He hardly realized what he was doing. In a gentle trance, he folded up the lace and tucked it into his pocket, Beatrice’s scent lingering and teasing him mercilessly.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Beatrice was not left alone much for the next few days. If Leo wasn’t guiding her through the inner bailey and speaking endlessly about how Clan MacSween managed to survive as long as it did, then Effie was yanking on her arm, begging her to come along on an adventure.
“It’s more important for ye to understand our ways,” Leo told her when she asked if she could be excused to accompany Effie on her most recent quest. “Ye think a child’s games are what ye’re here for?”
“And what am I here for, Leo?” she retorted, hoping the question came across as playful.
Judging from the long look he shot her, it didn’t.
“Can ye read the weather changes? Can ye figure the approach of an enemy or tell safe ground from a bog at a glance?” He pointed out into the expanse. “Until ye can, Beatrice, ye’ll stay with me.”
Bea. Call me Bea.
Effie appeared at their heels as Leo led Beatrice through the lessons and history of the clan. The two of them exchanged conspiratorial looks that Beatrice had to hide once Leo spotted his daughter in their midst.
“I want to show Beatrice the most magical place in the castle,” Effie said before Leo had a chance to ask her what she was doing there.
“Aye, but Beatrice has things she needs to learn.”
Effie kept her huge, round eyes on her father’s face until he sighed and dismissed Beatrice with a tired wave of his hand. “Ye’re both lucky I cannae say nay to her.”
Effie clapped her hands giddily.
Turning to follow the little girl, Beatrice stumbled over an uneven stone. Quicker than he had been in the courtyard, Leo grabbed her around the waist, preventing her from falling. His hands lingered on her, his fingers trembling.
I should stand on me own now. I should tell him I’m steady.
But she didn’t. She was suspended in his arms, unwilling and unable to move. They only broke apart at Effie’s high-pitched call for her to hurry up.
“Ye need to watch yer step, Beatrice,” Leo warned. “I willnae always be there to catch ye.”
And yet I wish ye will.
Beatrice nodded without answering, scampering after Effie. She cast one last glance over her shoulder at him, only to find him looking at her too.
“It’s up this way, Beatrice,” Effie called over her shoulder as she ducked in and out of Beatrice's view. “Ye need to keep up.”
“I’m tryin’, lassie,” Beatrice laughed.
Effie was moving too quickly, and Beatrice was already cautious of stumbling. They were on a narrow stone walkway that Effie scampered across so quickly that Beatrice knew the girl was familiar with it, even at such a young age.
How many millions of times has she done this? God, I’ll be dead if I lose me feet here.
Effie waited at the end of the walkway and then pointed an eager finger at a watchtower that barely stood under its own weight. There were bits of stone crumbling off the face of the tower, and the windows where guards had once stood were yawning wide, splintered from weather and age.
“Can ye believe this?” she asked. “Look how high up we are. It’s the most beautiful view in the world.”
“It’s stunnin',” Beatrice agreed, the vast landscape unfurling before her.
She could see for miles, tiny hamlets tucked under the skirts of hills and huge plots of land tilled into neat squares.
This all belongs to Leo.
She was breathless by the sheer size of it.
How much this must weigh on him. This whole kingdom on his shoulders.
