Erica watched as Grandmamma took the path to the door, cane tapping a steady count. At the threshold, she glanced back once,then vanished into the passageway. The small sound of the cane faded and left the courtyard to its own noise.
After a while, Erica rose from the bench. She took the narrow path that led down the far side of the grounds, where the torches thinned and the floor grew even colder, if that was possible.
She chose the bend that led away from the inner gate. There were fewer guards around here, and the scents of the garden were fainter. Even the air changed.
Asplashsuddenly stopped her in her tracks.
She had walked only for a few more minutes when she got to the path that led directly to the small lake at the edge of the fences. She had seen the lake on her first day and never again. Her window didn’t overlook it, and she never crossed it on her way to the garden.
She swallowed and moved closer, her curiosity getting the better of her.She hadn’t taken more than a few steps when she saw him.
Alex.
Her breath caught at the sight of him.
He stood waist-deep in the lake, back to her, skin pale under the moon. He bent and scooped water with both hands, tipped it over his head, and let it run down. It traced the line of hisshoulders, the long cut of muscle along his back, the old marks that lived there. The moon clung for a second where his spine narrowed, then slid lower and was lost to the dark.
Her breath caught again, longer this time. Heat and cold ran together along her arms. She stood very still, caught between two wrong moves. If she stayed, she would watch. If she moved, she would make a sound.
He did it again. Water over his head. Water down his back. She watched as he tilted his face to the sky for a moment, and the lines that guarded him in daylight fell away. From behind, he looked younger and tired, like a man who had carried wood too long and finally set it down.
She turned at once, clutching her shawl to her chest. Her steps were careful as she kept to the dry patches where the lake had not reached. One step, then the next. She made herself small, a piece of night slipping back into itself.
A pebble rolled at that moment, tapping another rock and making a sound that felt loud enough to wake the castle. She closed her eyes and stood still. Then she counted to three, then five, then ten, and set her heel down for the next step.
“Erica?”
CHAPTER 15
Erica froze.
For a wild moment, she hoped he could not see her. The dark held its breath, and her chest did the same.
One, two, three, four?—
“I can see ye, Erica.”
Christ!
She let out a slow breath, then turned toward the lake again. Moonlight cast a pale line across the water, and a shape cut clear, waist-deep, the surface lapping at his ribs.
“Sorry,” she said, her voice level. “I didnae ken anyone was out here.”
“That is exactly why I came,” he said. “Peace and quiet.”
Her eyes betrayed her and dropped before she could stop them, tracing the flat of his abdomen to where the water hid the rest. The moon painted a silver sheen on his skin. Her imagination had less sense than she did, and she felt the heat prick her face. She lifted her gaze quickly.
“I come here when I need to be comfortable,” he added. If he knew she was looking, he didn’t mention it.
“Aye,” she murmured. “Ye look comfortable enough.”
He cupped water over his face. It ran down his neck and caught in the dark tufts of hair on his chest. He wiped it with his palm and looked toward the reeds as if listening to them for news.
“What brought ye out here?” he asked.
“I couldnae sleep.”
“Same,” he said. “The guards. The castle. After that letter, I wanted to be certain.”
