Chapter 3
PRESENT DAY
Skye drew in a panicked, ragged breath, pressing her hands against Evander’s chest, pushing him back.
His eyes flashed with alarm. “Lass? What is it?”
“I…” she stammered, trying to put her thoughts in proper order. “Nothing.”
His eyebrows turned down. “Nothing? Ye went as white as a sheet.”
She cleared her throat, rubbing the back of her hand across her cheek. “I am surprised that ye could tell, with all this grime. I cannae wait for a bath.”
Something like concern flickered in his eyes.
Skye frowned. Concern? For her? That didn’t seem right.
If they were married—and she’d believe it when she saw the marriage contract—then it could only have been a marriage of convenience. He hadn’t mentioned any deeper feelings, and really, she was relieved. Yes, she was. It made things simpler.
She looked at him more closely.
His clothes sagged around his frame, as though he’d lost weight recently. There was a fresh scar curling around the side of his neck, pink and raised, healed but not quite settled yet.
A wound like that on the neck was a sure sign of a dangerous battle. That sort of wound could kill a person in the blink of an eye. Judging from where the healing scar sat on his neck, it had missed one of his arteries by half an inch.
Half an inch from death. He’s been fighting. And those dark circles under his eyes didnae spring up overnight. He said that he’d been searching, that he’d burned down villages… for me?
Blinking, Skye drew in a breath, lowering herself onto the stool Evander had recently vacated.
“Do ye think me memories will return?” she whispered. “A whole year gone. It… it terrifies me.”
He took a step toward her, lowering himself into a crouch and peering up at her. The faint smell of petrichor and horse sweat wafted up from him, and she frowned.
I cannae shake this familiarity. I daenae ken him. I daenae have any memory of him. I daenae.
“I’m sure they will,” he responded quietly. “We’ll find out what happened to ye, Skye. I promise ye that.”
Before she could reply, a commotion burst out outside. A soldier gabbled, panicked, his words incoherent. Skye’s head snapped up as a familiar voice answered.
“I daenae give a witch’s curse if he’s busy or nae. Me cousin is in there, and I am going in.”
Evander heaved a sigh. “Ah, Creighton has arrived.”
An instant later, a tall, grim man shouldered his way through the tent flap, breathing heavily. His eyes glittered, and his fists clenched at his sides, as if bracing himself for a fight. His gaze fell on Skye, and his eyes widened.
“Skye,” he breathed. “It is ye. Ye are back!”
“Aye, it…” Skye began, but that was all she had time to say before her cousin pounced on her, dragging her into his arms in a bone-crushing embrace.
“Steady on, man. Let her breathe,” Evander sighed.
Creighton pulled back and turned a narrow-eyed glare on him. “This better nae be a trick, Bryden. If I find out that ye were behind her disappearance in any way…” He clenched his jaw and turned back to Skye. “What happened, then?”
“I daenae ken,” she confessed. “I woke up in a tent an hour or so ago, and believed I was at last year’s Leanan Festival.
I thought it was the day of the bride swap.
I… I daenae remember anything beyond getting ready that morning.
I daenae remember Evander or anything that happened in the past year. ”
He blinked. “How? An entire year, just gone?”
“Aye. I can hardly believe it meself,” she murmured. “It’s… It’s terrifying.”
He shuddered and glanced up at Evander. “We should have the healers look her over.”
Evander nodded. “Very wise, but I think I ken what they’ll say. Lost memories are difficult. They may return, or they may nae. All we can do is wait.”
“I remembered something,” Skye volunteered.
Both men glanced at her, their eyes widening.
“What?” Creighton asked eagerly. “What do ye remember?”
“Dancing at the Leanan Festival. I remember…” She paused, glancing over at Evander. “I remember ye. Meeting ye, that is. I remember how much I distrusted ye.”
Evander gave a huff of amusement. “Aye, I could tell. Ye glowered at me as if ye wanted to bite me head off. I remember how yer face lit up when I agreed to dance.”
“Ye always did love dancing,” Creighton murmured softly, his hand twitching out as if he wanted to draw Skye into an embrace again.
She barely glanced at him. Her gaze had locked onto Evander’s, green and ice blue meeting together, and somehow she could not separate them.
Why is he staring at me so intently? Do I look ugly?
She lifted a tentative hand to her cheek, the grazed one that she was sure had a little grime on it. Did she smell? Almost certainly.
Did I spend an entire year in this dress? Where did I go? Who took me? And why? Why, why, why?
Creighton spoke again, and Skye flinched, dropping her gaze at once.
“Nora wanted to come see ye, but I told her to wait,” he was saying, oblivious to how abruptly he’d shattered the strange moment between her and Evander. “I didnae ken what state ye would be in, and she doesnae need any scares, nae in her condition.”
“Her condition?” Skye repeated. “Wait, Nora? Do ye mean the woman who was yer false betrothed, swapped in place of me?”
Creighton lifted one smudgy eyebrow. “She’s no longer me false betrothed, lassie. We’re wed now, and she’s with child.”
Skye blinked, conjuring up an image of the tall, red-headed woman with steely eyes. She’d only met Nora once and wouldn’t have imagined she would be the one to capture Creighton’s heart.
“Was it political?” she asked reluctantly, glancing over at Evander.
Could it be that she and Creighton had decided to marry their betrotheds after all, just to solidify the alliance? It might even have been her own suggestion.
“Political?” Creighton repeated. A faintly dreamy look came into his eyes. “Nay, lass. I loved her. I love her.”
Well, that was a surprise.
Skye blinked, finding herself entirely at a loss for words.
“Ye are in love?” she sputtered. “Ye?”
Creighton gave a wry laugh. “Aye. It’s a shock, is it nae?”
“Nae a shock, exactly,” she responded, recovering. “But I am surprised.”
He chuckled, nodding. “So was I. I cannae wait for ye to meet her. Properly, I mean. Now, Hunter will be on his way, but I should warn ye that Aunt Helena’s health isnae good and she doesnae travel much. Once Hunter kens that ye are safe, he may delay his journey for a while.”
“Maither is ill?”
“No more ill than usual. Ye ken how she struggles.”
Skye bit her lower lip.
How did Maither feel, kenning that I was missing and that no one could find me? Sick and tired in that old keep, with Hunter probably going crazy and tearing up the walls in his frustration, how did she manage it?
“I want to see her,” she announced. “And me braither.”
“Nae just yet,” Evander spoke up.
Both of them turned to stare at him.
Evander had distanced himself, leaning heavily against the pole in the center of the tent. When Skye shot him a baleful glare, he only quirked an eyebrow.
“Ye are tired,” he stated. “Confused, frightened, maybe more hurt than we ken. Ye need rest, and we need to understand just what happened to ye and why before ye undertake any long journeys.”
“I feel fine.”
“Ye deliberately miss me point,” he sighed.
“Ye could be in danger, Skye. We all could. This was no accidental disappearance. Somehow, I daenae think that ye wandered into the forest, hit yer head on a tree branch, and then spent a blissful year thinking that ye were some peasant’s daughter.
Nay, something has happened here. And until I understand just what, I cannae let ye leave. ”
Skye barked an incredulous laugh. “Ye cannae let me leave? Laird Bryden, ye overstep.”
“Aye, ye do,” Creighton snarled.
“Do I? I am her husband,” Evander responded sweetly. He met Creighton’s eyes and lifted his eyebrows. “Ye ken that I am.”
Skye glanced at her cousin. “Is it true?”
Creighton faltered, his jaw tightening. At last, he dropped his gaze and let out a shuddering sigh.
“It is true,” he admitted. “Ye are wed. I have a copy of the wedding contract meself.”
Skye felt as though a weight had settled into her stomach.
“But I-I wouldnae have d-done that,” she stammered. “I wouldnae have m-married him.”
“Ye did. And ye werenae coerced, I made sure of that meself. I visited ye, and we spoke of it. I ken ye, Skye. I daenae ken what happened since, but I ken that ye were sure of yer decision. Even happy.”
“Did I seem…” She hesitated, glancing uncertainly up at Evander. His blank face gave nothing away. “… to be in love?”
“I daenae think so.” Creighton shrugged. “But Nora would have noticed more than me if she’d been there. Ye said that it was a political alliance, and a smart one at that. I was pleased enough that ye kent what ye were doing, I’ll give ye that. What happened next, I cannae say.”
Silence fell after that.
Skye let out a ragged breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding in and rubbed a hand over her face.
“What do I do now?” she whispered.
“We go back to Keep Bryden,” Evander declared firmly. “Ye left a note, the night ye disappeared. I kept it.”
“A note? I daenae remember writing a note. But then, I daenae remember anything,” she added bitterly.
“I’ll let ye read it. It didnae… didnae sit right with me,” Evander murmured.
“Didnae sit right? In what way?” she asked.
He rolled his shoulders, his eyebrows knitting together. “It wasnae ye,” he said. “I cannae explain how I kent it.”
“Was it me handwriting?”
“The handwriting was bad. It was hard to tell. But ye had a lot of wine that night, and so did I. That could explain the bad writing.”
Creighton fixed his gaze on Evander. Evander met his stare, and suddenly the atmosphere was tense, crackling with uncertainty and danger.
“If she didnae leave on her own,” Creighton stated, slowly and coolly, “if she was kidnapped while under yer protection, Evander, then ye should expect two clans at yer doorstep, ready for war. MacColl and MacCrimmon willnae let this insult to our kin slide.”
Evander squared up to him. His stance remained loose and almost casual, but his eyes turned steely and unblinking. A muscle drummed in his cheek.
That’s how he looks when he’s angry, supplied a small voice at the back of Skye’s head. She frowned, trying to work out how she knew this.
“I had nothing to do with her disappearance,” Evander murmured.
“I told ye this at the time. I am just as furious at this as ye are. Whatever the reason for her disappearance, if it were intentional, it is an insult and a danger to me as well as ye. Rest assured, I want vengeance as much as ye do. Let’s nae bother bickering when the real danger remains out there. ”
Creighton pursed his lips and glanced over at Skye. “Do ye remember if ye left of yer own accord or nae? Think, lass.”
She screwed up her eyes, vainly willing memories to come forward. It was no good. The last year remained a blank. She still could not quite believe that there had been a last year, that a twelvemonth had gone by and left her behind.
“I… I daenae ken,” she whispered.
“Try.”
“I cannae, Creighton.”
“Just try.”
“Enough,” Evander interjected, stepping between Creighton and Skye.
“I want her to remember just as much as ye, man. But pressuring her will do no good. In fact, it might make the memories retreat. She cannae conjure them at will. She’ll have to wait for them to come back of their own accord.
We all must wait,” he added pointedly, meeting Creighton’s eyes.
Creighton pressed his lips together, but then gave a reluctant nod and turned away.
“I chose to be here,” Skye said suddenly.
Both men glanced at her. She stared at the mat between her feet.
Here was the intersection of two mats laid across the tent floor. There was a tiny, finger-width scrap of grass between the two edges, where they did not quite overlap. She felt the urge to reach down and dig her finger into the earth, as if that might ground her and draw out the truth.
“What do ye mean?” Creighton prompted.
“I mean that me braither didnae want me to go to Keep Bryden, but I chose to. I ken who I am and what I want. I chose to be here, and I chose to marry Evander. If I did all of that, I cannae imagine that I would simply change me mind for no good reason.”
“Something could have happened on yer wedding day to change yer mind,” Creighton suggested.
She shook her head slowly. “It could have, but somehow I daenae believe that. It doesnae sit right with me.”
“Ye can hardly trust yer instincts right now,” Creighton snorted. “Ye cannae even remember the past year.”
“True,” Skye acknowledged. “But I cannae imagine that I would suddenly change me mind and want to leave. I must have been taken.”
There was a long silence after she’d spoken, reality sinking in. Skye glanced between the two men’s faces, wondering if she dared break the silence just yet.
“Well,” Creighton said at last. “This is bad. Perhaps ye had nothing to do with it, Evander, but I’ll nae take the chance. She’s coming back with me to Keep MacColl. Ye can come if ye want, but—”
“Nae a chance,” Evander interrupted. “She’s me wife. She’s coming back with me.”
“She doesnae even remember marrying ye! And I bet that she wouldnae marry ye now if ye asked.”
Evander missed a beat, glancing briefly over his shoulder at Skye. Their eyes met, just for a heartbeat, then he turned away. “This is me problem to solve. She is me wife.”
“And me cousin. And Laird MacCrimmon’s sister. She comes with me.”
“She stays.”
“I am right here, ye ken!” Skye burst out. “Ye could just ask me what I want.”
Evander turned to her. “All right, then. What do ye want?”
She hadn’t expected either of them to actually ask. She blinked, floundering for a second.
“I…”
Evander turned back to Creighton. “How about this? She stays with me for one month. If I havenae cleared up this problem after a month, she can go to ye. If she doesnae want to stay after one month, even if we find out what happened to her, then I will bring her back meself. Do we have a deal?”
Silence fell between them.
Creighton glanced down at Skye, lifting his eyebrows in an unspoken question. She bit her lip and nodded almost imperceptibly.
He sighed. “Very well, Evander. But I willnae be far off, and I will be watching.”
Evander gave a crisp nod. “I would expect no less.”
“I’ll send word to Hunter and Nora,” Creighton muttered, then ducked out of the tent, leaving them alone.
Evander turned to face Skye, his expression impassive.
“Good choice, wife,” he remarked coolly.
“I want to find out what happened to me.”
“Of course ye do. And for the next month, ye are mine again.”