She looked up at him for a moment before lowering her head. “Well, most times, honest folks pay for more than they deserve.”
“So do liars,” he pointed out.
She opened her mouth to respond, but for some reason, the words refused to come out.
The wind drifted across the water and sent goosebumps all over his skin. Neil had asked for the truth, and he had gotten it. At least in part.It sat raw between them.
He couldn’t imagine the strength she must have had to display not just to survive in his absence, but also to maintain her position afterfive years. Her quiet courage pulled at him for some reason.
“Ye did well, by the way,” he found himself saying. “If I hadnae said that before, ye must ken that I mean it now.”
“Daenae praise me for surviving,” she scoffed. “It makes everything look like a blessing.”
His jaw worked. “I’m praising ye for nae breaking.”
“Folks break and live,” she argued. “Folks bend and live. I have been living like every day was a test—and to be honest, I would love to stop that. Do ye think ye can help in that regard?”
He had no answer to that. He let the water do the talking. A fish darted near his knee and vanished.
“Sometimes I think ye could have come home earlier,” Kristen added, her voice low. “Considering just how well ye fought out there today, I believe ye should have come home earlier.”
Neil’s throat tightened. “I was held in a cabin, bound with ropes,” he said. “I couldnae escape as easily as I would have liked.”
“I’m…sorry. It must have been hard, and I’m nae makin’ any easier on ye, I ken.” The words were gentle and yet not. “But since ye have returned, ye have been acting like it is the castle’s fault ye went missing in the first place. Ye snap at the guards and change things around.”
Neil threw his head back. “Is this about the tapestries again?”
“I willalwaystalk about the tapestries.”
Neil exhaled as regret came fast, sharp as a hook under his skin. He wanted to step out of the water and cup her face in his hands and say what he had left unsaid, but none of it would make up for the past five years. It would only sound like an excuse.
He fisted his hands in the water as if it were a tangible thing. It slipped between his fingers.
“I should have asked ye something else,” he muttered.
“Such as?” she prompted.
“What ye like besides dragons, I suppose.”
“The bairns like the dragons, nae me.”
Neil laughed. “Ye really daenae intend to make this easy, do ye?”
“Why?” she taunted. “Is the Wolf of the North afraid of a little challenge?”
“Me point,” he said, “is that I should have asked ye questions that would help me get to ken ye better. Like what makes ye laugh. Which bread ye choose when there are two. Who taught ye to sing.”
“Nay one taught me to sing.” A small smile touched her lips, but it quickly vanished. “And I sing poorly.”
“I doubt it.”
“Believe it,” she insisted.
His mouth curved.
“Ye can ask me one thing,” she added after a beat. “A fair question. Then we are done.”
He wanted to ask a dozen, but he settled on one. “When ye said ye already had a family, did ye mean there is nay room left?”
