Page 11 of Taming the Highland Beauty

“Come,” Gwendolyn said, beckoning Gille to enter the chamber fully. “Let us get you into the bath. I had one sent up the moment we saw you and Callum at the shoreline.”

Near the hearth, a copper tub with steaming, heather-scented water sat enticingly. So different from her world of mossy streams and icy lakes. “I have never bathed indoors before,” Gille said, a hint of excitement in her voice as she moved to the bath and dipped her fingers into the water, marvelling at the temperature.

Aria smiled. “You will never want to bathe in a stream again after this. I promise.”

Gille snapped her fingers back. “I may never have the opportunity again if I cannot break Oberon’s curse.” Only rainwater would fall on her branches for the rest of her life.

“I blame myself for your predicament,” Aria said, her tone solemn and the pain in her eyes palpable. “I should have protected you.”

“You are not to blame,” Gille said, trying to reassure her sister. “Oberon needed to punish someone. If not me, then he would have sought out you or Mother.” Gille’s throat tightened as she voiced the conclusion she had come to over the last few months.

“What’s important now is finding a way to undo what has been done,” Gwendolyn said. “What did you say . . . we will have seven days to find a solution?”

Gille nodded.

“Well, then let’s start the first of those seven days purging the remnants of the fire from your skin, hair, and clothing.” Gwendolyn reached for the tie of Gille’s cloak.

Gille jerked back. “A bath hardly seems the most urgent thing. I must do all I can to break the curse as soon as possible.”

Gwendolyn’s gaze turned sympathetic. “A bath will clear your head and calm your nerves.”

Aria nodded. “Oberon has hurt you not only by placing a curse on you, but also by separating you from your family for the last year. Why would you want to allow him to continue hurting you by poisoning all your hours and minutes with anxiety and fear for the next seven days?”

Gille pressed her lips together as she turned her gaze to the bath. “I agree I must make the most of every moment.”

When Gwendolyn reached for the ties once more, Gille instead handed her the dagger Callum had given her. “Could you take this and put it somewhere?”

Gwendolyn frowned down at the sheathed weapon before returning her gaze to Gille. “Where did you get this? Callum never goes anywhere without it.”

Gille shrugged. “Callum gave it to me as a sort of peace offering for burning down my forest.”

Gwendolyn and Aria’s gazes clashed. “I thought the villagers set fire to the woodlands,” Aria clarified.

Gille pressed her lips together. “If Callum had not been there to distract me—”

“Callum prizes this dagger above all things,” Gwendolyn interrupted. “That he gave it to you is significant. Callum has not even trusted his brothers with this dagger since they returned home over the past few years.”

Gille bit down on her lip, forcing herself not to ask what had driven Callum’s brothers away from Dunvegan or why they had returned. She did not need to get involved in the MacLeods’ lives. She was here to help Lady Janet the best she could and then solve her own problems.

And once those problems are solved? a voice inside her asked. If she found a way to break the curse, then what would occupy her days? She had spent most of her life either hiding from Oberon, as a prisoner in the shadow realm, or living in isolation in the forest. Alone. Always alone.

“Those days are in the past,” Aria said, as though sensing the direction of Gille’s thoughts.

Gille frowned. “How do you know—”

“Because I had those same thoughts myself.” Aria reached up and loosened the tie of Gille’s cloak, slipping the moss-covered garment from her shoulders. “As my sister, you are part of this family now. You will no longer be forgotten or cast aside as unimportant. You can remain here with me for as long as you like.”

“For the next seven days . . .”

Aria shook her head. “Together, we will figure out how to free you from Oberon’s curse. All of us.”

An odd sense of warmth flooded Gille’s chest. “We have never been a true family before: you, me, and Mother.”

“Then perhaps it is time,” Aria said with a smile as she steered Gille towards the bath. “The sooner you bathe, the sooner we can get on to finding the solutions we need to set that future into motion.”

“We will step outside and give you some privacy,” Gwendolyn said as she and Aria headed towards to door. “But we will return shortly.”

Gille’s lips lifted at one corner as she tried to smile for the first time in ages. What would it be like to dream about more than simply making it through the day without being captured and exploited? What would it be like to fantasise about the future?