Edith smiled despite herself. She could feel Aaron’s burning gaze on the side of her face, but she refused to look at him. Instead, she brought her hands to the horse’s face, gently stroking the white blaze between her eyes.
It was as though Sirius could sense her nervousness. The horse snorted and turned her head to the side, out of Edith’s reach.
“Ye daenae like to be touched,” Edith said quietly as she stepped back from the horse, her cheeks reddening slightly in embarrassment.
She glanced toward Aaron, half expecting to see a smirk on his face.
Heavens.
He looked different, but perhaps it was her memory of him in the healer’s chamber that caused her heart to skip a beat.
She dipped into the deepest curtsy she’d ever given, grateful for the opportunity to avoid his gaze for at least a moment.
“Good mornin’, me Laird.” Her voice was slightly hoarse in this position.
She straightened slowly, her throat tightening as she looked at the face that had haunted her thoughts for the past two days.
His expression was as unreadable as ever, his arms folded carelessly across his chest. But Edith had spent more than enough time thinking about him not to notice the small differences.
Her eyes caught the tension in his jaw, different from his usual mask of irritation and arrogance. She noticed the stiffness in his shoulders and the way his oddly brooding eyes held hers for a fraction too long.
For a quick second, she wondered if he had been getting enough sleep.
Aaron cleared his throat and blinked, the gloominess vanishing from his eyes at once.
Of course he has.
A strange knot formed in Edith’s stomach. To imagine that Aaron would lose a wink of sleep over her was wishful thinking. She should have known that much.
“Ye summoned me,” she said, keeping her voice calm.
“Aye,” he uttered, offering no further explanation.
Only a few weeks ago, silence from him would have meant nothing to her. But now, it felt unnatural.
Edith shifted slightly on her feet, thinking of something to say. “I suppose it is time for our second outing.”
“Aye,” Aaron said again.
She bit her bottom lip, looking away as she felt her cheeks redden further.
“We are going to the fields,” he added, a fraction too late to save her from the awkward tension she’d been trying to avoid.
Edith nodded faintly. She turned her attention back to Sirius, whispering a brief prayer before attempting to mount her. Asmall smile curved her lips once she was safely atop the mare, and she heaved a sigh of relief.
She rode behind Aaron in silence, grateful for the very first time that she did not have to mount the same horse as him.
Her thoughts wandered briefly to his broad, muscled chest, and she shook her head, not daring to imagine what it would feel like pressed against her back.
Soon, they found themselves in the fields near the border.
Edith inhaled, allowing the fresh air to fill her lungs. A morning like this was precisely what she needed to function properly. A slow ride in the warm sun, fields that stretched wide beneath the open sky, green and golden under the late morning light, and company, even if that company was Aaron.
Aaron dismounted once he had decided on the perfect spot, then offered her a hand down from Sirius’s back.
“A fine place for a picnic,” Edith said, looking around. She rubbed her hands together, trying to mask the tremors that lingered in her fingers where Aaron had touched her.
“Aye,” he replied. “’Tis visible enough.”
