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He seemed to be the kind of man who did not smile often, and the sight of him now nearly doing so made Avelina break into a smile of her own.

“Lina!”

She sighed, not wishing to hear her brother scold her throughout the meal. As such, she tried, and often failed, not to look over Ewan’s shoulder as she ate. Instead, she thought of the day when the spectators had returned from the king’s horrific decree. At the time, ’twas simply called “the battle,” but later it became known as the Battle of The Black Friars. She’d always found it curious that the battle had been held at a monastery, witnessed by the friars, who the king apparently held a strong affinity for but, in her opinion, should have stopped the bloodshed.

Perhaps remembering how much she’d lost that day would remind Avelina why her brother was wroth with her now. And ’twas not that day alone. She, and her brother, too, always believed that her mother’s illness may not have led to her death had she not been also harboring a broken heart.

When she looked up again, Niall’s attention was on his brother.

He’d not participated in the battle, but his father and clansmen had. And they’d taken everything from her and her family. Their clan had barely survived. Ewan, on this one occasion, was right. She should not be smiling at the laird of Duncraig.

“If we find the cattle where he claims,” Fergus was saying, “what do you intend?”

She was curious about Ewan’s answer too.

“They did not get there on their own. ’Tis too far a distance. Which means someone led them there. Who, and for what purpose? We will need to determine that in order to avoid a renewed war between our clans.”

“I cannae think of who might wish to instigate such a war,” Fergus said.

Avelina listened but did not participate in the men’s discussion. The longer she thought about her behavior that day, the angrier she became at herself. When the meal was finished, they stood and were escorted from the hall by the steward. Avelina did not look back once, but as she and her brother were separated, Avelina taken to a different section of the keep, she was surprised to hear the very voice she’d been chastising herself for speaking with.

“Pardon,” Niall said to the maid behind her. “Are you taking her to the Thistle Chamber?”

“Indeed, my lord,” the maid said as all three of them paused in the otherwise empty corridor.

“If you would open it, I know the way and will escort her there in a moment.”

The maid looked between them, but before Avelina could inform her there was no need, she bobbed a quick curtsy. Niall’s commanding presence left little room for anything but obedience, and she hurried away.

“Why do you look at me so differently this eve?” he asked the moment the maid turned the corner.

The corridor was small, Niall standing close enough that if Avelina reached out, she could touch him. Light from the wall torch made his expression easy enough to discern. Concern was etched on his face.

“My brother and Fergus reminded me that you are not a man I should have become so familiar with so quickly. Or at all.”

“And you allow others’ opinions to sway your own so easily?”

“I allow myself to be reminded of what I lost at your clan’s hands.”

“My clan, aye. I cannae deny it. But I was neither in that battle nor would I have wished such an ill to befall you, Lina.”

The words were more softly spoken than she’d heard from him since they met.

“You are a hard man,” she blurted, “are you not?”

His lips pressed together. “I can be, aye.”

“Yet you tread gently with me. Why do you care, Laird Niall of Duncraig, if I should stop gazing your way during the meal? Or remind myself that you are my enemy?”

His eyes bored into her own. “If you must remind yourself we are enemies,” he said, “perhaps. . . we are not.”

“You are the Duncraig’s son. I am the daughter of the man he slayed. Of course, we are enemies.”

“I am naught but a man, and you, a woman, both of us but children during the Battle of The Black Friars.”

Aye, he was a man indeed.

“And still, you do not answer me. Why does it matter to you? In a few days, we will never see each other again.”