the castle walls and get me the captain of the guard. Now.” Spittle sprayed upon his brother’s face. Devlynn released Collin’s tunic as if it burned in his hands. “I want the names of everyone, every blasted person who entered the gates tonight, and I want to know why that woman”—he shook the dress in his fist—“why Apryll of Serennog, if that be who she really is, was allowed into the castle.”
     
    “We’ve searched the castle from the turrets to the dungeons and there is no sign of the lad.” Rudyard, captain of the guard, stood rigidly in Devlynn’s chamber. Collin was seated at a small table and Devlynn glowered out the window to the bailey. His chest was tight, his heart drumming with fear, and anger surged through his blood. His fists clenched and he imagined his hands around Apryll’s slim, white throat. “But there is more bad news.”
    The cords in the back of Devlynn’s neck tightened.
    “A sentry is dead. His throat slit. It appears as if several of the invaders infiltrated.”
    “Bloody hell,” Collin growled. “And no one saw this?”
    “And the treasury . . . the guard there, too, is dead. I’ve posted another.” Within seconds Devlynn was through the antechambers and a side door to the small room where most of the castle’s valuables were locked in a heavy chest. Collin and Rudyard were on his heels. As he’d said, the guard lay dead, slumped in a corner, blood spilling from the dark purple gash on his neck to a pool on the floor. “Saunders,” Devlynn said and stopped to check the man who was still warm but surely dead. He had no pulse. “Call the priest.”
    Murderers. Butchers.
    Fear congealed deep inside him.
    The monsters had Yale.
    By the gods, he couldn’t, wouldn’t lose his son, not his boy. Not after Glynda and the baby. His hands curled into fists and he forced himself to his feet to stare at the empty chest. The lock had been broken, the contents emptied.
    “Search the castle again.”
    Rudyard hesitated and Devlynn seized the man by his throat. “I said, ‘Search it again.’ Turn this castle upside down. Scour the huts, the stores, the kennels, the stables, the gristmill, the chapel, the garrison, everywhere. Look under the rafters and in the dungeon. Leave no stone unturned, do you hear me?” He pushed his nose into the taller man’s face and added through lips that barely moved, “’Tis your responsibility to find my son.”
    The captain’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His pointy little tongue flicked around crooked teeth. Christ Jesus, the man was scared. The damned captain of the guard was frightened. No wonder they were in such a mess!
    “Devlynn.” Collin’s voice was