She probably agreesthat I am too fat and ugly, but doesnae want to hurt me feelings.
Finally,Mollie grabbed her hand and squeezed, saying softly, "Things are goin' to change soon, Maia. Sooner than ye think."
Maia threw her a startled look."What do ye mean?"
"Nothin'ye need to worry about just now." Mollie gave her hand a firm squeeze before letting go. "Just ken that yer life here... it willnae last forever. One way or another, change is comin'."
"I daenae understand how."
"Ye will."Mollie moved toward the door, then paused and looked back. Her expression was gentle, almost sad. "Read yer books, Maia. Dream yer dreams. And when opportunity comes knockin', even if it comes in a way ye daenae expect, daenae be afraid to take hold of it."
Maia looked downat the books spread before her, then up at the barred window where afternoon sunlight was beginning to slant across the floor. Outside, the world continued without her—people living their lives, making choices, and experiencing freedom she had not known for a very long time.
She opened the poetry collection,letting her fingers trace the words on the first page. But her mind wasn't on the verses. It was on Mollie's cryptic warning, on the strange intensity in her friend's eyes.
What kindof opportunity could possibly reach her here, locked in a tower room with iron bars on the windows and guards at her door?
2
"Daenae move."
The voice wasrough as gravel, dark as midnight, and accompanied by a large, calloused hand clamping over Maia's mouth before she could even process waking. Her eyes flew open, heart slamming against her ribs as pure terror flooded her veins.
A man loomedover her bed—massive, cloaked in shadow, smelling of leather and night air and something wild she couldn't name. The faint moonlight filtering through her window caught the gleam of his eyes as he stared down at her, and Maia's breath stuttered in her lungs.
"If ye make a sound,"he whispered, his burr thick and dangerous, "ye'll be punished. Nod if ye understand me, lass."
Maia's mindscreamed at her to fight, to scratch at his face, to do something, but her body was frozen in fear. She could feel thestrength in the hand covering her mouth, could sense the coiled power in the man's frame as he bent over her.
This wasn'tsomeone she could overpower. This wasn't even someone she could reason with, not yet.
So,she nodded, quick and jerky, her grey eyes wide as saucers.
"Good girl."The approval in his tone sent an inexplicable shiver down her spine, one that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with the timbre of his voice.
Slowly,carefully, he lifted his hand from her mouth. Now that her initial panic was subsiding, she could see him more clearly.
Maia sucked in a gasping breath,and her heart began thundering all over again, but not from the initial fear.
He lookslike he stepped out of a dream.
That was her first,completely inappropriate thought. The pale light illuminated the sharp angles of his face, caught in the wild tangle of black curls that fell past his shoulders, and gleamed in eyes so dark they looked almost black in the dimness.
Highland gods show me mercy.Have ye sent the angel of death to end me misery?
He wasthe most handsome being she'd ever seen.
The thought crashedthrough her terror like a rogue wave, leaving her even more breathless than before. His features were harsh, carved from granite—strong jaw hidden beneath an unkempt beard, straight nose that looked like it had been broken at least once, full lips pressed into a grim line. Everything about him screamed danger, from the breadth of his shoulders to the way he moved with predatory grace.
"What—are ye real?"Her voice came out as barely a whisper. She swallowed hard and tried again. "What are ye doing in me chambers?"
One dark eyebrow arched upward,and his mouth curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. It was too sharp for that, too knowing. "Believe me lass, I am as real as any human ye ken. Yer Laird tried to take somethin' of mine." His voice was still low, pitched for her ears alone. "So now, I'm takin' somethin' of his."
Understanding dawned slowly.Maia felt horror running over her, then it was followed by something else—something that felt dangerously close to hope—tangling in her chest. Mollie's word flashed through her mind.
"Ye're here to kidnap me."
"Clever lass."He straightened slightly, though his attention never wavered from her face. "Now get up. We havenae got all night."
