It wasn't a question.
"Aye. Taenight. Now." Her father looked between them both. "The marriage must proceed without delay. That's the King's decree and it's the only thing that puts her beyond MacDougall's reach legally. The moment the Pact is sealed, any move he makes against her becomes treason against the Crown." He paused. "The horses are being saddled as we speak."
Matilda looked at her father. "Ye've already ordered it."
"Aye."
"Before ye even spoke tae me."
"Matilda, this is nae time fer this."
"Ye ordered the horses before ye told me any of this." She kept her voice very even. "So this was never actually a conversation."
Her father had the grace to look tired rather than defensive. "There isnae time fer it ae be a conversation,mo chridhe. I'm sorry. I am truly sorry. But MacDougall willnae wait and neither can we."
“Aye.”
Her father blinked. He'd expected an argument. She could see it.
She held his gaze for a long moment. Then she turned to face the keep.
"I need five minutes upstairs," she said. "There are things I willnae leave without."
"Matilda, there isnae time tae start pickin’ things that are nae necessary."
"Five minutes, Faither."
She turned and walked toward the keep steps, and had made it exactly four of them before the pain in her knee buckled her stride and she grabbed the rail and?—
She was in the air.
"Put me down," she said.
Ivar Gunnarsson had lifted her as though she weighed nothing in particular and was now carrying her up the stairs with the same confidence he appeared to bring to everything.
"Ye cannae walk on that."
"I was walkin’ on it perfectly well."
"Ye were limpin’. Are ye dumb or ye just choose nae to receive help?"
"There is absolutely nay difference between limpin’ and walkin’."
"Aye, very convincin’" He said it without looking at her. “Which room?
She stared at the side of his face.
He was looking at the corridor ahead, not at her, which was almost more infuriating than if he'd been smiling. "Second door on the left," she said, with great dignity.
"Thank ye. That wasnae so hard, was it?"
He carried her through the door and set her on the edge of the bed and stepped back immediately, and she had about onesecond to register that before she was on her feet moving toward the chest under the window.
"What are ye doing?" he said.
"Packin’. I told ye, five minutes."
"Sit down and tell me what ye need. I'll get it."