Noah’s expression did something complicated.
“Ye daenae need to thank me.” His voice was rougher than usual. “Ye’re under me protection. That’s what that means. It’s nay different from any other member of me household. If someone threatens what’s mine, I deal with it. It’s nae...” He paused, seemed to be choosing his words with unusual care. “It’s nae about ye personally.”
But then his eyes dropped to her mouth for just a breath of a moment, and came back up.
“I’m... I’m nae yers,” she said, because she had to say something.
“Aye,” he agreed. And the very steadiness of it, the way he didn’t argue, didn’t press, felt more dangerous than if he had.
She pulled her hands back. “The bandage should hold. But ye need a healer.”
His eyes were almost warm now. Almost. And Ava had to look away before she did something she couldn’t explain, like the sudden pull she felt toward him, sharp and bewildering.
Ye’re simply shocked. That’s all it is. Ye watched a man kill three people to keep ye safe, and yer body doesnae ken what to do with that.
She wasn’t ready to examine whether that was true.
He offered his good hand to help her up. She took it, and when she stumbled slightly on the uneven ground, his arm came around her waist, and she went very still. His chest was firm against her back, and his warm breath brushed near her temple.
“Careful,” he said.
“Aye.” She didn’t move. Couldn’t. “Careful.”
He stepped back quickly, as if he’d caught himself doing something.
“The carriage,” he said, his voice strained. “We should get goin’.”
“Aye.” She climbed back in.
Esther was peeking out the window. “Is Uncle Noah all right?”
“He’s fine, sweetheart. Just a wee cut.” Ava settled beside her, pressing her own hands together in her lap to stop them trembling. “Nothin’ to worry about.”
“He was very brave,” Esther whispered. “He protected us.”
“Aye.” Ava glanced out the window. “He did.”
Noah swung onto Shadow with that same practiced ease, barely favoring the injured arm, and for a moment, Ava just watched him. The set of his shoulders and the way he sat the horse made it look like he was part of it.
He turned and caught her looking.
Their eyes held through the glass for one beat.
Then he faced forward, and the carriage lurched into motion.
Esther dozed off within the hour, her small weight warm against Ava’s side. Ava didn’t sleep; she watched the road and kept returning to the same thought, turning it over like a stone with a strange weight to it.
He was still on guard when I came out. And he told me to go back.
He hadn’t softened. He hadn’t immediately rushed to reassure her. He’d been genuinely vexed because she had complicated the situation and had become something he had to account for in that moment, which left him no room for it.
She didn’t know why that bothered her less than it should have.
The sun had dipped near the horizon when the castle finally appeared, rising from the land as if out of a story she’d never thought would include her. Stone towers. Banners catching the last light.
Castle MacGregor.
She watched Noah ride ahead of the carriage, his broad shoulders silhouetted against the setting sun as the gates opened before them.
