Her mother shrugged with a small, wry look. “I will talk to the nurses up ahead,” she said. “Erica, ye can join me when ye are done.”
She moved toward the far bench, where two older women sat with work in their laps.
Erica stayed. She did not quite know where to put her hands. Alex’s mouth curved.
“I must apologize for me maither. She means well. Her tongue, on the other hand?—”
“If ye think that is the worst of what I have heard about me missing eye,” he said, “ye have another thing coming.”
“So ye hear people talking about yer missing eye every day?”
“Aye. I’ve even heard people give me nicknames. Captain One-Eyed Sparrow, the Warlord on One, Laird Missing-Eye.”
Erica frowned. “These names are terrible.”
The grin on his face sat easy for a breath. “Aye, but they are quite hilarious.”
Erica meant to match him, but her own smile came slow and thin. Her mind was somewhere else and would not come back at once.
“Are ye all right?” he asked. He looked past her for a moment, then back. “Ye werenae at the table.”
“I needed some peace and quiet,” she said. She kept her gaze near his shoulder. “I broke me fast in me room.”
He studied her face long enough to make her want to look away. She held still.
He nodded. “If ye begin to feel uncomfortable, ye can tell me,” he said. “This is still an arrangement. I am nae going to force ye to do something ye daenae want to do.”
“Aye,” she said. “Thank ye.”
He stood there for another beat. The noise grew around them. A man shouted a count, then fell quiet when he saw how close they were standing. The sun caught a path in the wall, and the light from it made a small square on the path by Alex’s boots. Erica focused on it to slow her thoughts.
“How does yer maither find her rooms?” Alex asked.
“She is content,” she replied. “The maids check on her, and the windows open easily. That is all that matters to her.”
“Good,” he said. “If she needs anything, ye tell Fergus, and then tell me if he drags.”
“He willnae drag,” Erica said. “Between ye and me, I think he likes managing the castle a little too much.”
“Aye,” Alex said, a short sound that almost counted as a laugh. “He does.”
Silence sat for a line. For some reason, it was the kind of silence she enjoyed. The look in his eye made her heart thump a bit harder than usual.
It was quite funny that she found a way to avoid the tension with everyone else, but not with him. He seemed to know how to push her, and she did not seem to know how to deal with him.
“Will ye come to the solar at noon?” he asked. “I have to sit through an hour with Grandmamma and the children. If ye are there, I may decide nae to gouge me other eye out.”
“Aye,” she said, a smile crossing her lips. “I will be there.”
“Good,” he said.
He stepped back a half pace. The ease he wore when he trained his men settled over him again, but the line of his mouth held tight.
“Enjoy the sun while it is kind,” he said. “It will turn mean later in the day.”
“Oh, I ken,” she said.
He nodded to her mother across the way and to the nurses, then turned back toward the yard. He crossed the path with the same long stride he had brought with him. The muscles in his back rippled under his shirt when he lifted his sword again.
