Page 26 of Ruining a Highland Healer
I hope they can be like sisters tae each other.
Slowly, Torrin made his way towards them, his expression stern as he reached Valora. "Did I nae tell ye tae wait outside?"
Valora turned to him with a confused frown, tilting her head to the side. "Nay?" she said, phrasing it as a question. "Ye never told me anythin’ like that."
It occurred to Torrin, then, that perhaps he had neglected to mention it. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he gave Valora a sharp nod.
"Alright, then."
Next to her, Daisy giggled, the sound bright and just on the edge of teasing. Torrin couldn’t stop himself from shooting her a dirty look, but it did nothing to silence her.
If anything, she seemed to be forcing herself not to laugh harder.
"Let us head tae the village," said Torrin, ignoring the rest of the situation. "We should hurry."
"Why?" asked Daisy, much to Torrin’s chagrin. He really had no other reason than the fact that he wanted to avoid any further awkwardness, and her question had only made it worse. "It’s nae that far."
"Can Daisy come?" Valora asked, but Torrin shook his head.
"Nay," he said. "Daisy will stay here. I can only imagine the trouble the two o’ ye could cause together."
"Whatever could ye mean?" asked Daisy, completely innocently. Torrin, though, was not falling for it.
"Ye ken precisely what I mean," he said as he began to make his way towards the stables. "Miss MacNeacail, please follow me."
He didn’t wait to see if she did. He simply kept walking, listening for her steps behind him, and only breathed out when he heard them—riding boots sinking in the mud, the dull thud of them syncing to his steps.
CHAPTER TWELVE
"Where did ye learn tae ride so well?"
Valora turned to glance at Torrin as the two of them strode down the path to the village after a short stretch of wild galloping. It was Valora who had initiated it, urging her horse to go faster and faster just to feel the wind on her face, just to think, if only for a moment, that she was truly free.
It was a pleasant day, though not very sunny or warm. The chill of the wind bit at her cheeks, stinging her skin. The sky above was overcast, but not so dark as to keep the sun from reaching the ground, and though it wasn’t enough to warm her skin, it was enough to shed a golden light over everything—the tall, swaying grass, the reeling in the far distance, the black rocks that jutted up from the edge of the cliff.
Valora was glad she had gone, even if she would have preferred to be alone.
"I’ve been ridin’ since I was a wee lass," said Valora with a small shrug. "It was a way tae get out o’ the castle when me faither was in a particularly bad mood."
Torrin nodded but otherwise remained silent. Valora was used to it; people never knew what to say to her, how to treat her. They never knew how to express their sympathy or even if they should.
Silence was the best she could hope for. She despised it when people tried to make her feel better, simply because it never worked.
"Well, ye’re very skilled," he said. "I’ve never seen a lass ride like ye."
Valora gave a small shrug. "I enjoy it. I dae. I wish I could dae it more often."
"What’s stoppin’ ye?"
"Me faither daesnae want me ridin’ too far from the castle," she said. "I dinnae think he’s worried. He’s more concerned that if anythin’ happens tae me, he willnae be able tae use me in the way he wants."
"Yer faither isnae here," Torrin pointed out, and it was only then that Valora realized she was not under her father’s rule anymore. She could do as she pleased; she didn’t have to worry about her father’s reaction.
With a small grin and one last look at Torrin, she urged her horse to gallop faster once more, the two of them breezing down the path. A laugh escaped her the moment her horse caught on, responsive to her movements as she steered it. It was a beautiful creature, a young mare with shiny chestnut fur, calm and capable, and it reminded Valora why she loved to ride so much.
Strands of her hair fell out of her updo as she rode, haloing her face. Her eyes stung from the wind, tears gathering in the corners, but she was too happy, too carefree to be bothered by it. She could spend the rest of the day like this, simply riding around the lands and seeing their beauty, that endless green that stretched as far as the eye could see on one side and that glittering blue of the waters in the other.
Behind her, Torrin was quick to catch up. Valora could hear his horse’s hooves, thundering against the ground, mingling with her own horse’s gallops. Her laughter, delighted and joyous, was almost loud enough to encompass it all, to veil every other sound.
