Page 81 of Highland Ruse

Even as he said the words, they hung heavy around his heart, for he knew if MacKenzie were to discover Delilah’s lie, he would be anything but kind.

• • •

Night hung darker in Edirdovar Castle than it did at Ardvreck.

Delilah lay in a great bed and stared at the underside of the canopy. She knew there were boards and beams crossing up there, but it was so high up, and the room so black, she could not make them out.

It left her with a dizzying rush of disorientation. No matter how much she tried to focus, or force herself into thinking she might actually see it, she could not.

No matter how much she wished to be at Ardvreck with Kaid, she was not.

And tomorrow she would need to find some sort of a distraction to keep from having to marry MacKenzie.

Her hands fisted in the thick sheets beneath her. The poor quality fabric was stiff and scratching where it touched her skin.

She rolled over in an attempt to find a more comfortable position. Again. At this point, she was unable to determine if her restless sleep stemmed from a mattress filled with bumps or a mind filled with thoughts.

“Do you need anything, my lady?” Leasa whispered from her trundle bed beside Delilah’s. Her voice was thick with the effects of sleep.

Guilt nipped at Delilah. She hadn’t meant to wake Leasa. The journey had been taxing on the other woman and she needed the rest.

“I’m fine,” Delilah lied.

Silence answered her, and Delilah assumed the maid had fallen asleep.

“Is it because of the wedding?” Leasa’s voice had lost the heaviness of slumber.

Delilah flinched. “You know?”

“They want me to prepare you first thing in the morning.”

The darkness pressed around Delilah, and suddenly the large bedchamber seemed like a tight box around her. “We have to do something to get out of it.”

There was a long pause. “We have to find a woman here, correct?” Leasa asked.

This time Delilah had divulged the plan to Leasa en route to Edirdovar. It was a risk, in case Leasa accidentally said something she should not, but it was worth it to find Torra more quickly.

The creak of bed ropes indicated Leasa had risen from her bed. “If we look now, we might find her. And if so, could we not leave now?”

Delilah grinned. “That we could.”

There was an erratic thumping clatter from the other side of the room before a beam of moonlight shot into the chamber where Leasa had obviously opened a window. The contrast of such brilliance to the darkness made the room seem as if it were lit as brightly as day.

Delilah slipped out of bed, grateful to no longer be locked in a battle of sleeplessness. “We should go separately. You explore the lower floors. If anyone asks where you are going, tell them you went to the kitchens to fetch me some bread and got lost.”

A believable tale when they were not offered so much as a bannock on their arrival. A ball of hunger gnawed in the pit of Delilah’s stomach.

Leasa pulled a heavy dressing gown over Delilah’s night clothes. “And if I’m caught,” Delilah said, “I’ll say I went looking for you.”

Delilah turned and found Leasa pale, either with fear or perhaps even from the white glow of the moon. Either way, she placed her hands on the maid’s narrow shoulders and gave a reassuring smile. “If we find her tonight, we may leave. And if we do not, we’ll…” Delilah’s own confidence faltered. “We’ll figure out something to keep the wedding at bay.”

Leasa nodded, a gesture sharp with determination.

Together, they slipped into the darkened hall without the luxury of candles to light their paths, lest they call unwanted attention to themselves.

They knew little of Torra MacKenzie, only that she was several years older than Delilah and her hair was a mass of brilliant red curls. Surely her hair would make her easy to find, though neither Delilah nor Leasa saw a woman fitting her description upon their arrival the prior night.

One of the important lessons Delilah had learned with her training was the ability to move silently and blend into shadows. The skill was imperative on a night such as this.