Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Edith looked like she had seen a ghost. She stared wide-eyed at him, unmoving as though she were rooted to the spot.
Aaron had never imagined a person could flush so deeply.
Her fingers curled against the sides of her dress as her lips parted slightly, and his brows rose, waiting for what she was about to say.
“Do ye need something?” Martin asked, taking a step toward her.
“Nay.”
Her voice was far from steady, and Aaron’s brow furrowed.
She turned around before he could say a word, fleeing the room without looking back. The door closed behind her with more force than necessary.
Aaron stared at it, confused.
What is wrong with the lass?
He had noticed her unusual behavior since breakfast. It was as though she made it a point to leave every room the moment he entered it. As though she were running from him.
He glanced up at Martin, finding an equally uncertain expression on his face.
Perhaps she expected to meet the healer alone.
His jaw clenched at the thought, and his eyes narrowed slightly, even as Martin stepped closer to him.
“May I?” Martin asked.
Aaron let out a rough breath. It irritated him that he could hardly stand the man. It irritated him even more that he could not bring himself to admit why.
He rose from the stool, pulling on his tunic in one swift motion.
“Yer shoulder—” Martin started to protest.
Aaron waved him off. “Later.”
He walked out of the room before he had completely fastened his tunic and climbed up the small flight of stairs that led to the east wing. Whatever the issue was with Edith, he had had enough. He was going to have it settled as soon as he found her.
Finding Edith did not take long. The door to Scarlett’s old chamber was open, soft light slipping through the gap and into the darkening corridors.
Aaron immediately knew that she was in there.
His steps slowed as he approached the door. He was careful not to startle her.
Since he sent his sister off to live with her new husband, he had not been able to bring himself to push the door open once, much less step inside.
It had not been his wish for Scarlett to marry only for duty.
More than anything, he wanted her to find love, even if he knew it would never be in the cards for him.
But the clan needed the alliance, and Scarlett agreed to go in exchange for whatever she wanted.
And what she wanted was for him to let Edith stay at Hallow Castle.
He stopped at the door, wondering for a moment if Edith had written to her yet and what his sister would think about his fake betrothal to her best friend. Surely, she would be disappointed.
He cleared his throat roughly, and Edith looked up, meeting his gaze. She was sitting at the foot of Scarlett’s old bed, her knees raised to her chest, a linen napkin in her hands. He stepped inside and went to sit on the floor beside her.
An awkward silence fell between them. He hardly knew how to handle it. He had come after her expecting an argument, not this.
“Ye’re hidin’ in me sister’s room,” he said.
Edith did not look at him. “I am nae hidin’.”
“Aye,” he countered quietly. “Ye are.”
She released a breath. It was not quite a laugh, but not a protest either. Still, she did not look at him properly.
Aaron shifted slightly, resting his forearms on his knees, his gaze fixed ahead now instead of on her. “Do ye miss her?”
He already knew the answer before he asked. He missed Scarlett, too. He had been so busy being Laird since she was a child that he barely had time to be her elder brother. And just when they were beginning to have a relationship as adults, he had married her off to another Laird.
Edith folded the napkin in her hand and placed it on the floor between them. “She used to spend most of her time here,” she murmured.
Aaron’s gaze shifted slightly.
“She would sit there,” Edith continued, nodding toward the window seat, though she did not look at it. “Telling me about all the books she wished for us to read and how she planned to have them removed from yer library without yer permission.”
Aaron laughed softly.
He had not known that. If Scarlett had ever taken any of his books, then he never noticed it, perhaps because he hardly read them himself.
Why wouldnae she just ask?
“Did ye read them together?”
Edith nodded. “Aye. But nae here. This room was off-limits for many things.”
His brow rose slightly in curiosity. He considered asking her where they used to read, but decided against it. He could tell she was not going to elaborate anyway. He was lucky enough that she told him the bit she had.
“What did she like to do here?” he asked instead.
Edith shrugged. “Talk. Nap. Embroider.” She picked up the linen napkin she had dropped moments ago. “She loved to create patterns of this sort. Beautiful, is it nae?”
Aaron nodded. “Aye.”
But he was not looking at the half-finished embroidery. He was looking at her.
Edith swallowed, shifting slightly into a more comfortable position.
“Before she left for her marital home, she had been planning to embroider them on all her sheets.” She paused, and only when she blinked again did Aaron realize that her eyes were welling up.
“I hope her husband lets her do as she pleases.”
Aaron’s jaw tightened slightly. “She will do as she pleases regardless,” he said.
Edith gave a faint, almost disbelieving smile. “Ye say that like it is so simple.”
“It is with Scarlett,” he replied.
Edith let out a small breath. “Aye, it truly is.”
Neither of them said anything further.
The silence between them slowly grew heavy. Edith’s fingers moved over the napkin once, then again, slower this time. She was not looking at it anymore.
Aaron sighed softly, his gaze settling on her. He took in the line of her shoulders and the way she held herself so still, as though the slightest movement might give something away.
Why was she running from me?
He frowned slightly, unable to bring himself to ask her the question. He did not know when he had started to watch her so closely, only that he could not seem to stop.
Edith shifted slightly. Her eyes met his when she finally looked up, and her breathing slowed. Her chest heaved slightly as her eyes flitted across his face and then to his lips.
Aaron’s pulse quickened. He leaned closer, only by an inch, and she looked away, as though the moment did not need to exist between them.
It did not.
Aaron swallowed, exhaled through his nose, and pushed himself off the floor. Perhaps he had no real reason to be sitting here with her. Perhaps it would have been better if he had not come.
“Ye shouldnae sit here for long,” he said, his tone sharper than he had intended. “The floor is cold.”
Edith stiffened slightly. “I willnae.”
Aaron nodded once.
For a moment, neither of them moved. Aaron’s hand hovered near his side, as though he had meant to say something else and forgotten what it was. He did not remember why he had wanted an argument in the first place. It felt distant now. Unimportant.
His hand caught the doorframe as he stepped out, and he paused, just long enough to glance back once.
Edith had not moved. She was looking at the napkin again, avoiding his gaze.
He left before he could change his mind about leaving her alone. And only once he was back in the corridor did he realize he was walking too fast, as though something had chased him out of the room.
He frowned to himself. He was a fool. That was all he was.
Just a fool.