“Aye, and I’m nae threatening to kill him, am I?”
“Skye…”
“Put the sword down, Hunter. Let’s talk like adults, eh? Put the sword down.”
Hunter’s grip wobbled, just a little. He briefly closed his eyes, then let his sword drop from Evander’s chest, the tip clanging against the ground.
Skye let out a ragged, relieved breath and took a step back. She glanced sharply between the men.
“Well then, let’s get to the bottom of how this has happened. Evander, what are ye doing here? Why on earth didnae ye leave when Hunter told ye to?”
“Because I need to speak with ye,” Evander responded calmly. His voice, deep and low and entirely unhurried, sent a shiver down her spine.
Swallowing, she averted her gaze.
I willnae do this again. I willnae.
“Then we’ll talk.”
“Nay!” Hunter snapped. “I daenae want him here. I want him to go, Skye.”
At that moment, a sharp flash of light signaled lightning above them. Barely two seconds had gone by before the thunder came, a low and angry growl. Around them, people glanced at each other uneasily.
Skye pressed her lips together. “He’s going nowhere, Hunter. Look at that storm. He’ll have to come inside.”
“I daenae care if he gets struck by lightning,” Hunter snarled. “He isnae me guest.”
She planted herself in front of her brother, hands on her hips, and stared him down.
“But he is mine,” she responded coldly. “I didnae invite him. He sent me away, true, but I’ll nae see him murdered here atyerhands. That’s a fine way to ruin our hard-won peace. Ye willnae have to see him. I’ll take him inside and hear what he has to say, and then that will be that, aye? Just… Just let me deal with this. Please.”
Hunter’s jaw tensed. His gaze slid over her head, fixing on Evander.
“Fine,” he spat out. “But he leaves the second the storm is over, regardless of whether it’s the middle of the night.”
“Very well,” Skye sighed. She turned away and found Evander’s gaze fixed firmly on her, intently enough to make her shiver.
Swallowing down her sudden trepidation, she made herself meet his eyes.
“Follow me,” she ordered tightly. “That wound needs to be seen to.”
Not waiting to see if he followed her or not, she strode off, cutting a path through the crowd. People moved silently aside to let her through.
She kept her head high, focused on the path before her. There was no sound of footsteps behind her. Perhaps he wasn’t following? That would be humiliating.
When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned, hands on her hips. Evander stood directly behind her, watching herthoughtfully. His steps had made no sound. He’d followed her without a word.
Her mouth had gone dry, the dryness spreading down her throat.
“Ye can fight well,” she remarked. “Very well. So, why didnae ye?”
“Ye are asking me why I didnae hurt yer braither?”
“He could have killed ye. I daenae ken why he didnae. He’s talked about killing ye often enough. Just a push of the blade, and ye would have been dead on the ground, yer blood puddling on the cobbles, nae water.”
“Indeed,” Evander agreed. “That could have happened easily.”
She growled in annoyance. “So why didnae ye fight back? Ye could have stepped away. Ye could have knocked his sword away. Ye just stood there like a… like a sack of flour.”
