Page 85 of Forbidden Kilted Highlander

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Agnes had to get out. She couldn’t stay there. Not one more minute.

I have tae tell him.

Her slippers whispered against the stone floor, every step a little uneven. It was late. The sconces burned low, barely more than a flicker against the cold stone, and the corridor pressed against Agnes’ skin like mist, clinging and intrusive. Her breath fogged faintly as she walked, but inside her, everything was burning. She didn’t know what she was doing. Only that she had to keep walking in the dim hall, towards Tav’s room. She knew that if she waited any longer, the thing inside her—that restless ache that had followed her all day—would eat her alive. It lived behind her ribs, pulsing with every breath, every thought, every memory of his mouth on hers.

Her skirts swayed around her ankles as she walked, brisk and uncertain. She practiced the words in her head like a prayer, over and over, until they lost meaning.

But then⁠—

Her heart stopped when she saw him. Tav stood in the corridor just ahead, walking with purpose toward her. They both froze when they saw each other and neither of them spoke for a long moment.

His hair was still damp from a wash, curling faintly at the ends. His eyes were tired but alert, locked on her like she was the only thing holding him to the floor.

"I was coming tae find ye," he said.

"So was I," she replied, too quickly.

Tav lowered his hand and stepped back slightly, giving her space, but not too much. "May I talk?"

She hesitated. Then nodded. He back to let her walk beside him. They moved in silence, their shoulders nearly brushing, each step echoing too loudly in the hush of the hall. Agnes kept her eyes ahead, but she could feel the tension between them like a taut thread, waiting to snap.

When they reached her door, she paused with her hand on the latch. For a moment, she thought of turning back. But Tav was there, solid and silent, and the weight of what they hadn’t said yet hung between them. She pushed the door open.

Her room felt different with him in it.

"Ye left awfully fast," he said quietly.

"I had tae. I needed tae think."

"Did ye?" he raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to tell him more.

His tone wasn’t angry. Not even wounded. Just... unsure. Like he was giving her room to answer honestly.

Agnes swallowed. Her throat was dry again.

"Aye."

A beat passed. She could hear the fire behind her crackling faintly, the way silence seemed to hold its breath around them.

"I was… afraid," she added, barely audible.

Tav’s face didn’t change much. But his shoulders eased, just slightly, like her honesty had allowed him to exhale for the first time in hours.

He nodded once. “Me too.”

The words hit her like a gust to the chest. Not just because he’d said them, but because of how much they cost him. That he’d admit fear at all. That he would meet her here, halfway, without armor or deflection.

He stepped closer. "Agnes, what are we daein’?" he asked softly.

She looked away, down at her hands. They were trembling again.

"That’s why I was coming tae find ye," she said.

"Tae end it," he guessed.

She met his eyes again. God, the way he was looking at her with his eyes wide open, like she was the only thing in the world he had no armor for.