“So ye keep sayin’. Well, Creighton, yer life is yer own. I willnae tell ye how to live yer life, just as ye wouldnae tell me how to live mine. Daenae worry, this willnae affect the treaty. I wouldnae let that happen. But from now on, I think that we should stay away from each other.”
Creighton rocked back on his heels. “What?”
She shrugged, trying to ignore the tearing sensation in her chest. “I think that ye heard me perfectly well. This is a large keep, and there’s nay reason why we should see each other. I’ll stay out of yer way if ye stay out of mine. We’ll serve out our time, and I’ll leave, and that will be the end of it.”
“The end of what?”
She gave a bitter laugh. “See? Ye daenae even ken what there is between us. Perhaps ye are right, and there’s nothin’. I… I daenae understand ye, Creighton.”
His gaze flickered. “There’s nothin’ to understand.”
She shrugged again, dropping her gaze. “I have a habit of pryin’ too deeply into the affairs of others. I do it with me sister, tryin’ to control her when this is her life, nae mine. I listen at doors, even though I ken I’ll hear nothin’ to me own benefit. I have a nasty habit of thinkin’ that I can change the way the world is if I only try hard enough. But that’s foolish talk, is it nae? The world cannae be changed by one person. One person cannae even change another, nay matter how much they might want to.”
He stayed silent, as if waiting for her to continue, and Nora scrambled for more words. Her tired brain refused to supply anything more, so she repeated herself.
“It’s time for us to part ways. I’ve had enough. I’m tired, I’m so tired.”
“Ye daenae mean that.”
“I do, Creighton. This has gone far enough.”
It has already gone too far for me. I think perhaps I’m lost already.
No need to think of that now. No need to let him guess it. Lifting her chin, Nora met Creighton’s eyes squarely and even managed a weak smile.
“I think that this is where we go our separate ways,” she stated. “It’s for the best.”
He watched her, his face giving away nothing. His eyes flickered, however, and a muscle ticked in his jaw.
“Very well,” he said at last. “If this is what ye want.”
Nora swallowed past a lump in her throat, and forced herself to continue meeting his eyes.
“Aye,” she whispered. “It is.”
CHAPTER 26
THREE DAYS LATER
Nobody could ever saythat Creighton was not a man of his word.
Nora had not seen him since they parted ways in that dark courtyard. He’d gone striding away across the cobbles, heading toward some unseen entrance, leaving her to go back into the castle.
And then, nothing.
Nora found her gaze straying to the window. Through it, she could just see a sliver of greenery, bathed in morning sun, part of a field. Was he out there now? Perhaps riding his horse, perhaps…
“Nora,” Laurie interrupted her thoughts, her tone more than a little bossy. “Are yelistenin’to me?”
Nora dragged her gaze away from the window and turned her attention back to the little girl.
“I’m sorry, Laurie, I didnae hear what ye said. I’m… tired,” she managed.
It was a lame excuse. Judging by the quick, narrow-eyed glance Margaret shot at her over the breakfast table, she thought so, too.
Laurie didn’t seem to notice. Humming happily now that she had Nora’s attention all to herself, she took another piece of shortbread.
That was Creighton’s order—that Laurie should have all the shortbread she wanted. She ate it all happily, but Nora found that she didn’t particularly have much of a taste for it herself. Every time she tried to eat a piece of shortbread, she was reminded of that strange, stale, sugarless taste of the poisoned piece.
