Skye’s body reacted before her mind could. She snatched the goblet, gulping it down in three large mouthfuls. The water sloshed down inside her, a weight in her stomach.
“Thirsty,” Evander remarked thoughtfully. She held out her goblet for a refill, but he shook his head. “I daenae ken how longye have gone without water. Too much might make ye ill. Wait a few moments, then I’ll give ye some more. Sip it this time.”
The thirst remained, but he was right.
Skye nodded slowly, frowning down at the goblet.
“Food is coming,” he added. “Now, ye look hungry, but of course ye must have been eating and drinking over the past year. Tell me, what is the last thing ye remember?”
She closed her eyes. “I was coming here. To meet ye, today, for the bride swap. Then I woke up in a tent, just now.”
“Alone?”
“Aye. I… I remember thinking that someone must have put something in me wine.”
His jaw tightened. “Do ye remember drinking wine?”
“I suppose,” she murmured. “I remember… I remember dressing this morning. I chose me gray dress.”
They both glanced down at her plain green wool dress.
“Do ye have other injuries? Cuts, bruises, soreness?” Evander continued, his voice brisk.
Skye shook her head, lifting her hand gingerly to the spot on her cheek he had touched. Glancing at the mirror, she saw that there was indeed a scratch there, nothing more than a graze, as if she’d stumbled against a tree with rough bark.
“Have I really been gone for a whole year?” she whispered, her voice catching.
Evander eyed her for a long moment. He kept his distance, as if allowing her to breathe.
“I told ye, we wed a month after yer came to stay with me at Keep Bryden,” he said, his voice tight.
She got the sense that he was trying to keep as calm as he could.
“Ye disappeared on our wedding night. Do ye truly remember nothing since then?”
She swallowed. “I daenae even remember meeting ye.”
A flash of something like pain crossed his eyes, hastily blinked away.
“We searched for ye,” he said brusquely. “All of us. Yer braither and cousin didnae believe that I had done something to ye, but there was no other explanation for why ye were missing. We are on the brink of war, I believe.”
“The thing I have trouble believing,” Skye burst out, “is that I would marry ye in the first place. I only agreed to this exchange for two reasons. First, to allow peace between our clans. And second, because I ken that yer faither killed mine. No justice was ever served, and I was determined to discover whether or nae ye had a part in it. I didnae view ye as an ally. I… I thought of killing ye!”
Evander gave a tight smile, folding brawny arms across his wide chest. “Aye, I ken that. Ye told me.”
“I would never have done that.”
“Nae at first.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Any fool with eyes could see that ye didnae trust me. But ye decided nae to take revenge on me when ye learned the truth.”
“Truth? What truth?”
He shrugged. “The truth that I was the one who killed me faither.”
Skye rocked back on her heels. “What?”
He gave a wry smile. “Aye, that was yer reaction the first time.”
“So I…” She paused, dragging a hand over her face. “I chose to stay with ye?”
