He moved over to the stool and lowered himself onto it. Leaning forward, he braced his elbows on his knees. In this new position, he had to look up at her, his eyes dark in the gloomy tent.
An image suddenly flashed through her mind, of Evander looking up at her like that, kneeling down to pick something from the floor. In the memory—if itwasa memory, of course—he was smiling, a wry, tentative smile that made her chest ache.
Enough,she scolded herself.
“If today marks one year since the last Leanan Festival,” she said slowly, “then I should be going home today. Me maither and braither are waiting for me. I wouldnae have left them behind. Unless…” She sucked in a breath, her eyes widening. “Did ye try to prevent me from leaving? Were ye trying to force me into marriage? Wasthatwhy I ran away?”
Evander heaved a sigh, dropping his face into his hands. “Nay, lass, that’s nae it.”
“Well, of course ye wouldsay that.”
“Perhaps. But we have a wedding contract, lass.” His mouth quirked wryly. “Ye wrote most of it yerself. I have a copy with me, and yer braither and cousin both have copies. Yer braither didnae believe ye at first when ye said ye were marrying me. Yer maither seemed happy enough.”
Skye swallowed, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes. It was in character for Hunter to doubt her like that. He hadn’t wanted her to go at all. Her mother, however, wanted to see her wed. She could imagine her mother meeting Evander and liking him a good deal.
“I daenae understand,” she whispered hoarsely. “None of this makes sense.”
“Aye, lass, ye are telling me,” Evander responded grimly. “I am trying to understand how an entire year could be wiped from a person’s memory. More to the point, I am wondering why.”
Why.
That awful word echoed.
Skye flinched, blinking.
Why.
She didn’t believe that her disappearance and memory loss could be an accident. Why didn’t she remember a thing? Would her memories return? And if somebody was behind it, how had they done it?Whyhad they done it?
Will they do it again?
Her knees threatened to jackknife underneath her, and she dropped down to the ground, breathing in and out. There wasn’t enough air in her lungs. She wasn’tbreathing, even though she could feel the air rushing into her lungs. There wasn’t enough. There wasn’t?—
“Hey, hey, lassie.” Evander’s knees appeared in her line of vision. He slowly lowered himself beside her. A large hand rested on her shoulder, the warmth of his palm seeping in.
Glancing up, she met his eyes, fixed worriedly on her. He smiled faintly, tilting his head.
“Everything will be fine. Just breathe.”
“I… I cannae.”
“Ye can. Just relax. Concentrate on yer lungs, aye? Feel them expanding. How does that feel?”
She closed her eyes, letting out a long, shaky breath. Her lungs did feel as though they were filling once more. After a few moments, her shoulders relaxed.
“Now,” he continued, sitting back on his heels, “let’s discuss what we should do next.”
He removed his hand, carefully putting space between them. Skye rolled her shoulders back. She could feel where his palm had been.
I daenae understand. Why do I feel like this? Why am I so… so unsettled?
“We should dance,” Evander said firmly.
Nowthatwas a surprise.
Her head snapped up. “We shouldwhat?”
He shrugged. “Ye often dance when ye are unsettled. I’ve seen it. Ye dance when ye are afraid or sad. Or when ye are angry, most often. Nae that I paid much attention to yer dancing,” he added, a little too hastily. “But it’s a wee bit hard to miss a lassie dancing like a lunatic after I forbade her to—” He stopped, clearing his throat.
