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Her mentor exhaled. “Good … what did he want?”
“Nothing of importance.” Ailsa climbed into her nook and pulled her own furs up around her chin. “Go to sleep.”
Silence followed.
However, she should have known Kayla wouldn’t let this be. Wordlessly, she rolled out of her nook and crossed to Ailsa. She then climbed in next to her. Ailsa wriggled over to the far edge of the nook to avoid her, yet Kayla’s hand shot out, her fingers fastening around her arm. “Tell me.”
Muttering a curse, Ailsa turned to face her. A lantern glowed nearby, illuminating the stubborn lines of her mentor’s face. The two women locked gazes, while outside the alcove, beyond thick stone and unyielding iron, Ailsa heard the shuffle of feet, the low rumble of voices. The guards were changing shifts and alert to any sounds inside the cell.
“I’m waiting,” Kayla murmured.
“He offered to make me his consort.”
Kayla pulled a face. “You refused, I take it?”
“Aye.”
A pause followed. She waited for Kayla to say more—to curse Niall, or at the very least to look horrified. Instead, her mentor’s expression sharpened. “Did he tell you anything useful?”
“Useful?”
“Aye … about his intentions.”
“Is that all you’re worried about?” Ailsa couldn’t help the acerbic edge to her voice.
Kayla raised her eyebrows. “You already told me you refused him.”
Ailsa scowled. That wasn’t the half of it. Niall’s handsome face had turned stony at her cutting response. However, he’d swiftly recovered. Leaning forward, he’d then raised his cup to her. “The offer still stands. You might change your mind in the days to come.”
Ailsa had stared back at him. You’d better hope I don’t.
Kayla didn’t say anything else, her expression still expectant.
“As we thought, they’re moving out soon,” Ailsa eventually replied. She kept her voice low as she glanced back at the locked door. “At the end of this moon’s turn.”
She wondered if she should tell Kayla she’d asked after Darach. Deciding against it, she shifted her attention to the notches on the wall next to her sleeping nook. Ninety-three of them so far. Since they’d been halfway through a moon’s turn when they’d been dragged here, that would mean … “No more than fifteen days,” she murmured. “And then, we march on Duncrag.” She paused. “He’s taking us with him.”
“Of course, the bastard is,” Kayla muttered.
Ailsa rolled over onto her back, staring up at the shadowed ceiling. “He tricked the Circines into taking those binding sigils.”
Kayla frowned. “Tricked? How so?”
“He didn’t explain … just said that he needed a great army and this was the only way.”
Silence followed these words, and when Ailsa finally glanced Kayla’s way, she marked the weariness on her face.
“I still can’t understand how Gregor’s managed to wield earth magic like this … to enslave so many.” Kayla heaved a sigh then, raking a hand through her curly hair. “Before they locked me up here, I took my liberty for granted. I lived how I pleased and answered only to myself.” Her jaw hardened. “The thought of having my free will stripped from me though … I’d rather be dead.”
“And so would the Circines,” Ailsa answered. “He’ll make them crawl like beasts if it gets him what he wants.”
“Aye … and that’s why he must be stopped.”
You had the chance to kill him. The voice from earlier was back, heckling now. But you didn’t take it.
Ailsa’s hands curled into fists under the furs. Shit. Maybe she should have seized her opportunity while she had it.
Neither of them said anything for a moment. The lantern hanging from the ceiling guttered, throwing long shadows across the heavy iron door. Somewhere beyond it, boots thudded against stone as the guards paced their rounds.
