His fingers had squeezed her arm as if he could not stop himself. And with those same fingers, he had pressed the pouch into her hand as though she were a stranger with whom he was conducting business.
Perhaps that is what it is.
Her heart hollowed at the thought, the same way it had the moment she understood what the pouch was.
Perhaps all they had was truly just an arrangement. Two outings, two lessons, and the money to seal the deal.
A breath escaped her as she lifted her goblet to her lip, taking another sip of the ale.
I truly am a fool.
The liquid burned down her chest, but she did not show it.
She had known exactly what this was, and somewhere in between the fields, the stair landing, and the corridor outside her chamber, she had let herself forget it.
She had let herself feel things she had no right to feel for a man who had made his intentions clear from the very beginning.
Aaron was keeping his word. It was her foolish heart that had made it into something else.
Her goblet soon emptied. She placed it slowly on the table in front of her, and a servant refilled it before she could ask.
“Thank ye,” she murmured without looking up, her attention now fixed on Aaron and the conversation he was having with one of the councilmen.
A smile touched his lips at something the councilman said, and she looked away at once.
Of course. It doesnae mean a thing to him that we kissed.
Her jaw tightened as she promised herself one thing in that moment. She would not fall for any more distractions. Their arrangement would remain what it truly was—a deal, far removed from matters of the heart, and an obligation to perform for the next two weeks.
It will all be over soon.
Her attention returned to the hall as the servants served another round of roasted meat.
Edith reached for her cutlery as soon as a plate was placed in front of her. She was going to fill her mind with something, and if it could not be Aaron, then it would be good food.
She had barely finished chewing her first bite when her ears caught a murmur.
“Lowborn, they say…”
Her jaw tightened. She paused, listening more closely to the ripple of whispered conversation from somewhere near the middle of the hall, where a cluster of newcomers had gathered.
“I cannae imagine what possessed the Laird.”
She kept facing ahead, taking another bite.
“Perhaps it is her looks,” someone said.
“What looks?” Edith’s chest tightened at that. “Many ladies boast of a better face.”
It was the first thing that truly vexed her.
She had never been one to dwell on vain things such as beauty, but she knew full well that she could hold her own in any room, even if she was not born noble.
Surely they cannae say the same.
“She must have seduced him somehow.”
She considered stealing a glance at the source of the murmur, but before she could, Aaron’s hand lifted beside her. She glanced at him, but he was not looking at her.
