Left alone for a beat, Erica let out a breath and felt the night slip back in. The lake. The silvery path on the water. His voice in the dark.
Her throat worked around a swallow she pretended was only the cold.
Leah returned a few minutes later, just as sleep began to clear from Erica’s eyes. “The bath is ready.”
Erica pushed the blankets aside and stood up. The air bit her skin. She went to the tub and stepped in slowly until warmth enveloped her ankles, then her calves, then her hips.
Heat seeped into the tight places, and her breathing slowed. She washed quickly, then leaned back for a moment longer than she meant to. The rim of the tub pressed against her shoulder blades. She focused on the lap of water against copper, letting it drown out the noise in her head.
When the heat began to subside, she rose, dried herself off, and let Leah fasten clean linen around her shoulders. “Thank ye,” she said.
“Aye,” Leah said. “Rest. Ye will want it.”
Erica returned to bed, feeling the sheets hold her. Habit did the rest, and once again, sleep took her before she could gather up the night again.
She woke up to giggles and small hands on the blankets an hour later. Urgent whispers tripped over each other.
“Good morning. ‘Tis training day.”
Erica’s eyes fluttered open. “What?”
“Training day,” Bettie announced, her voice far too loud for the size of the room.
Erica squinted at a tumble of hair and bright eyes. “What are ye talking about?”
“Come see,” Katie said, bouncing on her toes.
“Ye cannae shout at people when they are asleep, girls,” Erica muttered, but the scold had no teeth.
Her hair lay loose and wild around her shoulders, and her head still felt heavy with what she had dreamed and what she had not.
“Come,” Bettie urged, tugging at the blanket. “Up, up.”
“All right,” Erica said, sitting up with a soft groan. “I am up. Ye two are fierce wee generals.”
“Aye, that is what Grandmamma says,” Katie said, very pleased.
“So, where will this training take place?” Erica asked, rubbing her eyes.
“In the yard,” Bettie said. “But nae a bad one. Afunone.”
“A fun training. That is nae comforting,” Erica said, and pushed her feet to the floor.
They dragged her toward the window with solemn urgency.
“Look,” Katie whispered, as if the scene might vanish if she spoke louder.
Erica parted the curtains. This time, the morning had cleared. The inner courtyard lay open and bright as men moved across the grass in quick pairs. Some traded light blows with wooden swords. Others ran a line of posts into the ground.
Near the far wall, two lads hauled a massive rope, thick as a wrist, across the lawn and looped it around a stump. Guards stood by with the ease of men who knew their own work and liked it.
Erica could see Calum from where she stood. He counted something on his fingers and pointed toward the east gate.
Under the broad tree by the far side of the yard, Grandmamma sat in a chair as if the spot had always belonged to her. Her cane rested across her lap while a maid stood at her elbow with a tray and a steaming pot. The old woman’s gaze missed nothing. Every time a pair of men changed places, her mouth would curve in a small, pleased line.
Erica’s eyes shifted and foundhimalmost without effort.
Alex stood a little apart, speaking low to a boy who held a bundle of tall tree branches against his chest. He took one, checked its balance with a light tap against his palm, then handed it back and said something that made the boy’s face straighten with purpose.
