Page 17 of In Bed with a Highland Beast

Lucia, too, froze. The two of them stared at each other in silence for a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity. Alaric felt his cheeks heat and he hoped the darkness would be enough to cover his foolish blush or at least that Lucia would be decent enough to not embarrass him by mentioning it.

He didn’t think he could handle it if she did.

“Ye can move away, ye ken,” she continued, the half of her face that was illuminated by the fire contorting into a mask of annoyance. “Ye dinnae have tae be so close tae me.”

“In case ye forgot,dear wife, we’re wedded,” Alaric reminded her, his voice dropping even lower in volume. “Ye were the one who told everyone we’re husband an’ wife. Would yer husband leave ye alone with all these men?”

“Me husband would ken me well enough tae understand these men pose nay threat tae me,” Lucia said through gritted teeth. “I dinnae need yer protection. I think I’ve proven as much already.”

Alaric could hardly argue with that. Lucia had fought Lachlan herself and she had won, proving her strength to everyone in the gang. The only way for them to subdue her would be if they teamed up against her and then there wouldn’t be much either of them could do to stop it if their numbers were large enough.

Still, Alaric thought it safer to remain close and maintain their cover.

“Ye never did tell me how ye ken all these things,” Alaric said, jumping on the opportunity to learn more about Lucia and hopefully decipher the mystery she posed. “How does a lassie learn how tae fight men twice her size? Several at a time, too?”

“I caught the ones back at the cottage by surprise,” Lucia said in a flat tone, as though by reflex. “As fer the rest, well, nae everyone is lucky tae have a simple, quiet life. I’ve had tae fight fer many things. I’ve had tae fight many men. Me braither taughtme everythin’ I ken so I would be safe if I was ever alone. We didnae have the luxury o’ walls or a keep. We didnae have the luxury o’ guards an’ soldiers an’ people who could protect us. We had tae learn how tae keep ourselves safe.”

Alaric was no fool. He knew he was one of the lucky few who had grown up the way he had, learning how to fight not because he had to ensure his safety but rather because he enjoyed it. It had been his duty at first, that much was true, as much as it was any noble-born boy’s duty to learn to fight, but no one had forced him to be a scout. No one forced him to be out there, risking his life and braving the cold whenever he couldn’t reach a town early enough to find a room for the night.

He never had to fight for daily survival.

Everything he did, he did because he enjoyed it. He enjoyed travelling and seeing new places, meeting new people. He enjoyed the fights and the clever ploys he had to come up with to gather information. Lucia and the brother she had lost had never done it out of enjoyment, though, but rather out of sheer necessity, knowing that if they so much as appeared weak, someone would take what little they had away from them—perhaps even their lives.

He didn’t know what to say to her. Words seemed insufficient for the enormity of the situation and so he remained silent, listening when she spoke again.

“This is how I ken all these things. Through me braither or the few other people who were kind enough tae teach me when I wasa wee lass. I can assure ye I’m nae the only one who kens these things. There are plenty out there just like me because they have nae other choice.”

Alaric wanted to point out he had never met anyone like Lucia, but he doubted she would appreciate the sentiment. He wasn’t trying to claim she was a liar. Perhaps she was right and there were plenty of women in the world like her who had to learn how to fight and survive and learn the inner workings of gangs like the Ravencloaks, but that didn’t change the fact Alaric had never met any of them. He had only met Lucia, and in his mind, there was no other girl like her.

“Why are ye tellin’ me this now?” Alaric asked. “Ye have never shared a single thing with me, nae matter how much I asked.”

Lucia let out a soft sigh. “After everythin’ we have been through together, it seems only right that ye ken a few things about me. Besides, ye havenae asked me that many questions an’ we havenae been together fer long. Ye simply arenae patient.”

Alaric chuckled. He couldn’t help it, but he supposed Lucia was right. It only felt as though they had been together for a long time, as so much had happened since he had first met her. It didn’t feel like a couple of days, but rather a lifetime of knowing her.

“The scars,” said Alaric, “on your back? Did they… is that how ye suffered them? In the hands o’ such men?”

As open as Lucia had been with him until then, now she was suddenly entirely shut off. Alaric could see it in the way her expression hardened, hiding her thoughts behind a cold facade once more, one he knew he could never penetrate. He remembered her words—we didnae have the luxury o’ walls or a keep. Lacking those, she had to build some herself around her.

Before Alaric could utter a single word, Lucia shifted again, turning to her side to face away from him, and he knew that no matter what he said now, he would not get a single word out of her—at least not one that would not be a threat or an insult. With a sigh, he rolled onto his back and stared at the sky above, the patches of it that he could see through the sprawling branches. There were no stars; only darkness, thick clouds travelling over the earth and bringing with them the threat of a storm. Next to him, Lucia was once again utterly still, but this time, Alaric could sense her stiffness, the way she held every muscle in her body tense as though she were a coiled snake, ready to either attack or flee.

I should have never asked.

Alaric hadn’t taken a good look at those scars, but he had seen enough to know that they were deep and plentiful. Lucia may have given him nothing, no reaction other than ignoring him, but even with that blank stare she had given him, he knew her pain ran deep and it was not simply physical.

Not for the first time, he wondered what could have caused those scars and who it had been who had hurt her that way. Guilt tore at him for asking about it in the first place. Surely, Lucia wastrying to forget, as much as those scars would allow such a thing. Surely, she was trying to keep her thoughts far away from those memories, and yet Alaric had brought them back to the surface selfishly and with no regard to her well-being.

The next time, he would do well to keep his mouth shut, he thought.

But was there going to be a next time? Would Lucia ever trust him enough to tell him the story of those scars? Alaric didn’t even really know if they would be around each other long enough for that to happen. She had told him the mission would take a while, but she hadn’t specified just how long. It could be days or it could be weeks or it could be months, and Alaric didn’t know which option sounded the best.

Slowly, he came to the realization that the clearing was quiet—not silent in that unsettling way that spoke of danger, but simply quiet, filled with the sounds of forest critters and the slow, even breaths of the men around him. Next to him, Lucia was still awake and if he had to guess, he would say she would remain awake for the rest of the night.

And so, although troubled by their conversation and the future but reassured by her solid presence, he slept.

CHAPTER TEN

It was a miserable day, not least because Lucia hadn’t slept at all the previous night. She had not tossed and turned nor had she gone for a walk to clear her head and tire herself out as she usually did whenever sleep evaded her, but rather she had lain there, staring at the engraved patterns of the tree right before her until they began to turn into familiar shapes. Everyone else would assume she was simply sleeping, but how could she when Alaric was tormenting her with each question he asked?

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