She stiffened at once. Was he trying to frighten her?
“Why not? Because I’ll fall prey to someone like ye?” she retorted. “I can do whatever I?—”
“Because,” he cut her off, his dark eyes narrowing. “There are things in this Keep ye’d do well to fear, Ailsa.”
He moved towards her slightly, not quite touching her, but forcing her back against the stone of the railing. She could feel it pressing into her back as she tried to draw back from him, but the few inches between them did little to still the pounding of her heart. There was something wild in his blue eyes where the moonlight hit them, something that seemed closer to a beast than a man.
He planted a hand on the railing beside her, pinning her in place, like he could sense how close she was to bolting on the spot.
“And I’m the worst of them.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She glanced past him, suddenly wishing she could return to the confines of her chambers. They might have felt confining, but it was better than being out here with him.
He paused for a moment, letting his gaze linger on hers.
“Dinnae worry, lass. Tomorrow, lass,” he murmured, his lips slowly curling in a smirk. “Tomorrow, everything changes.”
A million questions rose and fell on her tongue in an instant, and she wished more than anything that she had the nerve to demand to know what was going through his mind. But, in that moment, all she could think of was how badly she needed to get away from him. Because if she didn’t, there was something in that penetrating gaze she might not have been able to ignore.
She ducked beneath his arm and rushed back off along the corridor, hitching her skirts so she did not trip over them as she went. She was almost certain she could feel him staring at her as she went, and she didn’t dare look back over her shoulder to check.
Tomorrow is the feast. Was he implying that…
She shook her head and brushed the thoughts aside with great insistence, refusing to so much as consider what he might have meant by that. She needed her sleep, or else she would be caught up in thinking this over all night long.
And besides, whatever dreams waited for her in slumber would be kinder than the nightmare that stood there on the parapet, speaking words that she could not bear to listen to.
Chapter One
“Come on, Ailsa,”her mother called to her as she made her way towards the Great Hall. “We cannae keep Laird McFadden waiting, now, can we?”
Ailsa sighed as she fiddled with the tie of her skirt; a beautiful reddish-brown gown that was fit for any matchmaking event such as this one, a choice her mother had made for her when they were still back at the family Keep. Her mother insisted it complemented her blue eyes.
But she could not feel as lovely in it as she wanted to, because she knew what was waiting for her on the other side of that door, and she did not much like the thought of it.
But, with a kind smile from her father as a nudge along the way, she walked out of the room and made her way past the guards who were waiting at the double doors of the hall to stand guard over who came and went on this most illustrious of evenings.
Inside, her mother was already deep in conversation with Laird McFadden, who lifted his hands in greeting when he saw Ailsa approaching.
“Ailsa, dear,” he remarked as he planted a hand on her shoulder. “I was so sorry to hear of the loss of yer betrothed. Callum MacDonald was a fine man, by all accounts.”
Ailsa bit back a little rush of grief that suddenly threatened to get the better of her and nodded.
“Aye, he was,” she agreed, and her mother looped an arm through hers, squeezing tight.
“But ye’ll no’ leave her waiting to find a new husband, will ye, my Laird?” her mother cut in. “I’ve heard such wonderful things about these feasts, about all the girls who find the men they’re going to marry here.”
“Aye, of course,” Laird McFadden agreed, and he offered Ailsa his arm. “Perhaps I could walk ye around, find ye a gentleman to speak with?”
Ailsa knew there was little point in protesting—her mother would just have told her off if she thought that she was trying to make this harder than it needed to be. She was of age now, and she would need to find a man who would be willing to take her in and look after her, now that her parents were getting on in years.
But, as Laird McFadden led her around the brightly lit hall closer to the music and chatter of the feast, she could not help but feel as though she was just some toy being passed from person to person.Little more than a pawn to be passed around, she thought to herself. Some curiosity the people could gawk at, the grieving almost-bride who would be hustled off to a new home and a new husband as soon as they found one willing to put up with her.
She could handle it, though, as long as it was nothim. The thought of it stuck in her throat like an errant bone, hard and impossible to swallow.
The feast was already in full swing by the time they made a full circle around the hall; on one side of the room, a small group of musicians were bringing classic tunes to life while revelersdanced. At the other, a long table served as a spot where the would-be couples could catch their breath and talk a little. The air smelled of whiskey and bow resin, her parents close behind her, no doubt willing her to do all that she could to make the most of this night.
And that, of course, was when she saw him, or more like, shefelthim. She felt the same glare that she had the night before, piercing her skin. She had caught her breath outside of her chambers, gulping down enough air to steady herself before she would be sent to this feast.
