“I want to see her,” she announced. “And me braither.”
“Nae just yet,” Evander spoke up.
Both of them turned to stare at him.
Evander had distanced himself, leaning heavily against the pole in the center of the tent. When Skye shot him a baleful glare, he only quirked an eyebrow.
“Ye are tired,” he stated. “Confused, frightened, maybe more hurt than we ken. Ye need rest, and we need to understand just what happened to ye and why before ye undertake any long journeys.”
“I feel fine.”
“Ye deliberately miss me point,” he sighed. “Ye could be in danger, Skye. We all could. This was no accidental disappearance. Somehow, I daenae think that ye wandered into the forest, hit yer head on a tree branch, and then spent a blissful year thinking that ye were some peasant’s daughter. Nay, something hashappenedhere. And until I understand just what, I cannae let ye leave.”
Skye barked an incredulous laugh. “Ye cannaeletme leave? Laird Bryden, ye overstep.”
“Aye, ye do,” Creighton snarled.
“Do I? I am her husband,” Evander responded sweetly. He met Creighton’s eyes and lifted his eyebrows. “Ye ken that I am.”
Skye glanced at her cousin. “Is it true?”
Creighton faltered, his jaw tightening. At last, he dropped his gaze and let out a shuddering sigh.
“It is true,” he admitted. “Ye are wed. I have a copy of the wedding contract meself.”
Skye felt as though a weight had settled into her stomach.
“But I-I wouldnae have d-done that,” she stammered. “I wouldnae have m-married him.”
“Ye did. And ye werenae coerced, I made sure of that meself. I visited ye, and we spoke of it. I ken ye, Skye. I daenae ken what happened since, but I ken that ye were sure of yer decision. Even happy.”
“Did I seem…” She hesitated, glancing uncertainly up at Evander. His blank face gave nothing away. “… to be in love?”
“I daenae think so.” Creighton shrugged. “But Nora would have noticed more than me if she’d been there. Ye said that it was a political alliance, and a smart one at that. I was pleased enough that ye kent what ye were doing, I’ll give ye that. What happened next, I cannae say.”
Silence fell after that.
Skye let out a ragged breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding in and rubbed a hand over her face.
“What do I do now?” she whispered.
“We go back to Keep Bryden,” Evander declared firmly. “Ye left a note, the night ye disappeared. I kept it.”
“A note? I daenae remember writing a note. But then, I daenae remember anything,” she added bitterly.
“I’ll let ye read it. It didnae… didnae sit right with me,” Evander murmured.
“Didnae sit right? In what way?” she asked.
He rolled his shoulders, his eyebrows knitting together. “It wasnae ye,” he said. “I cannae explain how I kent it.”
“Was it me handwriting?”
“The handwriting was bad. It was hard to tell. But ye had a lot of wine that night, and so did I. That could explain the bad writing.”
Creighton fixed his gaze on Evander. Evander met his stare, and suddenly the atmosphere was tense, crackling with uncertainty and danger.
“If she didnae leave on her own,” Creighton stated, slowly and coolly, “if she waskidnappedwhile under yer protection, Evander, then ye should expect two clans at yer doorstep, readyfor war. MacColl and MacCrimmon willnae let this insult to our kin slide.”
