“Ye should rest,” he said.
“So should ye,” she replied.
His mouth twitched. “I will.”
She did not believe him.
As she walked away, she felt his eyes on her. And Ariella turned just in time to see his shadowed figure cross the corridor leading out to the upper battlements, and followed wordlessly.
The cold hit her like a sack of flour had been thrown at her face. The wind nipped at her exposed cheeks and ears and the night shrouded her vision instantly.
“Ye should be in yer rooms, lass.”
Ariella turned at the sound of Maxwell’s voice behind her, low and measured, as though the night itself had taught him how to speak more quietly, but she couldn’t make out his features in the darkness.
“I figured ye kent something I didnae when I watched ye come out here,” she replied. “I was… curious.”
He closed the distance between them, his features becoming more plain with every inch he neared.
She noticed that Maxwell glanced past her, toward the darkened corridor. “The watch has been doubled. I wanted to see it with me own eyes.”
“And did it satisfy ye,” she asked lightly, though her heart still felt full to the brim with the day.
“It rarely does,” he said.
She stepped aside to let him pass. “Then ye should come up. The wind is sharp, but the air clears the mind.”
He hesitated only a fraction of a second before nodding. “Very well.”
They climbed in silence, boots echoing softly. The stair opened onto the battlements, where moonlight washed the stone pale and silver. The land stretched wide beyond the walls, dark hills rolling into shadow. Somewhere far off, an owl called.
Maxwell stopped at the parapet, resting his hands on the cold stone.
Ariella lingered a step behind him, drawing her cloak tighter. “Ye look as though ye intend to wrestle the horizon.”
“It has been kent to resist,” he said.
She smiled faintly and moved to stand beside him. “The keep is quieter now.”
“Aye.”
“For a while, it felt as though it might burst apart.”
“And yet,” he said, gaze fixed outward, “it didnae.”
She tilted her head. “Ye sound surprised.”
“I am,” he admitted. “Chaos tests a structure. Weak ones fail.”
“And strong ones bend,” she replied.
He looked at her then, brows drawing together slightly. “Is that what ye think?”
“It is what I ken,” she said. “Mairi bent today. So did Callum. So did ye.”
His mouth tightened, not in anger, but restraint. “I gave orders.”
“And ye stayed,” Ariella said quietly. “Ye didnae flee the sound of pain. That matters.”
