When I finished, I covered her properly. She was trembling now, whether from pain, exhaustion, or the powder, I could not tell.
“There,” I said quietly. “It’s done.”
She exhaled shakily. “Thank ye.”
The words were barely a breath. As I rose, her fingers caught my sleeve, and I looked down. Her eyes were half-closed, her face pale against the pillow, her damp hair curling wildly around her cheeks. The sharp-tongued lass who had fought me at every turn looked younger in that moment. Not weak. But worn to the bone.
“James?”
“Aye?”
Her fingers tightened. “Will ye… hold me?”
The request struck me harder than any command could have. For a moment, I did not answer. The wine and pain powder had loosened her tongue. I knew that. She might wake furious that she had asked, or curse me for obeying, or she might not remember asking at all. But her dark, vulnerable gaze would not allow me to say no.
I climbed onto the bed behind her with care and drew her gently against me. She came with a soft, broken sigh, settling back into my chest as if her body had been waiting for permission to stop fighting. I slipped one arm beneath her head and lightly curved the other around her waist, mindful of every injury, every place that might ache. Her damp hair brushed my jaw. She smelled of herbs, honey, and warm skin.
“Is this hurting ye?” I asked.
“Nay,” she murmured.
“Tell me if it does.”
“Mmm.”
That was not an answer, but it was the last she gave. Her breathing slowed by degrees. The room quieted around us until I could hear the faint hiss of the fire and the distant murmur of the inn below. Outside, the wind dragged itself along the shutter, making it rattle. I stared into the low light and held her. Some emotion swelled in my heart. I didn’t try to name it. I could ill afford to. It was not part of the plan. This moment was not part of the plan.
That thought circled me like a wolf. I had meant to find Katrine, deliver her to the king, claim what had been promised, and finally step into a life no one could sneer at. A castle. A name. Men who answered to me. Land that no legitimate brother or a lord’s passing whim could take.
I had wanted those things for so long that they had become part of my bones. And yet, with Katreine asleep against me, her trust warm and fragile in my arms, I could not make the wanting feel clean. She shifted and whimpered, and it gutted me. I bent without thinking and pressed my lips to the top of her head. “Shh, lass,” I whispered, brushing damp hair back from her brow. “I have ye. Rest now.”
She eased almost at once, her body softening against mine again. I closed my eyes.I have ye.The words had come too easily. Worse, I had meant them. A fierce, overwhelming need rose in me, so sharp it nearly stole my breath. I wanted to keep her from harm, from the road, from a king who summoned her like a piece on a board, and from men who would use her like me.
My jaw clenched. She slept on, unaware of the war tearing through me, and I lay awake long after the fire had sunk to embers, holding a woman I had no right to want and even less right to keep.
I awoke with a start to daylight streaming in through the window, and the bed was empty of Katreine. I scrambled out of bed, heart pounding, certain she had figured me out and fled. Fear drove me out of the room and down the stairs, but it was more fear for what might happen to her alone on the road than anything else. Aye, I still planned to take her to the king, but she would be safe with the king and with me. Out alone on the road, she’d be anything but safe.
I found her in the main inn room, sitting at a table with Irma standing in front of her as they chatted. I stood for a moment at the threshold, letting my heart stop pounding and the knots in my shoulders loosen, then crossed the distance between us. When she saw me, she smiled, making two dimples appear, and her eyes lit up, and damned if the sight of her didn’t tighten my chest. My reaction now, and the one moments ago when I had found her gone, was unwelcome. I had to regain the control I was losing. This woman was a means to an end, and detouring from my plan meant losing my chance to get what I’d long been after. With that in mind, I determined to do better at keeping the necessary walls between us. As I sat down, Irma was speaking to Katreine.
“Ye look a bit better, lass,” she said.
“I’m well enough,” Katreine replied. Aye. That was as close to the truth as the lass seemed willing to come.
Irma set down a jug of watered ale. “Where are ye headed from here?”
I reached for my cup. “North.”
At the same moment, Katreine said, “To the Isle of Skye.”
Irma’s brows drew together. “Skye?”
I set my cup down slowly, realizing my error.
Katreine looked at her. “Aye.”
Irma’s gaze flicked to me, then back to Katreine. “Then ye’re headed the wrong way.”
Katreine turned to me, and every muscle in my body tightened.
