Page 11 of The Laird's Dark Obsession

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 conflictingfeelings 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.”