CHAPTER 2
“What?”
“It’s true. We wed shortly after the last Leanan Festival. Ye have been missing for almost as long,” he said carefully.
It was a joke, of course. Ithadto be a joke. A silly jest to put her at ease during their first meeting, a trick gone wrong. Or perhaps he knew he’d gone too far with calling her his wife and attempting to touch her, and was trying to regain ground.
A quick glance around showed Skye that she was surrounded by anxious-looking Bryden men. Soldiers, mostly. If she tried to make a run for it, they’d catch her easily. So, she turned back to Laird Bryden and offered a thin smile.
“Ye are funny, me Laird.”
He rubbed a hand over his face. Had his eyes been so heavy with exhaustion before?
“This is no joke, I’m afraid,” he stated quietly. “We wed about a month after the Leanan Festival. Last year’s festival was when the bride swap happened. I took ye home, and yer cousin Creighton took Nora, a lass from me keep. That was a twelvemonth ago.”
She let out a shaky breath. “Impossible. The last thing I remember is preparing for this day, for the bride swap. Lass swap, as most people call it behind our backs. Do ye think that I simplylosta whole year of me life? Do ye think I wouldnae remember coming home with ye? And choosing to wed ye, ha! What a joke! I’d never marry a beast like ye,” she spat out.
A soldier standing in her peripheral vision flinched. Evander, however, did not even blink.
“Ye are tired,” he stated. “Ye are hungry and thirsty, I wager. Ye need rest, and ye need food.”
Skye swallowed, noticing how dry her throat felt. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, and now that he’d mentioned food, her stomach seemed to curl into a ball and scream.
Hungry? That was an understatement.
A year? A whole year has gone by?
Nay, impossible. Either I’m mad, or he is.
Her thoughts whirled round and round in her head, threatening to make her skull explode. She shook her head dizzily.
“Creighton… me braither…”
“Both Laird MacColl and Laird MacCrimmon have been sent for,” Evander assured her. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder, steering her toward the tent behind him. “Ye must rest. Ye are swaying on yer feet, and I daenae want ye to collapse. Come with me.”
She let him nudge her toward the tent and gently push her inside.
The tent was cool and dark, easing an ache in her temples that she’d only just noticed. Inside, a mat had been unrolled to cover the floor. A pallet bed lay in the corner, along with a low stool and a long mirror beside it.
There was also a woman, a dirty, dishevelled creature, with tangled hair hanging down her back, and?—
Nay.
Skye shook her head and looked twice, staring at her own reflection in horror.
She stared at herself for a long, taut moment. Those were her eyes, wide and blue as a summer’s day. That was her hair, thickand black and in dire need of a brush and a good wash. And her dress! When had she ever worn a dress so stained and dirty?
Swallowing, she ran a shaking hand down the curve of her hip.
This is me dress. Me green one, me good one. I daenae remember choosing to wear it this morning. Did I nae want to wear me best gown? The new gray one?
But if she were to believe Evander, the morning she could remember had taken place a year ago.
Staring at herself, dirty and tired and wild-eyed, she was beginning to fear that it was true.
Evander murmured something to someone at the entrance, then ducked inside after her.
“Sit down, lass. Ye look ready to faint,” he ordered brusquely, moving over to a low table laden with a jug and a couple of goblets. He poured a crisp, glittering goblet of water and handed it to her.
