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Need for answers spurred me into action. I headed for the door and prayed I would find it unlocked. It was, and the maid who’d greeted me earlier was on the other side.
“Can I help you, miss?” she asked. Her accent differed somewhat from that of the men on the beach and even Ivor, my taxi driver.
“Can you take me to Duncan?”
“The laird?” she asked with wide eyes.
I didn’t know what that meant, but I said “yes” anyway.
She stared at me as if to give me a chance to change my mind. “Are ye sure?”
As much as I feared the man, or whatever he was, I couldn’t hide away forever. “Yes. I’m sure.”
She held out her hand, holding a multi-stem candlestick I hadn’t noticed, to point our way. The sconces that lined the wall weren’t lit, but then the hall was bereft of anyone besides the two of us. I couldn’t blame the strangeness of my surroundings because of how I’d come to be at the castle. Or maybe I’d been distracted by a certain man with piercing eyes.
We wound our way through halls and down tucked-away spiraling passageways I would have missed if not for my guide. We descended three floors before she brought me to a grand double-door opening.
Inside, a man sat at the far end of a very long table with a goblet in his hand. The room felt like it should hold balls, not a single table that could fit two dozen at least. So far he hadn’t noticed me. His gaze was focused on some point straight ahead where a stage a few feet off the ground made up the entire side wall. Nothing was there.
I stepped forward into the room on wobbly feet with as much bluster as I could muster.
“Ah, she wakes,” he said, without so much as a glance my way. “Now ye can leave.”
“What?” I stammered.
He finally turned in my direction. His eyes were no longer golden, but a soul-piercing blue. “Let me make myself clear. This is not a bed-and-breakfast. Ye must go now and take the danger you brought with you.”
“But my mother sent me here to keep me safe,” I managed to say as every word tripped over each other while exiting my mouth.
“I know what ye are and the problems ye bring.”
What? Not who? I thought, though too late to ask as he continued on. “What am I? Why am I so important to a war?”
He ignored my questions. “I’m not a hired gun, nor am I yer hero.” His eyes dropped down the length of my body and I held back a shiver. “The only thing you can do for me outside of leaving is companionship. Yet ye reek of innocence.”
The gall of the man, but I bit my tongue. This was where I was meant to be. I could feel it in my bones. “Mom said I would be safe here because your castle is warded, whatever that means. I have nowhere to go,” I begged, letting go of my pride as my voice trembled while I held back a sob.
“Not my problem.”
I steeled my spine and lifted my chin. “Fine. I’ll borrow your horse on the beach to get me to the next town.”
Plates rattled as he stood with a quickness that stole my breath. “Stay away from him.”
I leveled my gaze squarely at his, finding my resolve. “Then what do you expect me to do? I have no car or transportation to leave.”
He stalked forward, and I had to fight against fear not to back up. When he was a breath away, he looked down at me with eyes filled with hate. “Fine. Ye leave at first light.”
Then he was out the doorway on silent feet.
I spun around, not finding the maid, though I shouldn’t be surprised. She likely had practice in not being seen or heard. I didn’t have to wait long for her return. I took one step before she was in front of me.
“Are you hungry, miss?” She waved a hand back toward the table. I turned and found a buffet of food ready to be eaten.
Though my hunger had intensified with every step on the way here, now I felt sick to my stomach. Where was I to go?
“Can you take me back to my room, please?” I asked.
It was possible I could find my way back, but why waste time? The dining room had been on the other side of the castle on a lower floor. I guessed at our turns on the way back to test my knowledge of the way around and only missed one turn. Though had I gone that route, who knew how long it would have been before I made it to the room I’d been temporarily given.
At my door, I muttered a thanks as a way of letting her know I wanted privacy. She didn’t follow me in.
