Quitting her prolonged perusal of the petrified cheese and stale bread that the cook had produced for lunch, Iliana raised her head slowly at that exclamation. Duncan's sister, Seonaid, was standing just inside the keep doors, her eyes, and those of her constant companions, Allistair and Aelfread, wide as they gaped at the changes made in the great hall. They were late, the last to enter for the nooning meal, yet oddly, the first to even seem to notice what Iliana and her crew had accomplished over the last three days. At least they were the first to bother to comment on it, aside from Angus. Iliana had not seen her sister-in-law since she had left the bedchamber with the others on the morning after the wedding. Three days ago. Seonaid and her two cohorts had disappeared the morning after the wedding and not returned since. Off hunting had been Laird Angus's guess when Iliana had commented on it. “What goes on here?”
