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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Och, why cannae I sleep?” Ava complained at the ceiling, as if somehow, speaking her worries aloud would help. It was still dark outside, the lack of light testament to the fact she should still be asleep.
She threw off the covers, her body heated. All night she had been having dreams. She was back in that training ground with Kai, only they hadn’t stopped at all their playful words or even cutting each other’s clothes. In those dreams, they had ripped the clothes off each other. The simultaneous rough and tender way Kai had made love to her in the dream in the middle of that room still made her dither with want.
“Enough,” she muttered sharply and sat up in bed. She felt a wetness between her legs, a wetness that had been there ever since Kai had cut the first rip in her gown the night before.
There was something there, wasnae there? It wasnae just excitement, but something deeper.
It was the first time she had looked at Kai and not been confused about her attraction to him and their friendship. It was the first time it had felt natural, obvious, as if there was nothing more understandable in the world than her wanting to tear off the rest of his shirt and kiss him.
“Oh, in the name of the wee man!” Cursing her own thoughts, she stood from the bed and moved to wash her face in a fresh bowl of water. She didn’t light a candle but navigated the room in the dull grey light of the morning that showed dawn was not too far away after all. As she washed, a thick piece of parchment caught her eye. It had been slipped under the door in the night and sat there heavy and folded, awaiting her attention.
Drying her face, she hastened toward it and opened it, her heart no longer hammering in her chest when she realized it was not a note from Kai as she had hoped after all, but a note from her father.
Ava, me dear heart, today Laird Grant is tae have a tour of the grounds. I told him ye shall accompany us in the afternoon. It is imperative ye dae yer duty now. I ken it isnae an easy path, but ye and I both ken, it is the only way we can keep yer sister safe.
Her father droned on but she could not bring herself to read it all. She rolled up the letter, feeling strangely numb and cold.
Very well, she would go on that ride later. She would do her duty. She would seduce Laird Grant using all the tricks that she had learned and she would not dwell on the fact that she had notonce thought about what it would be like to share Laird Grant’s bed, for all she could think about was sharing Kai’s.
She hurried to dress, braiding her hair in a haphazard way in her haste, before she left the room, stumbling down the stairs in the castle in the dark. In the great hall, it was still empty of people, though more decorations had been put up the evening before. The staff had decked the place beautifully in winter boughs, with pinecones and wreaths hanging from the ceilings and the stone walls. Even the tables were lined with garlands that had been studded with dried fruit and cinnamon, the scent heavy in the air.
Feeling blissfully alone, Ava walked deeper into the room, allowing the door to close behind her. There was a thin grey light bleeding through the tall windows at the other end of the hall, showing that the sun would soon rise. Ava concentrated on the decorations, trying not to think of Laird Grant or Kai. She looked at the mistletoe hanging in the boughs above her, cricking her neck far back to stare at it..
“Ye shouldnae stand there, ye ken.”
“What? Oh!” Ava flung a hand to her chest as she spun around.
Kai stood in the corner of the room, so shrouded in shadows that she hadn’t noticed him before.
“Kai!” she hissed. “What are ye doing here?”
He took a step forward, and she realized that he was still wearing the same torn clothes that they had sparred in the night before.
“Have ye nae been tae bed?” She raised her hand and pointed at his clothes as he walked toward her.
“Nay.” He shook his head. “I couldnae sleep. I went for a walk instead. I hoped it would clear me mind.” He kept moving toward her. Soon enough, he’d be standing under the mistletoe with her.
She raised her hand flat, urging him not to come any closer. He halted, his eyebrows raised a little, though he didn’t challenge her or inch his way forward.
“What thoughts did ye need clearing?” she whispered.
“Dinnae ask a question ye clearly dinnae want tae ken the answer tae.” He walked around her, clearly giving her a wide berth and glancing quickly up at the mistletoe above her. “Ye made it clear last night ye dinnae want tae hear particular thoughts from me.”
“Oh, Kai…” She turned on the spot, tracking his movements, never once inching away from the mistletoe. Was it so wrong to want him to close the distance between them? She had thought about it all night. What would one little transgression cost them?
He halted on the other side of her, his gaze now firmly set on the mistletoe over her head.
