Backing out of the door and slamming it behind her, Una was sure she could hear his amused laughter following her, making her flush more. Clearing her throat, she turned to the two guards.
“I’ll be back soon,” she said shortly, and hurried away without waiting for a response.
It took Una about twenty minutes to track down a set of fresh clothes that looked like they could fit Struan. The two guards were playing cards as she walked by and barely glanced up at her. Shouldering open the door, Una began to talk.
“It’s nothing fancy, but the shirt is clean and the trousers…”
She trailed off. The washroom was empty.
Una’s heart began to thump. Dropping the clothes unceremoniously on a low table, she hurried over to the bath.The water was beginning to cool and looked as though it had been bathed in. One of the drying sheets was damp. There was no way to leave the washroom except by the door she’d just entered. There was nowhere to hide.
Swallowing back panic, Una rushed back to the door, throwing it open with a thump. The guards barely looked up.
She was ready to bellow at them but paused, holding her tongue.
Astrid just made me responsible for him. These men might run straight to her and tell tales.
Surely he couldn’t have gone far. Her heart pounded so hard she felt sick. Scurrying off down the hallway, her scampering feet echoing, Una prayed harder than she ever had. There were a thousand places for him to hide in the Keep, and then…
She skidded around a corner, and there he was.
Struan stood, shirtless, with moisture still glimmering on the powerful curve of his back. He was barefoot, wearing only his old, grubby breeches, and clutching his old shirt. He was talking to a maid, some round-faced, ordinary-looking girl of about nineteen or twenty that Una didn’t recognize. As she watched, the girl giggled at something Struan had said, peering up at him through her eyelashes. She wound a lock of hair, escaped from under her mob cap, around her pointer finger, and bit her lip.
Something angry shimmered inside Una, a fierce and illogical desire to storm up to the maid and shove her away.
“Struan!” she shouted, and the girl flinched.
Struan, to his credit, did not. He made a dismissive gesture, and the girl scurried away. Turning to face her, he grinned.
“What is it?”
Una stormed over until she was close enough to feel his breath on her. She was so angry it shimmered inside her, but beneath the anger, almost powerful enough to overwhelm it, wasrelief.
“What do ye think ye were doing?” she snapped. “Wandering off like that.”
“I thought I was free.”
“Ye thought wrong. Ye aren’t going to be executed publicly, but ye are hardly free to go yer own way. What were ye doing?”
He only chuckled, grinning wider. “Ye thought I had escaped, didn’t ye?”
Una clenched her jaw, glaring up at him. “My neck is on the line for ye. Remember that. What were ye saying to that lass?”
He blinked, hesitating just for a moment.
“Soap,” he said at last, and held up a neat square of hard soap. “Ye did not give me any, and I wanted to be clean.”
Hesmelledclean, a faint scent of lavender coming off him—they often used dried lavender to scent the bathwater in the washroom—and underneath it, a breath of crushed grass.
Una found herself stumbling back, her breath catching in her throat.
“Very well,” she stammered, feeling color rush to her cheeks. “Back to the washroom, then, before anybody knows that ye are gone.”
“As ye like,” he murmured, inclining his head.
Una was glad to put her back to him. She strode ahead, relieved to hear his footsteps following her. The guards—useless creatures—didn’t glance up as they approached, too absorbed in their game. Una slipped into the washroom first, and Struan followed. She closed the door at once, leaning back against it with a sigh of relief.
He stood where he was, staring down at her. It was gloomy in the washroom, with the fire doing little to light up the space. There were hardly any windows, and the ones that were there were closely shuttered up for privacy. The gloom threw odd shadows across Struan’s face, but his eyes glittered sharply.
