She hesitated. The words she almost spoke tangled and fell away.
“Ye should rest,” she said instead. “Ye lost more blood than ye ken.”
A faint smile touched his mouth. “I will survive.”
“That is the point,” she replied softly.
He opened the door, the cool night air slipping inside around him.
“Iona,” he said, her name quieter this time. “Ye are safer with me than without.”
She did not answer.
Because part of her wanted to believe him.
And another part, the part that had survived seven years on the run, whispered that safety was an illusion that vanished the moment she trusted it.
He stepped outside.
The door closed behind him with a soft thud.
Iona stood there longer than she intended, staring at the wood as if she could still feel the heat of him lingering in the room.
Only when the silence grew heavy did she release a slow breath she had not realized she was holding.
Frustration flickered through her.
At him. At herself. At the way her pulse had leapt when he stood too close. At the way she had almost leaned into it. She dragged a hand down her face and turned back toward the hearth.
Tomorrow, everything would change again.
And though she had agreed to go to his castle, though she had watched him fight like a storm to protect them, a quiet certainty remained buried deep inside her chest.
She had never truly been safe these past seven years, and she doubted that she ever would be.
6
Morning arrived too quickly.
Iona had not slept more than a handful of hours. The sky beyond the cottage window was still pale and undecided when she rose, already dressed in travel-worn wool and resolve.
Erin was awake before her, of course.
The old healer moved briskly about the cottage, gathering bundles of dried herbs, muttering to herself in Gaelic about stubborn men and predictable fate. She did not ask whether Iona had changed her mind.
She had not.
Jamie sat at the small table, boots dangling, watching the preparations with quiet intensity.
“Are we leaving forever?” Jamie asked at last.
Iona paused, folding the last of their clothes into a small satchel. “We are going to stay at a safer place for a while.”
“Safer than here?”
She forced a small smile. “Aye.”
Jamie tilted his head thoughtfully. “Is it because of the men last night?”