Page 26 of A Two-Faced Laird
“What do you want to show me?” Lewis demanded.
Edina took his hand and led him to the staircase up to the first tier of the turrets, which was barely higher than the outside wall of the castle. They passed this one, and the second one, which was where Edina had found him in tears.
However, as they reached the bottom of the third tier, Lewis hesitated. This part of the keep was the highest part of the castle, and he had no head for heights. He tried to swallow his anger and his terror as he stared at Edina, mystified. She began toascend the staircase, smiling at him, but he let go of her hand and took a step backwards.
“I know you do not come up here,” Edina said, looking down at him. “But the view is spectacular.”
“And almost invisible in the dark,” he pointed out. “This is a waste of time, Edina. Come. I am hungry.”
He turned his back on her and put one foot on the top step of the downward flight of stairs ready to descend, then froze as he heard Edina’s voice.
“Aidan!”
Seeing his reaction, Edina ran further up the stairs and arrived at the top. He followed her as fast as he could, defying his terror. Her hair was tangling around her head with the force of the stiff breeze, and she was like a phantom. The parapet wall was about waist high, but she would be able to scramble onto it awkwardly if she wished to.
Lewis knew that Edina would do almost anything for a dare, and she had hurt herself a few times, not badly, but there was always a first time. The parapet was at least fifty yards high, and a fall from it would be fatal.
10
For a split second, Lewis stood immobile looking at her, his eyes wide with shock.
“Get down from there, Edina,” he said shakily, “before you kill yourself.”
Edina’s smile disappeared as she looked at him. He was nowhere near the wall, and she had not tried to climb onto it, but he looked absolutely frozen with fear.
She took one step closer to the parapet, and he roared, “No!” before he rushed towards her and dragged her roughly into his arms.
Lewis breathed a great sigh of relief as he held Edina in his embrace, pressed so tightly against him that she could not have escaped unless he allowed her to. However, Edina did not want to go anywhere. Indeed, she would have been content to stand there all night in his arms.
“Aidan,” she whispered again, wondering what kind of response she was going to receive now.
Lewis’s heart skipped a beat as he heard that name used on him.
“I don’t like this game, Edina, and you know it,” he growled.
He was scared, in fact, he, a muscular man of over six feet tall, who had brought down huge stags, was absolutely petrified, and he desperately wanted to be away from this high and horrible place. As well as that, he was afraid of this small woman, not because she was a physical threat, but because of what her brain had worked out. He was an utter coward.
“Yes. I know,” Edina said firmly. “I know that your name is Aidan Findlay, who never went away to sea. You cannot hide it from me any longer.”
She looked up into his terrified face and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his lips softly. His light-brown eyes were dark with anger or fear or both, and she could see him trembling involuntarily.
Granted, it was a cold night, but Edina knew that his shivering was not because of the freezing wind, but because of shock. She reached up and cupped his face in both her hands so that she could force him to look at her.
“Lewis loved sweet things, yet you do not,” Edina began. “Lewis hated black pudding, yet the cook says you cannot get enough of it. Lewis did not like hunting big game, yet you do. Lewis was never terrified of heights, yet you are. Lewis was loyal to his favourite animals, but you are not.
Why do you not just admit it? The idea has been creeping up on me ever since I came back, but I was not certain of it till now. Coming up here was the only way I could think of to be absolutely sure, and now I am. You cannot pretend any more, Aidan, but your secret is safe with me. I swear I will never tell anyone.”
She watched his face change to an expression of utter panic before he shook his head vehemently.
“No!” Lewis cried. “You are imagining things, Edina. You have been going around the castle asking people all kinds of things and drawing the wrong conclusions. I miss my brother dreadfully, but I do not tell myself lies about him.
He is an imperfect person, just as I am, and just as everyone else is, but please do not spread these lies. I am not Aidan, and Aidan is not me. All these differences you mention, people change and grow, they become different. You can just admit that you don’t like the person you see, Edina. I’m not the same boy you used to look at fondly. Maybe you should grow up, eventually, and stop acting like a wee lass.”
He took her by her upper arms and pushed her away from him, then turned and walked away a little, needing to put some distance between them.
Edina asked mildly, “Was it Lewis who sailed away three years ago? Where is Lewis now? Let me tell you something, Aidan. I tried to tell you this when I found out, but you were too busy to speak to me, then I reconsidered. I wanted to be sure of your identity, but now I am.
I met some sailors a few days ago, and they told me a fleet of ships is coming from the continent bringing cargo to offload at Dundee. One of them is the Fair Queen, which you told me is Aidan’s ship. If you are not lying about everything, we will see your brother again very soon.”
