Duncan did not move.
“We keep going,” he said, looking as steady as before.
Her eyes flashed.
“Why?” she demanded. “So ye can prove what, exactly? That I am incapable?”
He frowned. “That isnae what I’m daein’.”
“Then what?” she pressed, the words spilling faster now, edged with something deeper than irritation. “Dae ye simply wish tae remind me how helpless I am?”
The word hung between them. It forced him to move and close the space she had tried to create.
“That is the last thing I want,” he said, standing so close she could feel the warmth of his breath of her lips.
Elaina held her ground, though her breath had not yet steadied.
“Then what is it?” she asked, though her voice had softened without her meaning it to.
“I want ye tae be able tae stand on yer own,” he spoke, not taking his eyes off of her. “I want ye tae never be in a position where someone can take hold of ye and ye cannae stop them.”
The memory flashed between them without needing to be spoken: the market, then her being dragged away.
“Dae ye think,” he continued, quieter still, “there is anything I care about more than ensuring yer safety?”
The question settled between them. She had no answer to that, at least no answer she could give aloud. She could see the answerin his eyes, in the way he stood before her, refusing to move, in the way he had come for her, without hesitation.
The answer wasnothing.There wasnothinghe cared about more.
The realization sent a quiet, unsteady feeling through her chest. They were too close. She felt it now, the warmth of him, the faint brush of his breath and the way the world around them seemed to narrow to just that moment.
Her grip on the sword loosened.
Forgotten.
Her gaze dropped to his lips before she caught herself. But it was enough for him to notice. He moved just slightly closer. And for a moment, it felt inevitable, like something that had been building between them would finally be allowed to happen.
Elaina did not step back. She could not. Her breath stilled as the space between them disappeared…
“Me laird.” The voice cut through the moment.
Both of them stilled. Two guards had entered the courtyard, halting just inside, clearly not expecting to interrupt, but too far in to retreat unnoticed.
Duncan stepped back first. The distance returned all at once. The moment was broken. Elaina exhaled slowly, while her thoughts were struggling to catch up with what had almost happened.
“Aye,” he said, his voice steady as he turned slightly toward them.
The world resumed. But something between them had changed and neither of them could pretend otherwise.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The water had long since cooled, but Elaina had not moved. She was sitting still within the bath, with her arms resting loosely along the edges and her fingers trailing faintly through the surface as if the gentle ripples might quiet the unrest within her.
They did not.
Steam lingered faintly in the air, carrying the soft scent of lavender she had added without thinking. It should have soothed her. It always had.
But that night, nothing did. Elaina closed her eyes. Her thoughts returned to Duncan. She could still feel the closeness, the warmth of him, the way the space between them had disappeared so easily, as though it had never truly been there at all. And she remembered how she had not stepped away.
