No. She had to do more.
This time, she would not coax his trust like a skittish animal. Instead, she would ask for it, plain and direct, and see if there was anything left in him that could still understand that not everyone was out to get him.
“I will bring the human out of you, Logan,” she whispered to herself as she headed to her chambers.
30
The festival started the next day without a hitch.
Tunes from pipes carried across the courtyard, rising over the low murmur of endless conversations. Bright lights burned along the walls, dancing over stone and cups. Smoke from roasting meat curled under the open sky as the atmosphere grew even more lively with each passing second. Children ran between legs and came up laughing, and men in rough coats stood beside men in good wool and tried not to stare at one another.
Emma stood near Logan at the edge of it all. She was close enough that their sleeves brushed when someone pushed past them, yet far enough that the space between them felt deliberate. Their last argument sat there as well, an unseen object that simply would not be moved.
A village woman brought her a plate of bread and meat. Emma thanked her and tasted both. A man from the harbor mutteredthat the rope contest had been clever and scratched his head as if complimenting her cost him something.
Emma laughed when he seemed to expect it and kept her shoulders relaxed. No one here would see how she was still hurt by the way Logan had asked why when she spoke of trust.
He stayed at her side anyway, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword and his thumb drawing a slow line along the worn leather. When a group of pirates came near, he shifted, not enough to be obvious, but enough to put his body between hers and theirs.
He still had to protect her, no matter what.
Emma thought of how the villagers watched her and wondered what they were thinking.
The English wife.
The woman who had stopped a hanging with a rope and a game.
Some smiled, shy and honest, and others frowned as if waiting for her to show she was on the wrong side after all.
The pirates, on the other hand, watched her with a different eye. Theyassessedher. One time, one of them lifted his cup to her with a crooked grin. Emma inclined her head, nothing more.
Isobel slipped in at her elbow like a pocket of relief. She took Emma’s arm and drew her toward a group of older women who wanted to ask her what England was like.
Emma spent a reasonable amount of time dispelling rumors until someone started a reel and bodies moved onto the packed earth, boots stamping in time.
Each time she turned away from Logan, she could feel him behind her. It was as if he were being overly watchful, as if she were something he was expected to guard and he did not know how to hold.
After a while, the air near the fires grew thick, and the torches along the far wall smoked. Emma said she wanted air. Isobel agreed at once and steered her toward the edge of the grounds, where music faded to a hum and the smell of meat gave way to damp grass.
“The animals would love this,” Emma blurted. “The music, I mean, not the crowd.”
Isobel laughed. “The goat would be charging at folk for coin by now.”
Emma let herself smile.
They walked along the trampled border where the grass grew rougher. The sky darkened further above them, and the firststars appeared. Lanterns hung from ropes and cast small circles of light that faded quickly into the shadows.
“How do ye feel?” Isobel asked. “Truly.”
“I am fine,” Emma said, too quickly.
Isobel made a low hum. “That was a lie.”
Emma kept her eyes on the ground. “It is loud. That is all.”
“Loud is good. For a long time, it was only steel and orders here. Now, there is laughter, and there are bairns, and there is a daft Englishwoman who set up a farm in the yard.”
“Formerfarm,” Emma corrected.
