Silence came down like a blanket.
Erica faced Alex. The petals made a neat circle between them. She stepped into it.
“What do ye want now?” she asked. The words were not cruel. They were tired. “I am done guessing.”
“We need to talk,” he said. “Properly. Nae with a door between us. Nae with a castle watching.”
“We have done nothing but talk,” she pointed out. “And run. And stop. And pretend.”
He took a breath. “Then hear me out.”
“Hear ye out,” she echoed, the ache rising again. “Do ye ken what ye sound like, Alex? I stood in that room and asked ye for a scrap of want. Ye gave merules.”
“I gave ye what I had,” he said.
“Ye pushed me away,” she shot back.
They stared at one another, their breathing uneven, the old hurt crossing the new. Petals shifted at her heel. She realized that her hands had curled into fists and forced them open.
Alex spoke first, voice rough. “I am afraid of betrayal.”
“And I am afraid of being unwanted,” she said. “I have been enough things in men’s stories. I willnae be a burden they believe they must bear.”
He flinched. “I never thought ye a burden.”
“Then what am I?” she asked. “What have ye always seen me as?”
Alex closed the distance between them in two steps, not to touch her, but to be close enough that she could see the conflict in his eye.
Her hand rose to his chest and found his heartbeat. He caught her wrist as if to stop her, but he did not. Their mouths met with anger and grief. The kiss hit hard, then softened, then steadied.
When they broke apart, they were both shaking.
“Erica,” he said, and the name sounded like a prayer. “I never meant to fall in love.”
She went very still.
“I didnae think I could trust anyone after what happened,” he said. “I didnae think I had it left to give. I thought I would be a wall until I died.”
Erica swallowed, feeling the floor shake beneath her feet.
His eyes did not leave hers. “Ye changed it.”
Her throat closed up, and she forced herself to breathe.
“I have fallen in love with ye,” he said. “Ye have changed everything, especially the girls. They laugh in ways I havenae heard since they were babes.”
Tears burned. She hated them. Still, she let them fall.
“Alex, do ye…” she trailed off. She needed the words more than pride. “Do ye really mean this, or is this just another trick?”
“‘Tis nae a trick,” he said, steadier now. “Iloveye.”
Something inside her cracked, and the wall she had braced all evening slid down an inch, then another. She stepped forward until her forehead rested against his, until his breath warmed her mouth again.
“Why?” she suddenly asked, surprised at the way the word escaped her lips.
“What?” he asked in response.
