Page 113 of Highland Spy

Now she knew.

Her muscles warmed as she ran and energy exploded through her, fueled by the toiling of her thoughts and the lingering anger.

She ran so hard her muscles burned like fire, until sweat lay cool and moist on her brow and the deep insides of her ears ached from the brutal cold. Liv and Isabel were both walking, but their breath fogged thick in front of them.

“That’s enough.” Connor’s voice carried around the castle to where she had finally relaxed into a slow jog.

Something tightened within her. Dread. She didn’t want to see him.

And yet she had no choice, and she refused to allow herself to be cowed by her emotions.

She rounded the corner and found him helping Liv and Isabel into their padded armor.

“Hold these blades.” He handed each woman a sword. “And lift them repeatedly like this.”

He speared the blade out in front of him. Both women did likewise.

An easy enough feat, but Ariana knew how many times they would have to repeat the motion. Until the blazing ache in their arms and backs faded from pain to such a weak numbness they could scarcely raise a cup to their lips later.

Ariana’s shoulder burned with the memory of having done the same thing herself. She’d hated the effort at the time, but it had strengthened her to train properly in the future.

Connor looked directly at her. His lips and cheeks were red from the cold. “And ye.” He bent his knees in a bracing stance and his body tensed perceptively. “Ye’ll train with me.”

• • •

There was a ferocity to Ariana Connor had never seen before.

He stood across from her, both taking a quick break from combat to catch their breath.

The chill of the morning had faded and the sun had warmed the grass back to a lush green. Behind him came the grunts of the other two women in their sword training, lifting the blade first with their right hand until they could no more, then switching to the left.

Ariana wasn’t looking at him, but he knew she was aware of him watching her.

And he couldn’t help but watch her.

Her blows had been delivered without her usual restraint. They were hard and unhindered and damn accurate. She was powerful, her movements smooth and calculated.

She watched the other women, her face unreadable and her back tall and proud. The sun had risen behind her and limned the curves of her body in a brilliant outline.

Her blue-green eyes settled on him with a hardness he found unwelcome. “Again?”

He braced himself for the impact he knew would come. “Aye.”

The word hadn’t even fled his lips completely before she lunged at him. But she didn’t plow into him like before.

He’d been pushing his weight toward her in expectation and almost pitched forward when she didn’t strike.

Instead she rolled between his wide-legged stance and knocked at the backs of his knees. He staggered, but caught his balance and turned.

Her fist flew at his face, but he managed to block it just in time so only the tip of her knuckle grazed his cheek. Her eyes flashed. A huff of air escaped her mouth and her leg flew up toward him.

It would have caught him had he not jumped backward to avoid it. Ordinarily he tempered his own attacks on the girls lest he hurt them. The only one he had never done so with was Sylvi.

And now Ariana.

He swept his leg toward hers and knocked her feet from under her. She fell to the ground with a grunt but quickly popped back up.

Her arms rose in front of her, ready to block and ready to strike. “Again.”