The words settled over the children like a benediction. Enya felt her throat tighten with something she couldn't name.
Again, he was protecting her. Even after the tension of the night before, even when he clearly didn't trust her, he was still standing between her and fear.
"Can she fight?" Tam asked suddenly. "If she's marked by fate, can she fight like the Valkyries?"
"I dinnae—" Enya started.
"She fought off wolves yesterday," Harald said. "Stood her ground with naethin' but a branch while three of them circled her. I'd say that counts as brave, wouldnae ye?"
The children's eyes went wide. One of them, a girl of maybe eight, stepped forward cautiously.
"Were ye scared?"
"Aye," Enya admitted. "I just kept thinkin' I had tae stay alive."
"And ye did." The girl's expression turned admiring. "Ye're brave."
"I'm nae sure about that."
"She is." Harald's eyes met Enya's across the hall, and something passed between them—understanding, maybe, or the ghost of trust trying to rebuild itself. "One of the bravest people I've met."
The declaration left Enya speechless. After last night, after the lies and suspicion, she hadn't expected kindness.
But here it was anyway. Offered freely, without condition.
Why?Why defend me when ye ken I'm lyin' tae ye?
But the children were crowding closer now, their fear dissolving into curiosity, and Enya found herself answering their questionsand letting them examine her eyes up close and trying not to cry at how easily they accepted what everyone else had always feared.
And through it all, she felt Harald watching her with an expression she couldn't quite read.
Something that made her guilt cut deeper than any wolf's teeth ever could.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"Ye're starin'."
Harald tore his gaze away from the window overlooking the training grounds. Leo stood in the doorway of his solar, arms crossed, wearing that insufferable knowing expression.
"I'm observin'," Harald corrected. "There's a difference."
"Is there?" Leo moved to stand beside him, following his line of sight to where Enya and Amelia walked along the edge of the practice yard. "Because from here it looks remarkably like starin'."
Harald didn't dignify that with a response. Below, Enya had stopped to watch two of his men sparring, her expression intent. She was studying their footwork, he realized. Analyzing the way they moved.
Gathering information? Or just curious?
He still couldn't tell, and the uncertainty gnawed at him.
"She asked about trainin' this mornin'," Leo said casually. "Wanted to ken if women were allowed to watch the practice bouts."
"What did ye tell her?"
"That she's to be lady of this castle, so she can watch whatever she damn well pleases." Leo's tone turned thoughtful. "She seemed surprised by that. Like she expected tae be told nay."
"She probably did expect that." Harald thought of the children yesterday, the way they'd warmed to Enya once he'd shown them she was safe. "She's used tae bein' told nay. Used tae doors closin' before she can even knock."
"Aye. So maybe ye should stop starin' through windows and actually talk tae her."
