Baird folded his arms. “And what if I choose neither? If I choose tae simply leave?”
Davina shrugged and turned back to her patch of weeds. “Then the great laird runs from a garden. What a tale that’ll make.”
“Ooh!” the children cheered loudly.
Baird handed the parchment to a nearby gardener who was already shaking with silent laughter, and then strode into the mess.
“Move over,” he muttered.
Davina blinked. “Ye’re helping?”
“Aye, well, apparently I’ve been shamed intae it by the children.”
“We didnae!” One of them squealed.
“Ye did plenty, lad,” Baird said, taking a spade. “Encouraging her.”
Davina knelt back to her work, and now, her eyes were shimmering with amusement. “Show me what ye can dae then, mighty laird.”
“Oh, I’ll show ye,” he said, and plunged the spade into the earth with far too much force.
The children clapped. “Our laird is strong!”
Davina leaned close to pretend to whisper to them. “He likes when ye say that.”
Baird shot her an amused look. “Dae I now?”
“Aye,” she retorted, being utterly unbothered. “It feeds yer ego.”
The smallest child tugged Baird’s sleeve. “Me laird, what’s an ego?”
Baird pointed directly at Davina. “Ask the lady. Hers is bigger.”
Davina gasped, and her hand theatrically flew to her chest. “Mine? Why, I am the very picture of humility!”
The children dissolved in giggles so loud a nearby guard had to hide a grin. They worked like that for a while, pulling weeds, clearing paths and exchanging quips. Baird found himself… smiling. He wasactuallysmiling. There was dirt under his nails, a thorn scratch on his wrist, sweat beading at his temples and still, he was smiling despite it all, or perhaps, exactly because of it all.
At one point, Davina crawled under a tangle of brambles to reach a buried stone. Baird grabbed her ankle before she disappeared entirely.
“Careful,” he warned. “Ye’ll get yerself stuck and I’ll have tae rescue ye again.”
Davina twisted around to glare at him. “Ye didnae rescue me the first time. I merely uhm… tripped.”
“One does nae merelytripintae a villain’s knife,” Baird deadpanned.
One of the children gasped. “She fought a villain?!”
Davina groaned. “Dae nae encourage him.”
Baird smirked. “Aye, I’ll tell ye all about it?—”
“Nae, ye will nae?—”
“How she nearly fainted?—”
The children gasped again.
Davina’s eyes went wide with mortification. “That is a terrible exaggeration!”
