"Maybe they can." Mhairi fell into step beside him. "Me maither used tae say that the people we love never truly leave us. That they live on in our memories, in the choices we make, in the lives we touch."
"Yer maither sounds wise."
"She was. Is." Mhairi's expression clouded. "I havenae thought about her much since... since everything happened. I wonder if she kens what me faither did. If she tried tae stop him."
"Dinnae ye want tae find out?"
"I daenae ken." She was quiet for a moment. "Part of me wants tae believe she fought fer us, that she had nay choice. But another part..." She trailed off.
"Another part cannae fergive her fer nae fightin’ harder," Alpin finished.
"Aye."
They walked in comfortable silence for a while, following the narrow path back toward more familiar ground. The sun had climbed higher, burning off the morning frost and warming the air.
"Alpin?" Mhairi said as the castle came into view through the trees.
"Aye?"
"I'm glad ye brought me here. Glad ye shared this with me." She looked up at him. "And I promise ye, we will stop Graham. We'll find me sister and all the other women he's taken. We'll make sure yer maither and Isla didnae die fer naething."
Alpin stopped walking, turning to face her fully. "Ye sound very certain."
"I am certain." There was steel in her voice, the same steel he'd seen on the auction platform when she'd fought against impossible odds. "Because I ken what it's like tae be powerless. Tae be treated like property. And I'll be damned if I let that happen tae anyone else while I have breath in me body."
Pride swelled in Alpin's chest.
This was the woman he'd seen beneath the fear and trauma, fierce, determined, unwilling to be broken.
"Then we'll dae it taegether," he said. "Stop Graham, save yer sister, and build something better."
"Taegether," Mhairi agreed.
They continued walking, and Alpin found himself reaching for her hand without thinking about it.
She laced her fingers through his without hesitation, and they made their way back to the castle like that—hands joined, purpose aligned, ready to face whatever came next.
Together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Is that the loch?”
The sound of rushing water grew louder as they approached the river.
Mhairi had been there before—once, briefly, when Alpin had first shown her around the castle grounds.
But that had been summer, when the water was low and sluggish. Now, swollen with autumn rains, the river moved fast and purposeful, churning around the stepping stones that provided the only crossing for miles.
"Careful," Alpin said, already moving ahead. "The stones get slippery this time of year."
He crossed with the easy confidence of someone who'd done it a thousand times, his boots finding purchase on stones that looked treacherously smooth. When he reached the other side, he turned back and extended his hand.
"Come on. I've got ye."
Mhaira eyed the stepping stones dubiously. The first few looked manageable—large, flat, stable. But the ones in the middle were smaller, rounded, with water rushing over their surfaces.
"Maybe we should find another way across," she suggested.
