Page 109 of Highland Spy

“No.”

He exhaled the breath he’d kept trapped in his chest. She backed up, watching him, before she turned and was swallowed up by the dark, cold night.

He’d once thought there wasn’t anything else he could possibly stand to lose.

He stared into the darkness and realized, for the first time, how very wrong he had been.

• • •

Ariana’s heart thundered in her chest with each step she climbed toward the room she shared with Liv. There was a nervous tremor in her legs and her lungs felt as if they no longer fit in her chest. But, no, it was a giddy excitement.

She had told Connor no.

Despite the way he’d looked at her and the way her own longing still hummed warm and tempting in her blood, she’d said no.

Her external strength had been obvious to her for a while now, but her internal strength had been severely lacking.

The trip to Urquhart had taught her as much.

But the man she’d killed, and the other man she’d loved, both had taught hard, fast lessons about how soft her heart had truly been.

No longer was that the case.

She had told Connor no, and now the power in her left her in a rush of dizzying excitement.

Her footsteps tapped and echoed around her and her breath came harder.

The door stood before her. Its image sobered her thoughts and calmed the heady rush of her pulse.

Liv.

How many times had Ariana climbed the stairs as silently as possible only to enter and find a pale and mournful Liv in a fitful state of slumber?

Now she did not slow in the interest of trying to quiet the sound of her ascent. Now she wanted haste, to see the friend she loved so dearly and ensure she was still alive and healthy.

She lifted the door latch and the door flew open, all her eagerness near bursting within her.

Liv sat before the fire, dangling a bit of string in front of a fluff of gray and white fur. Her head snapped up and she gave so dazzling a smile, Ariana swore the room became brighter.

“Ariana.” Liv spoke her name in a soft, breathy voice and attempted to rise from her place on the floor.

“No,” Ariana said quickly, and fell into place beside her friend. “You needn’t rise.”

Color warmed Liv’s face unlike Ariana had ever seen before. Her cheeks were a soft pink and the gray of her eyes shone brilliantly in the firelight.

“It’s fine,” Liv said. “I’m stronger.”

She set the string aside and grabbed Ariana’s hand in a tight grip, as if trying to put to proof what she’d so boldly declared. Indeed, her hold was firm and her palms warm.

But Ariana could not remove from her mind the last time she’d seen her friend, when Liv’s face had been as pale as wax and as unmoving as the dead.

Questions crowded in Ariana’s mind and clogged her constricting throat.

She’d feared her return to Kindrochit would bring with it news of Liv’s death. But now her friend sat before her, fully alive, with brows drawn together and eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “Please don’t cry.”

“How?” Ariana choked out.

Liv placed her free hand over her empty womb. “I had been so sick for so long with…” She tucked her lower lip into her mouth and looked away. “With the baby.” Her voice caught.