Anna rubbed at her neck. The skin hadn’t been broken, but she could still feel the cold press of the metal against it. “Yeah, I noticed.”
Emeric glanced at the sword and tossed it onto a bale of hay in front of Plover’s stall. “My...my apologies, lass, I didnae mean to...” He stuttered to a halt and then faced her, chin lifted. “What are ye doing here?”
“I’m beginning to wonder exactly the same. What was that? You nearly skewered me!”
“I apologized, didnae I? Ye shouldnae sneak up on people like that.”
“I wasn’t sneaking!”
“Oh, then what were ye doing?”
Looking for you, she wanted to say.Because I barely got to talk to you at the feast tonight. And...and I missed you.
Emeric blew out a breath and held up his hands. “I’m sorry, lass,” he said. “I didnae mean to scare ye.”
Anna crossed her arms. “Well, you did.”
The silence thickened until it was nearly suffocating. Anna searched for a way to fill it. “What are you doing in here, anyway? You’re missing your own feast.”
Emeric’s gaze flicked in the direction of the great hall. “They will be well into their cups by now. They willnae miss me.”
That was no answer at all. She had seen his discomfort as he’d sat at the high table. “Is that why you’ve been holding a conversation with your horse?”
“So yewereeavesdropping!”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping, I just heard! What’s got your knickers into such a twist? Tonight was supposed to be fun!”
“Fun?” he snapped. “Watching my family squander resources we canna afford to squander? Watching everyone feast and make merry whilst ignoring the truth? That isnae fun, Anna. It’s a farce.”
“Emeric, they just wanted to enjoy themselves—”
“Well,yewere certainly enjoying yerself by the looks of it!”
She bridled at his tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Why dinna ye ask Hector? He seemed to be enjoying himself as much as ye.”
Anna glowered at him. “That’swhat this is about! You’re jealous because I dancedwith Hector?”
Anger flashed in his eyes. “What ye do and who ye do it with is no business of mine, lass.”
“Too right it isn’t!” she retorted. She stepped forward and jabbed his hard chest with her finger. “And if Ididdance with Hector, perhaps that was because he was friendly and charming rather than glowering all night like some sulking child!”
“I wasnae sulking.”
“Oh? It looked a lot like it to me! And if you want to stay out here and hold a meaningful conversation with your horse instead of being inside with your family who are throwing a party in your honor, that’s your business!”
She whirled on her heel and stomped out, fists clenched at her sides. She stalked across the courtyard and up the steps into the great hall. Warmth and conversation and merriment washed over her as she stepped inside and she took a deep breath, trying to put the spat with Emeric out of her mind.
The dancing was still going on, two lines facing each other this time. Hector spotted her and waved her over to join them. She still seethed with annoyance, but she’d be damned if she’d let Emeric ruin the first enjoyable time she’d had since being stranded in this time. So, with a smile, she made her way over to Hector and took a place in the line at his side.
The guardsman grinned at her and she couldn’t help feeling a pang at the thought of Emeric alone in the stable. A moment later, though, the door opened and Emeric walked in. He glanced at Anna, but she pointedly looked away but watched out of the corner of her eye as he took his seatat the high table and engaged his mother and uncle in conversation.
He didn’t speak to her again that night and no matter how much dancing she did, how much ale she drank, and how much food she ate, as she finally fell into bed, she couldn’t quite quell the ache in her heart.
