“Nae yet.”
“I will never allow a mon to make me do something I dinna want ever again. Move.”
“Ye will cause a scene.” Thor jerked his chin toward the guardsmen. While they faced away from the bailey, looking out for anyone who might approach, movement and raised voices would draw attention. Thor counted on few people taking notice, but if they did, being beneath the torch would protect them both from too many rumors.
“Ye dragging me out here probably already has people nashgabbing aboot us.”
“Lady Greer, please. For Rose’s sake, we need to come to some truce.”
“Stay the bluidy hell away from me. That’s our truce.”
“And how am I supposed to do that with ye underfoot?”
Bluidy hell. Why canna I keep ma ruddy mouth shut? If it were anyone else, these thoughtless comments wouldnae be so bad. Why the hell canna I think before I speak? Why do words spew from me?
“Go back to Dunbeath. Then ye willna have to bear the sight of me if it’s so offensive.”
“Ye arenae chasing me away again.” Thor practically barked his reply. It was more strident than necessary, but they were both picking at scabs on wounds that hadn’t healed from nearly a decade ago.
“Yer memory is shite. I’m going inside.”
“Greer—”
“Lady Greer. Remember, we arenae friends.”
“Lady Greer, I’m failing at the truce I suggested seconds ago. But we must come to one. We must cease antagonizing one another.”
“Dinna stare at me as though I’m muck under yer boot.”
“That’s nae what I think.”
“Really? Because that’s exactly how ye look.”
Thor puffed a sigh. “Rose said I was looking unwelcoming to people who dinna ken me. Ye arenae familiar with the Sinclairs besides Rose. I dinna mean to appear so cross, and I dinna want people to think that ye’re unwelcome in ma sister’s home. Again, I apologize. I am sorry for nae considering how it might appear to others.”
“Everyone has heard the Sinclair men brood. But it isnae enjoyable to be the only one on the receiving end of those menacing stares.”
“Ye think me menacing toward ye? So, we are back to ye fearing me.”
“And we are back to me telling ye I dinna fear ye, Thor. But anyone looking at ye would think I should. That I’ve done something unforgiveable.”
Thor straightened and inhaled, expanding his chest to its full breadth as his nostrils flared. He watched Greer’s posture do the opposite. She appeared to retreat into herself, her shoulders rounding, and her arms going around her waist. The assertive woman from a moment ago vanished, and the haunted one who arrived at Dunbeath, battered, returned.
His tone was softer as he spoke. “Mayhap it would be best if I just keep ma distance from ye. I will do better nae to look in yer direction.”
“So everyone can think I’m so below ye that ye canna deign to look at me after spending nearly a moon glowering me. Och, aye. Such an improvement. If ye willna go home or leave me in peace here, then I’ll go home.”
Greer made to step around Thor and truly force her way back into the keep if she had to, but he snagged her arm and dragged her into a shadow where he knew no one could see them at all.
“Ye are never going back to that fucking keep.” The adamance in his voice shocked them both. “We may nae get along, Greer. But I will nae allow ye to go near that place again. Nae ever.”
“Ye dinna decide that. That’smaclan andmapeople andmahome.”
“If it were as ye say, then ye wouldnae be staying here. Dinna act a fool because that is one thing I ken ye are nae. Ye canna go back.”
“Why does it even matter to ye? Wouldnae life be easier if I did?”
“So I can stand beside ma sister at yer grave? So I can watch her grieve ye and ken I didna keep her from feeling such agony? Nay. Ye dinna get to do that to Rose.”
