Thar wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to like him. Wasn't supposed to feel... whatever it was when he looked at her like she mattered.
She was supposed to spy on him. Betray him. Help her brother destroy him.
The knowledge sat like poison on her tongue.
"Thank ye," she whispered, because she didn't know what else to say.
Harald nodded once, then turned back to his meal, leaving Enya to wrestle with the growing certainty that nothing about this marriage was going to be as simple as Finley had promised.
CHAPTER SIX
"Ye're certain there's naethin'?"
Leo shifted in his saddle, scanning the tree line with the same careful attention he'd been giving it for the past hour. "Nae a damn thing. Nay camps, nay tracks fresh enough to matter, nay signs of organized movement."
Harald's jaw tightened.
They'd been riding since first light, covering every approach to the castle, every known smuggler's route and hunting path. The forest should have yielded something—boot prints, disturbed ground, evidence of the brigands who'd attacked Enya's escort.
Instead, there was nothing. Like they'd vanished into smoke.
"They had tae go somewhere," Harald muttered, guiding his horse along a narrow deer trail. "Six men, maybe seven. Ye cannae move that many bodies without leavin' traces."
"Unless they kent exactly how tae cover their tracks." Leo's expression was grim. "These werenae common thieves, me laird."
"Aye." Harald had reached the same conclusion hours ago. "Which means someone hired them. Someone who kent when Lady Cameron would be travellin' and where."
"Her braither?"
The question hung in the cold morning air. Harald wanted to dismiss it, wanted to believe that even Finley Cameron wouldn't endanger his own sister. But the pieces fit too neatly to ignore.
"He sent her ahead with four guards," Harald said slowly. "On the most dangerous road on the island. At dusk. Then conveniently stayed behind tae 'establish camp.'"
"Could be he's just an idiot."
"Or he wanted her vulnerable." Harald's hands tightened on the reins. "The question is why. If he wanted tae break the Pact, he could've just refused the marriage. The king would've been furious, but it's nae treason tae reject an alliance."
"Unless he wants somethin' more than just breakin' the Pact." Leo glanced at him. "What if he wants Lewis tae look weak? If the bride disappears on our territory, the Crown blames us, nae him."
The logic was sound. Disturbingly sound. But it still didn't explain why Enya had lied about it.
Unless she didn't know. Unless her brother had used her as bait without her knowledge.
The thought made Harald's blood run cold.
"We keep searchin'," he said. "Expand the perimeter. I want every path checked, every hollow searched. If those bastards are still on this island, I want them found."
"And if they're nae?"
"Then we start askin' harder questions about who hired them and why." Harald turned his horse back toward the main road. "Ye head north. I'll cover the eastern approaches and circle back through the forest near the castle. Meet at the gates before sunset."
Leo nodded and spurred his mount away, leaving Harald alone with the trees and his growing unease.
Something was wrong. He could feel it like a weight between his shoulders—the sense that he was missing something crucial, that the pieces he had weren't forming the picture he needed to see.
The attack on Enya. Her brother's absence. The too-organized ambush. Her fear when she'd looked at him, and the way she'd lied so smoothly about Finley's reasons for staying away.
None of it added up to anything good.
