Page 7 of Highland Spy

“Ariana.”

She started at the sound of her name and jerked back toward him.

A knot formed in her throat, painfully hard.

Caught, caught, caught.

“Ye dinna have to be frightened of me.” His voice was so smooth, so filled with powerful conviction.

She wanted to trust him, especially if he could make all this go away.

The king trusted him; he’d said as much only minutes before.

But she could not.

She took a step back. “Who are you?”

The cold air, thick with moisture, pressed into her gown, her hair, her burning face. She wished she could drown in it and be done.

“I’m the man who found ye cheating at cards.”

Caught. Caught. Caught.

Ariana’s knees went so soft she feared they might slip out from under her.

If only she could breathe. If only she could think.

“I’m the man who can save ye,” he said. “Or see ye punished.”

She pressed her hands to her skirt and gripped the fabric as though it could save her. The heavy silk was wet and cold against her stiff fingers.

Punished.

The world around her spun and she had to widen her stance to keep her balance on the stone beneath her.

“I could say you’re lying.” The idea flew through her mind in a wild burst of hope.

“Who would vouch for you?”

She scrambled through a sea of names and faces, all people who might have stood by her once. But no longer.

“And you would speak against me?” Her voice was small as she remembered the way the king had looked upon Connor with respect.

“The king doesna tolerate cheating at his parties. I’d be punished instead if he found out I knew and dinna tell.”

“You said you could help me.” She shook her head at the emotions and thoughts crowding inside her skull: confusion, fear, frustration, shame, desperation. “How do you threaten and offer aid in the same minute?”

“I can offer ye an opportunity to no’ ever have to steal from others again.”

Steal.

The word cut into her.

She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed to keep from shattering.

“How?”

“By working for me.”