CHAPTER 20
Skye toreher gaze from where Mason and Leah huddled together in the cell, whispering. Evander was already striding away, in lockstep with Fergus. They climbed the stairs, and she hurried after them, the soles of her boots slipping on the wet steps.
She stepped after them into the hall upstairs, breathing in fresh, clean air with relief. It was shocking how stale and nasty the dungeon air tasted.
“We’ll speak more later,” Evander finished, clapping a hand on Fergus’s shoulder. “This must nae be rushed.”
“Aye, me Laird.”
The two men parted ways, with Fergus striding back the way he had come and Evander moving off in the opposite direction. Biting back a curse, Skye scuttled after him.
“Wait! Are we nae going to talk about this?” she puffed, trying unsuccessfully to match his pace. The man had giraffe legs.
“Talk about what?” Evander responded brusquely. “There’s nae much to talk about.”
“Nay? How about the name of the man who arranged me kidnapping?”
“That’s for me to take care of.”
She spluttered. “Are ye truly trying to act as though it doesnae concern me? This ismekidnapping!”
He sighed. “I’m going to take care of this for ye. I need ye to let me manage it, all right?”
“Nay. I daenae agree with that. We have to talk about it. And what about Mason? What will happen to him?”
Abruptly, Evander stopped in front of a heavy, iron-studded door. He pulled it back to reveal a tight spiral staircase, which Skye assumed led up to one of the towers.
A memory clicked into place.
“Ye look at the stars from up there, dae ye nae? And ye study.”
He glanced down at her. “Aye, I do. I’m glad that ye are piecing yer memories together. It must be a weight off yer mind.”
“It is. Daenae walk away from me!”
He ignored her and began to climb the stairs, taking two and three steps at a time.
Skye certainly could not match his pace here. Puffing and panting, and muttering with annoyance, she scrambled after him.
“I willnae be shaken off this easily,” she called.
“Ye never are. I’d expect no less,” he called from further above. Since the staircase curled in such a tight spiral, she’d lost sight of him.
A few more moments of heavy climbing, and she abruptly reached a small, round landing, with a closed door branching off it. She half expected him to have locked the door behind him, but it opened easily.
The room beyond was large and circular. Long, glass windows were set in the walls, providing an expansive view of the landscape beyond. It had begun to rain, she noticed with vague interest, the water sluicing lazily down the glass.
Books, maps, papers, paintings, and more assorted trinkets piled up everywhere. On tables, resting against the walls, evenstacked up on the floor. The large space was just about dominated by things, and yet the room was not claustrophobic.
Evander stood in the center of the room, his face impassive, watching her.
“Ye really are determined to speak to me,” he murmured. “Before, ye always said that ye couldnae be bothered to climb all the stairs. Ye used to send a soldier or a poor wee maid up here to fetch me down.”
Skye bit her lip. “That… sounds like me. But this place feels familiar. I have been here, have I nae?”
“Aye,” he answered simply. “Just once. Ye came here to talk to me, and to tell me that a marriage between us would suit our clans very well.”
“Oh.”
