Chapter 5
Sleep found Kira that night, but it was woeful to say the least. Every time she managed to fall asleep, images of Hunter would appear with fury in his eyes.
The sky swirled with heavy storm clouds and the wind ripped through the trees with enough force she was stunned they didn’t snap in half.
Kira was running along a stone path, her dress ripped and tattered along the skirt from her long, arduous trek through the forest. If she could just find a town, she could call for help. Someone would come to her rescue, wouldn’t they?
He had been chasing her for…
Well, she didn’t know how long it had been. Had it been hours? Days? Years? It felt like they had always been doing exactly that.
Even though she screamed at herself not to look, Kira peered over her shoulder to see Hunter closing the distance between them. His face remained calm and his eyes focused.
When she turned back around, she was overjoyed to see a hamlet coming into view. Digging deep within herself, she found the strength to move faster and faster until she was running between the homes and little buildings.
“Help! Someone help me! He’s going to kill me!” she cried out. But her voice echoing back to her was the only response.
“Is that what ye think?” Hunter taunted from somewhere unseen, laughing too.
Kira cried out again, banging on doors as she passed them, but still no one emerged. She peered into windows and stalls. There was no one in that town. There wasn’t even furniture or food inside the structures. It was all empty rooms and bare walls.
Out of desperation, she flung open one of the doors and stepped inside. “Please! Someone be here!” she shouted.
The hut was empty. It was just her and a barren floor.
The door closed behind her and as she spun around to see, a broad chest was blocking her view. Peering up, she was face-to-face with Hunter. He snatched her up, pulling her by the waist until they were pressed chest to chest.
“No one is coming for ye, Kira,” he tutted. Tears welled in her eyes and he stroked her cheek. “No one is coming and I’m sorry for that.”
His words actually sounded genuine with a twinge of pain in his voice. It hurt him that no one was coming for her, even if his mission had always been to track her down. Was it because it ruined part of the hunt for him? Or did he think she was worthy of being saved?
“Dinnae cry, lass,” he purred. His thumb brushed against her cheek again. “I’ve never said I was going to kill ye.”
“Then why chase me?” she asked as a few tears slid down her cheeks. “Why scare me like this?”
“Silly girl,” he chuckled. His hazel eyes were gleaming with amusement. “It’s because ye’re mine. Mine to chase. Mine to scare. Mine to have.”
His words stole her breath and she felt herself nod. Her eyes flickered to his lips and lingered a moment too long. Hunter snickered. “Even after all that running and all that fright, ye still want me.”
“I do,” she murmured.
His face neared hers and her eyes fluttered closed, ready for him to have her first kiss. Even if they didn’t make sense on paper, it all felt right in her heart.
Hunter was always meant to be her one and only.
Her only first.
Hers.
Before his lips could touch hers, Kira woke up.
Frustration stirred in her stomach, annoyed that she would have such a dream about a man who was holding her hostage. And the frustration only made it all the harder to fall back asleep.
By dawn, she was lying awake on the bed, staring at the ceiling and replaying the day before again and again in her head. She couldn’t shake the terrified expression on his face as he hung out the window to save her.
Round and round her thoughts went, trying to dissect every possibility. It was all she had to do. In her two days spent there, Kira had scoured every detail. She even knew the room was fifteen floorboards wide and behind the small, empty desk was a rip in the wallpaper. It was completely maddening.
A soft knock came at the door and Kira perked up from her tired spot on the small bed. It was still a bit early for breakfast, but at least meals were regular and helped split up some of the day.
Yet, it wasn’t a servant that came through the door—but none other than Edine. She didn’t storm inside like she was on a mission but rather slinked through and took only a couple of paces within. There were dark circles around her eyes, making her look like she hadn’t gotten much sleep either.
Edine wouldn’t look at her and instead stood across the small room and smoothed her skirt awkwardly. “I only came to see if ye’re alright. I was with Hunter when the incident happened.”
Kira’s heart squeezed. “I’m all right, thank ye. Just a couple of bruises. My own fault for being so clumsy.”
Edine nodded once. “Aye, it was rather foolish to climb out on that ledge. Even if it were to escape, I—” She cut herself off and faced the door. “Very well, I’ve seen ye’re fine. I’ll be on my way.”
“Wait!” Kira blurted, the single word edged with desperation.
She didn’t have any right to request anything of Edine, but the thought of being alone in that room for another prolonged period of time made Kira bold. “Perhaps ye could stay? Just for a little while? I ken ye have every right to say nay… But…”
Her own voice died out. Really, Kira didn’t have any good reasons why Edine should give her a chance. Kira’s head hung and she took a deep breath, already bracing for the sound of the door closing behind Edine.
“Very well,” she muttered.
Kira’s face snapped up just in time to see Edine poke her head out and call for some tea and pastries for the two of them. Her heart leapt for joy that she would have company and she did her best not to get sentimental over the fact that it used to be Kira bringing tea and sweets to Edine’s room.
Edine turned the chair at the desk around and faced her, though she didn’t say anything and her hands continuously moved along the surface of her lap. It was as though her nervous hands thought they could smooth the edges of the room by pressing any potential wrinkle out of the fabric.
Before long, a tea tray was sat at the foot of Kira’s bed with a pot of fresh herbal tea and a plate of assorted cakes. She was too on edge to eat, but she sipped her tea and studied Edine.
“Will ye get in trouble for being in here? I dinnae wish to cause strife,” Kira murmured.
Edine batted the notion away with a flick of her hand. “The guards cannae say nay to me and Hunter will be more annoyed with them than me.”
Kira nodded and then they both looked down into their teas. The tension was tangible, but it was still better than being alone. Still, Kira worried that she was being unfair to Edine and perhaps even abusing her kind heart.
“I ken it’s hard to be around me,” Kira said weakly. “So, thank ye for being here anyway. It’s… it’s a bit lonely in this room.”
“I can imagine,” Edine said quietly.
The two young ladies shared a small smile then, an unspoken understanding coming to the surface. Edine had conflicting feelings about Kira, and Kira respected how she felt and certainly knew it wasn’t her place to try to get her to talk about it.
Slowly, conversation trickled between the two of them. Edine shared that she had been the one to oversee the gardening and that with that, she had been studying botany as much as possible. Comfortable chatter about plants and flowers filled the time and put Kira a little more at ease.
And yet, the past was inescapable. When filling Kira in on the troubles she had faced in early spring due to a late freeze, a smile came over Edine’s face. A giggle escaped her as she spoke.
“Remember that one spring when I was about seven? We had a snow in the beginning of April. We all woke to find maither herself outside, covering the sprouts with blankets.”
Kira brightened in an instant, remembering the night clearly.
“We woke in the dead of night to yer faither fussing at her,” she commented with a little chuckle of her own.
“It wasn’t even dawn and they were out in that miserable weather.
Lady Galbraith telling the Laird to leave her be to tend to her sprouts, and yer faither insistent she would catch her death if she didn’t come in right that instant. ”
Edine nodded, still giggling. “Ye were staying in my chamber that night. Faither caught us peeking and was threatening to withhold our breakfast if we didn’t get right back into bed.”
Kira raised her fist and shook it dramatically. “And he was going like this as he fussed before slipping on some ice.”
Edine snorted and covered her mouth from embarrassment. “Aye. I dinnae think he spoke to me the entire day after that.”
Kira smiled. “Me either. But then we worked together to knit those mittens for him, and it was never brought up again.”
Edine seemed to soften further and began reflecting on how Kira had taught her to knit when all of the maids had failed to help her grasp the concept. The conversation ebbed and flowed easily. There were tense, awkward silences but Kira savored those too.
At least she was there and that was enough for Kira.
She was nearly in his reach.
All of the Highlands burned outside of the castle, and the blood of all who stood in his way was splattered across his tartan sash and his white blouse.
Just a sheer canopy separated them. Hunter drank in her form, seeing the supple curves as she laid on her side. Kira lifted slightly.
“Who is there?”
He couldn’t see the details of her or her expression, but he could hear the panic in her voice.
“It’s me. Hunter.”
There was a beat of silence and then she said, “Are ye here to save me… or end me?”
He reached for the veil, his fingertips brushing against the silky fabric.
He could smell her at such a close distance.
Floral notes of peonies, and a cloak of fresh air that always clung to her from all the time she spent outdoors.
It was a smell that was as home to him as the smell of rosemary and tobacco.