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Blue eyes. Not brown.

The nose was short, and he was much younger, his face rounded without Ian’s strong cheekbones.

Her heart sank. Her eyes prickled from tears, and her throat convulsed in an attempt to stop them.

“I could be, my fair lady,” the man said with a crooked smile. “If you give me a kiss.”

He was American. No deep Scottish burr.

“Sorry.” She shook her head and walked away from him.

“Your loss,” he murmured in return.

Oh, how she missed Ian. Silly her, thinking he might find her here, at a Renaissance fair. Despite none of this being authentic, it had been the closest she’d felt to him since she’d left. And that alone made her want to check into the inn and live here permanently.

Her life was empty without him. All her attempts to re-create the connection she’d had with him were just that, attempts.

She’d never live a full life without love. Without happiness. Even that doppelgänger she’d met just now, had been merely a shadow of Ian—a shadow that had made her shake and tremble and almost have a heart attack.

Would she even be able to be happy with Ian given her issues, given that her whole life she’d been looking for ways to make herself worthy? But that wasn’t what she’d been doing with him. And it wasn’t what she’d been doing in New York.

She wasn’t looking for external approval through her restaurant. Not even from her new friends and colleagues.

No.

She was going her own way. She had her own idea and New York City was a great environment to realize it, without begging for anyone to accept her for who she was.

The feeling was new, and yet familiar. It was how Ian had made her feel. That she was okay the way she was.

She just hadn’t realized it. Now she knew she deserved to be loved and appreciated.

Kate turned and walked towards the castle, then stopped to look at a jewelry booth. A woman in a dark-green hooded cloak stood there, studying a beaded necklace in her hands. Kate couldn’t see her face, but she looked familiar. Curly dark-red hair was visible from under her hood.

She looked like…

The woman looked up.

“Sìneag,” Kate breathed.

Sìneag beamed. “Kate! I was hoping to find ye here.”

Kate went to Sìneag and pulled her a little away from the fuss around the tent.

“What are you doing here?” Kate asked.

“I came to see how ye’re doing.”

“But how did you know where to find me?”

“Oh, lass.” Sìneag giggled. “I ken many more things than ye think. Ye dinna think I’m just a woman, do ye?”

Kate narrowed her eyes. Had she heard the woman right? Not just a woman? “What do you mean?”

“Ah.” Sìneag sighed. “Ye mortals. Always so skeptical. Dinna fash yerself, lass. I came to help. Ye walk around like a dead kelpie. Yer eyes are empty. Yer stride has nae lively spring. Do ye nae think ’tis enough that ye torture yerself and Ian?”

She tortured Ian? She’d wanted to stay with him. He was the one who’d told her to leave. But before she got angry, she needed to know if Ian had survived his wounds.

“Have you seen him? Is he okay? He was so badly wounded when I left.”