Chapter 10 #2
Relief and disappointment warred in Piper’s chest. She wouldn’t have to face him yet. But also, where was he? Was he avoiding her? Had last night affected him so badly that he couldn’t even sit through a meal in the same room with her?
“There ye are!” Amara called out cheerfully, leading Piper toward the high table. “Masie, Connor, I’d like ye to meet Miss Piper Armstrong. She’s yer new governess, and she’ll be startin’ lessons with ye today.”
Connor’s head snapped up, his eyes, green like his father’s, going wide. A huge smile spread across his face, revealing a gap where he’d lost a tooth.
“A governess? Really? We get a real governess?” He bounded out of his seat, all excited energy. “Are ye goin’ to teach us everythin’? Can ye teach me about stars? And swords? And how to—”
“Connor, sit down,” Masie said sharply. “Ye’re embarrassin’ yerself.”
“Am nae!” But Connor sat anyway, still grinning at Piper. “I’m just excited. We havenae had a governess in forever.”
“Because the last three ran away,” Masie muttered into her porridge.
“They dinnae run away,” Amara said firmly. “They simply found other positions that better suited them.”
“They ran away,” Masie repeated, finally looking up at Piper. Her green eyes, so like both her father’s and brother’s, were cold. Assessing. “Just like this one will, once she realizes what a nightmare we are.”
“I’m nae a nightmare!” Connor protested.
“Ye are when ye put frogs in people’s beds.”
“That was one time!”
“It was three times.”
“Well, ye deserved it for—”
“Children,” Amara interrupted, her voice gentle but firm.
“Let’s show Miss Armstrong that we ken how to behave like civilized people, shall we?
” She guided Piper to a seat at the table, between where Elijah should have been sitting and where Amara herself took her place.
“Piper, this is Masie. And this is Connor, who is usually much better behaved than his sister makes him sound.”
“I am better behaved!” Connor said indignantly. “I’m the best behaved person in the whole castle!”
“Ye put honey in Da’s boots last week,” Masie pointed out.
“He never notices anythin’ anyway, so what does it matter?”
The casual way Connor said it, the resignation in his young voice, made Piper’s heart ache.
“It’s lovely to meet ye both,” Piper said, forcing a smile despite her nerves. “Properly, I mean. And I want to apologize, Masie, for last night. I dinnae mean to cause trouble between ye and yer faither.”
Masie’s expression didn’t soften. “Ye dinnae cause anythin’. Me faither and I are always fightin’.”
It was almost exactly what Elijah had said.
Like faither, like daughter.
“Well, regardless, I hope we can start fresh,” Piper said. “I ken ye dinnae ask for a governess, but I’m here now, and I’d like to make the best of it. For all of us.”
Connor beamed at her. Masie just shrugged and went back to her porridge. Amara patted Piper’s hand under the table, a gesture of encouragement.
A servant appeared with a plate of food—porridge, bannocks, butter, honey, and what looked like smoked fish. Piper’s stomach growled despite her nervousness. It had been so long since she’d had a proper meal.
“Eat up, dear,” Amara said. “Ye’ll need yer strength for today. Teachin’ these two is nae for the faint of heart.”
“I heard that, Grandmaither,” Masie said.
“I meant for ye to hear it, darlin’.”
Piper picked up her spoon and took a bite of porridge. It was warm, creamy, perfectly seasoned. Better than anything she’d had in months. Maybe years.
“So where did ye come from?” Connor asked, his curiosity apparently boundless.
“Are ye from around here? Do ye ken how to ride horses? Can ye shoot a bow? Me da can shoot a bow from really far away and hit the target every time, and I want to learn, but he says I’m too young, but I’m nae too young, I’m nine, and that’s practically grown up, right? ”
“Connor, let her eat,” Amara chided gently.
“But I want to ken things!”
“Ye can ken things after she’s had a chance to eat somethin’.”
Piper smiled despite herself. Connor’s enthusiasm was infectious, and it was clear he was genuinely excited about having a governess. That was something, at least.
Masie, on the other hand, continued to study her with those sharp green eyes. Piper could practically see the girl’s mind working, listing Piper’s every move, every word, looking for weaknesses.
She’s protectin’ herself. Pushin’ people away before they can hurt her.
“I’m from a village called Kilbride,” Piper said, answering Connor’s questions. “It’s quite a way from here. And aye, I can ride a horse, though nae as well as I’d like. As for shootin’ a bow, I’ve never tried, but I’d be willin’ to learn alongside ye if yer faither approves.”
“He willnae,” Masie said flatly. “He doesnae approve of anythin’.”
“That’s nae true,” Amara said, though her tone suggested even she didn’t quite believe it. “Yer faither approves of many things.”
“Name one.”
“Well, he approved of hirin’ Miss Armstrong, didn’t he?”
Masie’s gaze shifted to Piper again, and this time there was something calculating in it. “Aye. He did. Wonder why that is.”
The way she said it made Piper’s cheeks heat. Did Masie suspect something had happened last night? Had she heard raised voices? Had she—
Stop it. Ye’re bein’ paranoid. She’s just a child testin’ boundaries.
But as Piper ate her breakfast and tried to answer Connor’s endless questions while avoiding Masie’s penetrating stare, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this—teaching these children, living in this castle, being near Elijah—was going to be far more complicated than she’d ever imagined.
And the empty seat next to her—the place where the Laird should have been—felt like an accusation.
Piper forced herself to smile at something Connor said, forced herself to eat, forced herself to pretend that everything was fine.
But it wasn’t fine.
Nothing about this situation was fine.
And she had no idea how she was going to survive it.