To Olivia’s surprise, he stood close behind her and put his arms around her, guiding her hands, showing her how to hold the bow and shoot with the greatest accuracy and precision.
She did her best to pay attention to his instructions, but having his strong, warm body pressed to her back and his muscular arms around her made her heart race. She sensed he felt it too, from the tension crackling between them.
She took a few shots, and with his help, her arrows hit the target but nowhere near the bullseye.
“I dinnae think I’ll ever be as good as ye, Edan,” she said, a little disappointed with her performance.
“’Tis yer first time. I’ve been shootin’ a bow since I was five years old. Of course, I’m good at it. Ye just need to practice. Anyway, ye dinnae have to shoot like me to defend yerself. Come on, try again.”
Encouraged by his practical assessment, she tried again. With his help, this time, her arrow landed much closer to the center.
“Well, that was a big improvement!” she exclaimed, pleased with herself.
She leaned her head back to smile at him and was immediately ensnared by the intense expression on his face.
He was bending low, his arms around her, and she felt him lean in as if about to kiss her. Thrills ran through her as she stood perfectly still, looking up at him as his lips neared hers. But just as their mouths were about to touch, Olivia was overcome by shyness and turned her head away, deeply flustered by the hunger she had glimpsed in his eyes as well as the knowledge that she badly wanted him to kiss her. She did not understand why she kept hesitating.
After that, things remained tense between them for a while. But as they continued with her training and she began to show improvement, she forgot the awkwardness and became engrossed in her efforts.
“Well, I must say, I enjoyed our first outing very much, Edan. Thank ye for initiatin’ me into the delights of archery,” she told him when they finished and made their way back to the castle arm-in-arm. She was genuinely pleased that things had gone so well. “I shall keep practicin’ as much as I can. Maybe I’ll surprise ye.”
“Och, I’ve nay doubt ye will,” he replied enigmatically, leaving her wondering exactly what he meant by that.
The following day, just after luncheon, Edan and Zander were inspecting the castle’s defenses when their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Findlay.
The councilman came panting up a set of stone stairs and had to catch his breath before he could finally say with urgency, “Me Laird, there’s been an incident, and I must ask ye to come to the Great Hall at once.”
“Why? What’s happened?” Edan asked with concern.
Seeing how genuinely flummoxed Findlay was, he immediately cut the tour short and strode off down the steps with Zander, heading to the Great Hall to find out what was afoot, leaving Findlay puffing along behind them.
When they got there, they found a handful of farmers from the surrounding villages gathered there, all looking very tense and serious.
“What’s goin’ on?” Edan asked, going to meet them, noticing with resignation their fearful expressions when they saw his scarred face.
“’Tis our crops, Me Laird,” a grey-haired man clutching his cap nervously in his calloused hands answered for them all. “Someone has been in the fields overnight and destroyed them.”
“Destroyed them? How?” Edan asked, outraged by the news.
“Everything’s been rooted up, Me Laird, as if wild boars had gotten in there. But it cannae be that because ’tis in all our fields, and the fences are too strong for the boars to get through.”
“Aye,” piped up a tall, gangly fellow with a pock-marked face. “’Tis human hands that have done it, Me Laird. I swear.”
“But why, and who could be responsible for such wanton destruction?” Edan demanded, though he already knew the answer.
The men shrugged helplessly, as well they might. “We dinnae ken, Me Laird. That’s why we’ve come to report it to ye.”
“Have ye got any ideas who could have done it?” Zander asked in a low voice so the others would not hear.
“Aye. I dinnae have any proof yet, but I reckon it must be Nurkirk,” Edan told him.
“We’ve lost our income for the season, Me Laird,” the gangly fellow said. “None of us kens how we’re goin’ to survive after this.”
“All right, I’ll make sure ye’re compensated for yer losses. Ye can take what ye need from the castle grain store, and I’ll give ye all some money as well, so ye can buy supplies to feed yer families. Whatever ye need, I’ll make sure ye get it. I’ll get to the bottom of this—ye can be sure of that,” Edan reassured them, his anger building at the havoc he was sure Nurkirk had caused out of pure spite.
“Thank ye, Me Laird, for yer generosity,” the grey-haired man said, smiling now.
It was amazing how quickly their fear of his scars had faded into relief. But it was his job to look after his people and safeguard them from hardship if he could.
