“Aye.” Leah nodded. “The Laird’s man-at-arms. He takes the first round or last, depending on what the Laird has him doing. Kitchen girls pull the bread for dawn in the middle of the night,and the kennel boy takes care of the dogs and their pups. If ye need hot water after the bell, ye can send for me anytime.”
“Good,” Erica said. “Thank ye.”
Leah rose as if the act of giving plain help had lightened her a shade. “Do ye need anything else, me Lady?”
“Nay,” Erica said. “Only sleep.”
Leah picked up the taper and brought it closer to the window so the glass showed a low reflection. Erica’s face looked back faint, the green dress half hidden by the robe she had put on against the chill. She did not stare at herself long. It never helped.
“Is something amiss, me Lady?” Leah asked gently.
“Nay,” Erica said, keeping her voice soft. “I just never thought I’d be in a place like this.”
She looked out again. The yard had a pattern she could read now.
A man crossed from the postern to the corner of the keep and spoke to the guard there. The guard listened, nodding once, then twice. He moved off on a line that would take him to the far stairs.
Leah smoothed the blankets, pleased to have a thing to fix that stayed fixed. “Ye will be the lady of the castle soon,” she said. “Ye have more power than ye ken.”
Erica breathed in and out slowly. “Aye,” she said. “Somehow, I daenae doubt that.”
She watched the man linger a moment longer by the corner. She recognized him from the set of his shoulders. It was the same man who had stood with Alex in the field. The one who did not waste words.
His man-at-arms. Calum.
He lifted his face to the window, as if the quiet had drawn his eye. Their eyes met. He gave a brief nod, and she returned it. The understanding seemed to run clean. Perhaps a bit cleaner than she would like to admit.
If Alex were to inform anyone of their arrangement, it had to be his man-at-arms. She recognized the eye contact for what it was. She would not do anything that made his job harder, and he would not let anyone make hers impossible.
He turned away as Leah set the candle down and stepped back.
“I will leave ye to yer rest,” Leah said. “If ye wake and need anything, knock once on the steward’s door. Fergus may growl at first, but he will definitely attend to ye.”
Erica smiled. “I will.”
Leah curtsied and left, gently closing the door behind her.
The chamber filled with the small sounds of the night, reminding Erica of what life was like back at Bryden. It was almost the same. She recognized this night as every other night. Most of the maids have gone to sleep early so they can wake up before dawn. That was how it worked here.
She took off her robe and dress and set both on the chest, then she folded her stockings and laid them by the fireplace to warm again in the morning. She washed her face with cool water and dried it with the cloth Leah had set out. Her hands smelled of rosemary now, and it calmed her more than she wanted to admit.
She slid between the sheets and lay on her back. The ceiling was a low plane of shadow. She counted to keep the thought from rising.
Ten breaths.
Twenty.
It did not change the pace of her heart.
Great.
She reshaped the thought into a list of things she would like to do tomorrow.
Up here, she wouldn’t have to face anyone except Leah and perhaps her mother. Perhaps she could write Hilda another note as well and learn how the castle was doing.
She closed her eyes. The thought of activities kept her grounded for a while. However, before she could stop it, the thought she had been trying to push down rose behind it like a tide.
She could still feel how close her back had been to the stone wall and how warm Alex’s presence had been. The way his voice had deepened when he asked if she wanted it to become real. The feel of his knuckles against her cheek.
