Page 81 of The Highlander Steals a Virgin
“Me faither used to say the loch chooses who finds it. That it’s a place for reckonin’ and where hearts speak louder than words. I come here when I need clarity… or peace.”
She looked at him, thoughtfully.
“But if ye found it, then maybe it wanted to be found,” he continued.
“Finding it the other day… it was the freest I’ve felt in years.”
Their eyes locked.
Neither of them moved.
“Ye speak offreedomlike someone who’s never kent it, and it makes me wonder just how cruel yer faither has been to ye,” he said at last.
“I… nay. He wasnaealwaysthis cruel. I’ve said before… ever since me maither,” she admitted.
“Aye, the feast.”
“Aye. The feast. It’s been… a very long while since I’ve felt such freedom.”
They stood in silence.
Then Rhys offered her his hand again. “Ready?”
She took it without question, and let him lead her past the glen and into a narrow ravine. He pointed out rock formations, half-buried ruins, and the foundations of what used to be an old signal tower that she hadn’t seen before.
Amara listened with genuine curiosity, asking questions, smiling when he made dry little jokes about failed clan projects and roofless longhouses.
He was smart. Not just in a tactical sense, but clever, and thoughtful. And he knew this land and his clan like it was stitched into his skin.
At one point, he stopped near a flat ledge overlooking a field of tall grass and tilted his head toward her.
“Ye were right, ye ken.”
“About what?”
“That plan ye suggested. Flanking from the northern ridge. Using the terrain.”
“Ye actually listened?”
“I always listen,” he said, voice quiet.
Amara’s lips parted, but nothing came out. Not for a long second.
Then she said, “So, what will ye do now? Now that ye’re nay longer attacking Murdoch Keep.”
He didn’t answer right away.
His jaw tensed slightly. “I’ll figure it out.”
“But ye now ken what ye will doifye ever choose to attack it,” she said softly. “And I’ve just helped ye do that.”
“Aye,” he said, his eyes raking over her entire body. “Ye did.”
He didn’t say thank you.
He didn’t need to.
His hand reached for hers instead.
