Suddenly, warmth pushed through the tight knot in his chest.
“Ye cooked this,” he concluded.
Her head snapped up. “I… helped.”
The cook made a sound and muffled it with a cough. Logan took another bite, slower. The rough bits did not matter. He could taste the care in it.
“It is good,” he praised.
Emma stared at him as if he had told her the sky was green. “You do not have to say that.”
“I am nae saying it for ye,” he answered. “It is good. Far better than most of what I had on the ship. Ye daenae ken the things I have eaten, lass.”
The corner of her lips lifted. Then a laugh bubbled out of her, quick and a little shaky. She clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes bright.
A few heads turned. The air in the hall felt lighter.
Logan heard his own laugh answer hers, low and short. It felt strange, as if it had come from somewhere unused.
Emma gathered herself, though her eyes still shone. “If you did not already want to sail away,” she said, “my cooking and that tapestry should help you decide.”
There was the edge again, hidden in the jest.
His smile faded to something somber. He watched her in the candlelight, the curve of her jaw, the tired pride in the set of her shoulders.
He put his fork down.
“About that…”
26
Emma’s stomach dropped.
No.
Something told her this was going somewhere she would not like.
No, no, no.
She set her knife down carefully so it did not clatter. Then she lifted her chin a fraction and schooled her features into calm, as if he were about to say something about the quality of the meat.
He did not.
“You are leaving, are you not?”
Logan stared at her, and for the briefest moment, she could see something akin to regret flash behind his eyes.
“Emma—”
“You do not have to soften anything for me, Logan. Just answer my question.”
Tense silence fell between them before he eventually found his words again.
“I leave at dawn,” he announced. “I must ride to a neighboring clan.”
Of course.
He leaned back a little, fingers resting on the rim of his cup. His voice stayed even, as if he were speaking of fields and weather. He talked about the neighboring clan, men who had sent word, questions about borders and routes, and who had the right to which body of water.
