He’d intentionally thrown away his shot.He didn’t want to compete in another round.That meant he either intended to speak with her as soon as possible, or he wanted to flee before she had the chance to catch him.
But two could use that tactic.
She was no longer interested in shooting against Jenefer anyway.That chance was long gone.It didn’t matter how well or badly she did.
She turned sideways to the target.As she drew her bow, not bothering to aim, she briefly met his gaze and let the arrow fly.
It stuck in the ground, shy of the bale.
The crowd growled.Now they were both out of the competition.
They still dared not interact for fear of revealing their identities.But leaving the archery range, Adam passed her, murmuring, “Let us meet down by the sea.”
She gulped.The sea?Did he mean to drown her?Surely he couldn’t be that vexed.By switching satchels with him, he might have been inconvenienced.But she’d left him a fortune in coin.
Besides, she’d always meant to return his things to him.Hemight be a thief.But Eve didn’t want that sin upon her soul.And it was clear God had given her this opportunity to make things right.
If Adam meant to find privacy, the seashorewasa good choice.Everyone else would be within the walls of Darragh, preoccupied with the tournament.
Getting there meant a rugged walk that gradually scaled down the steep cliff behind the keep.The breeze sweeping up the rise lifted her tunic and almost whipped off her feathered cap.She clapped a hand on her head and struggled to manage his satchel as she descended the sandy slope studded with tufts of beach grass.
It was a beautiful morn.The sun twinkled off the firth.Gulls screed and swooped through the currents of wind.The water sighed and foamed along the shore, rolling pebbles and tumbling shells.
This was the site of the great battle where the Rivenlochs had regained Castle Darragh for Laird Dougal and Lady Feiyan.It was hard to believe, looking at the smooth gray expanse, that the landscape had once been littered with the dead and dying, the sand stained with blood.
The beach looked deserted.Adam must have been delayed.
That was fine.She had to settle her thoughts, slow her pulse, calm her nerves.
What would she say to him?Confess her true identity?Tell him that swapping satchels had been an accident?Apologize for leaving him so abruptly?
Or should she go on the offensive and question him?Ask him how her satchel had ended up in the hands of Lady Feiyan?Charge him to explain why he possessed a Rivenloch medallion?Demand to know what he was doing at the Darragh tournament?
The aggressive approach was frankly more appealing.Eve had done nothing wrong, after all.She didn’t need to share her secrets.It was Adam who had much to answer for.
Empowered by renewed confidence, she strode across the shore, close to the cliff’s base, heading toward the towering rock that supported the castle.
There was a secret entrance carved into the foot of the cliff.The Rivenlochs had used it to infiltrate the castle on the day of that infamous battle, climbing up the stone steps that led to the keep.It had once been used as a gaol of sorts, the entrance covered by a locked iron gate set into the rock.Eve had never seen the place.But it was the stuff of legends now.
She skirted the wall, alternately looking for the bars of the gate, casting her gaze out over the sparkling firth, and glancing back the way she’d come to see if she was being followed.
“Aillenn,” came a sound so faint, she almost thought it was only the hissing of the sea.
When she turned, Adam was just ahead.His dusky clothing had made him almost invisible until he pushed off of the dun-colored cliff wall.
At the tournament, she’d only stolen glances at him.Now her eyes could feast.On his broad shoulders.His dark hair.His piercing eyes.She’d forgotten how alluring he was.She suddenly felt like a starving beggar seated at the king’s table.
“Adam.”Her voice came out on a sigh.
She didn’t mean it to.She meant to harden her heart against him.She dared not let him melt her resolve.No matter how her will wavered, she must follow God’s path, return to the convent, be a nun.And Adam must return to his life of crime.She couldn’t fool herself into thinking it could be otherwise.
But now that they were face to face, now that she saw him—not as a faded memory, but a living, breathing, tempting human being—all her best intentions threatened to vanish as quickly as sea foam on the shore.
“Ye look…” she said.Handsome?Magnificent?Breathtaking?“Different.”
He quirked up a corner of his mouth.“Not different enough, apparently.”
A smile tugged at her lips.They’d always been able to see through each others’ disguises.
