“Me laird.”
The dark-haired rider, Leo, was jogging toward them. "We should go. That bastard who ran might come back with friends."
"Aye." Harald's expression shifted back to something harder, more controlled. He looked at Enya. "Can ye ride?"
"Of course I can ride."
"I mean, will ye try tae fling yerself off me horse the moment we start movin'?"
Enya's cheeks heated. "I'm nae a child."
"That's nae an answer."
"I'll behave," she said through gritted teeth. "As long as ye promise nae tae murder me on the way tae the castle."
"I promise nae tae murder ye." Harald's mouth quirked again. "Today, at least."
"How reassurin'."
"I thought so." He turned toward the horses, then paused. Looked back at her. "Lady Cameron?"
"Aye?"
"Yer eyes." Harald's gaze held hers, steady and unflinching.
Here it comes.
"They are beautiful, I've never seen anythin' like them." Harald said quietly.
Then he walked away before she could respond, leaving Enya standing there dripping and confused and utterly off-balance.
"Me lady?" Amelia appeared at her elbow, looking rumpled but blessedly unharmed. "Are ye alright? Did he hurt ye?"
"Nay." Enya was still staring after Harald's retreating back. "Nay, he... he didnae."
"Then why dae ye look so strange?"
Because he looked at me eyes and didn't flinch. Because he called them unusual like it was something tae be curious about instead of afraid of. Because he said they were beautiful.
Because nothing about him matches what Finley warned me about.
"I'm fine," Enya said. "Just cold."
"Aye, ye look half-drowned." Amelia's expression turned sly despite the circumstances. "Though the Hawk daesnae seem tae mind. Did ye see the way he was lookin' at ye?"
"He wasnae."
"He was. Like ye were a puzzle he couldnae quite solve." Amelia squeezed her arm. "This might nae be as terrible as ye feared, me lady."
Enya wanted to agree. Wanted to let herself hope that maybe that marriage wouldn't be the nightmare she'd been expecting.
But as Harald returned leading his horse—as she saw the blood still staining his hands, remembered the cold efficiency with which he'd killed—she couldn't quite silence her brother's voice in her head.
They're raiders. Conquerors. Never ferget what they are.
"Come on," Harald said, offering his hand to help her mount. "Ye'll ride with me. Yer maid can ride with Leo."
"I have me own horse."
