She met his look with the kind of gravity small faces wear when they mean to win. “Promise.”
Alex let the moment stretch, as if weighing terms at a council meeting, then nodded. “Aye,” he said. “Promise.”
She released his hand, fixed him with one last look, and went for the door.
Her steps were quick and light on the stone, and before he could say anything, the latch lifted and dropped. The door closed behind her, a soft sound that left the room and its quiet in place.
Erica had crossed to the window again when the mid-afternoon sun struck the castle walls. The yard below kept its slow rhythm. She had not moved since returning from the garden. Her thoughts would not still, so she held to the plain view until the knot in her chest loosened.
A knock sounded at the door. It was very light and far from the steward’s steady tap or even Leah’s quick double.
“Come in,” she called.
Silence. Then the same light knock again, closer to the latch this time.
Erica crossed the room and opened the door. Katie stood there, neat and bright, hair braided smooth and tied with a ribbon that almost matched her eyes. She looked up with a smile that did not know how to be anything else.
Erica felt her lips quirk up in answer.
“Yer hair looks lovely,” she complimented. She tilted her head, teasing because the girls liked the game. “Now, which one are ye?”
“Katie,” the girl answered proudly.
“Of course ye are.” Erica leaned her shoulder against the frame. “What brings ye here?”
“The Laird is asking for ye in the library,” Katie said. “He wants to show ye something, and he asked that I bring ye.”
Erica’s hand tightened on the frame before she could stop it. A flicker of unease slid under her ribs.
The letter in the drawer. Did he know about it already? Was that why he wanted to see her? She had taken the seal off herself, so perhaps this was him trying to find out what was in it.
She swallowed. “All right,” she said. “I will change and?—”
“Nay,” Katie said quickly. “Now. It is urgent.”
Erica raised a brow. “Urgent,” she repeated slowly.
Katie nodded, very serious. Her earnest face made it harder to ask questions that would lead a child to lie.
“What could be so urgent in a library?” Erica asked, half to buy herself a breath.
“He said ye would ken it when ye saw it,” Katie said.
Erica looked past her into the passage. The air out there ran cool along the floor. No nurse. No Grandmamma. No footman waiting. Just a girl with a sneaky smile on her face and a ribbon straight as a line. It felt odd, for some reason, but she swallowed and decided to play along.
“Ye have never been to the library, so I have to guide ye there.”
“Nay, I have been to the library once,” she tried.
“Have ye?” the little girl asked, her voice a bit too hoarse.
Erica tried to think of the one time she had gone there, but the realization crashed into her faster than the air in the passageway.
“Nay, I havenae,” she admitted, her voice filled with resignation. “I suppose I need yer help, lassie.”
“Aye,” Katie said, pleased to be needed. “I will guide ye, so ye daenae get lost.”
Erica hesitated. Instinct pushed a small warning into her mind. The request was strange, and she knew it. If Alex wanted to speak to her, at the very best, he would have sent Calum. Or he would have sent a maid.
