The recognition hit her before she could think too hard about it. “Oh.”
“Aye,” Isobel said, seeming glad to clarify. “It sits closer than ye think, but the rise hides it. In the warm months, the children from the villages come to the lip and shout to hear their voices echo back.”
They stepped through the gap, and there it was, a sheet of pale color that took the light and held it still. A bird skimmed low and left a thin stitch on the surface.
The sight was so breathtaking that Emma grew a bit dizzy. The bank on the other side of the lake softened the view with grass and low hedges. So far, everything about this place felt gentler than she had initially thought.
“Ye ken, at night,” Isobel added, “wee lights rise from the grass. They’re from fireflies.”
Emma tried to imagine the sight. “That sounds beautiful.”
“Aye. Me faither likes to summon them with honey. They gather like a hush over the grass, and if ye stand very still, they will come close to yer hand.”
Emma felt a small piece of her soul settle. “I have never seen them,” she admitted. “I only read about them in books.”
“Well, one of these nights, ye will see them,” Isobel assured her. “I cannae wait to see yer reaction when ye do.”
Emma let out a laugh, and it surprised her how easy it came. Isobel was like a breath of fresh air. In a way, she reminded her of Melody.
The path turned to a narrow strip of turf, and they walked it side by side. The wind that blew across the water carried the mildness of a good afternoon.
“I can show ye much more of the castle later if ye want,” Isobel offered. “But I can only imagine how tired ye are after such along journey. I am even surprised ye are still here and nae asleep in yer chambers already.”
Emma glanced at her. “Oh well, I came here with the intention to confront your brother, but the misunderstanding has left me with more energy than I thought I would have at this moment.”
Isobel nodded in understanding. “Oh, I have the urge to bite Logan’s head off sometimes. Ye just have to find a way around it.”
A smile curved Emma’s lips. “Is that why you go on walks?”
Isobel threw her head back and let out a mild laugh. “Aye. It keeps me from saying things that daenae need to be said, nay matter how much I think Logan needs to hear them.”
Emma chuckled. “I hear he asks that the day go on as always during battles.”
Isobel’s mouth softened. “He does.”
Emma felt the question rise before she had the good sense to leave it alone. “May I ask about him?”
Isobel’s stride faltered. The brightness in her eyes did not vanish, but it dimmed. She looked toward the lake and raised her shoulders to her ears. “Oh, I have me questions as well. I am still learning him,” she began. “He was away for years. He came back with salt on him and a face that doesnae give much away.Ye may have a hard time cracking him open. I’ve spent weeks with him, and I have yet to succeed.”
Emma recognized the wish to protect and the wish to tell the truth in the same sentence. She had pressed where she should not.
“I am sorry,” she murmured.
Isobel let out a breath, and her face brightened again. “It will do. Ye asked a fair question. I daenae always have fair answers.”
Emma decided to change the topic.
“I have a brother, too,” she revealed. “Younger, though. I still think of him as small, even when he tries not to be. He is quick to make friends with boys who do not deserve him. He will not be told, and I tell him anyway.”
Isobel’s smile returned whole. “It is a braither’s habit to act like a hare in a turnip patch. Mine used to do the same.”
“It seems they are all born with the same stubbornness.”
Isobel laughed. “I thought that was only a Scottish thing.”
“Far from it,” Emma quipped, the ease in her voice now more evident than anything. “I used to bribe mine with sugared almonds. He would swear to stay away from the river for a weekand then come home soaked to the waist with a story about a fish that needed a savior.”
“The fish always need asavior,” Isobel emphasized, laughing.
