Page 34 of Claimed By a Ruthless Scot
There was no one there.
She blinked once, certain she must be mistaken. Her gaze moved immediately to the left, but all she could see was an empty stone passage. Then, she looked to the right. It was also empty.
Her brows drew together in a puzzled frown. She took a cautious step forward, leaning slightly to peer farther down the hall as though a guard might simply be standing just out of sight. But no. The corridor lay quiet and undisturbed, lit only by the thin shafts of morning light slipping through the narrow windows.
“Well,that,” she murmured softly, “is unusual.”
Elaina stepped fully into the hall, closing the door gently behind her. For a moment she simply stood there, listening. There was no soldier trying and failing to pretend he was not observing her every movement.
She walked a few paces down the corridor, glancing again to either side. Still no guard.
“Well,” she mused thoughtfully, “it would seem that I have been granted a remarkable measure of trust by the laird.”
Her curiosity pricked sharply now, but she did not allow it to trouble her overmuch. The castle itself appeared perfectly normal. As she moved farther along the passage, she passed two soldiers stationed at the stairwell. They nodded respectfully as she approached.
“Good morning, me lady,” one of them said.
“Good morning,” Elaina replied with mild interest.
Neither man made the slightest move to follow her. Neither seemed particularly concerned that she was wandering the corridors unattended, which meant only one thing. Her personal shadow, the guard who had been posted at her door for days, was gone. Duncan had taken her words seriously and in turn, showed her that he trusted her. The very realization warmed her heart.
She descended the stairs slowly, waiting for the inevitable sound of hurried footsteps behind her. And still, none came.
By the time she reached the great doors of the castle, the faintest smile had begun to creep across her lips.
“Well,” she said quietly to herself, “it would be quite ungrateful nae tae appreciate such generosity.”
The morning air greeted her the moment she stepped outside, carrying with it the scent of damp earth and distant water. Elaina paused just beyond the threshold, lifting her face slightly as the breeze brushed across her cheeks.
Freedom, even in small portions, was intoxicating. Here, each moment she spent alone felt like something gently unfolding inside of her, a freedom she had almost forgotten how to hold. The silence was not watchful any longer, but rather kind, providing her with a space to breathe and to move without thought of consequence.
It settled over her shoulders like warmth long denied, and with every passing second, the memory of how tightly she had once been held, how carefully she had measured her every word and her every step, seemed a little more distant, as though that life belonged to someone else entirely.
Her gaze drifted toward the distant glimmer she had watched for days from her chamber window.
The loch.
From above it had appeared like a sheet of polished silver nestled among the hills, beautiful but distant, always just beyond reach. She had not neared it since her arrival here.
Elaina did not hesitate long. With the quiet decisiveness that often accompanied her most questionable decisions, she gathered her skirts slightly and set off along the path leading down the gentle slope away from the castle.
“Just a short walk,” she assured herself lightly. “Surely nay one can object tae a short walk.”
She walked as if she were not touching the ground at all, as if the freedom granted was far greater than the distance of a few miles. The path wound between patches of wild grass and scattered stones, the morning dew clinging stubbornly to the edges of her shoes. As she descended, the lake grew steadily larger and the still surface was reflecting the pale sky like a mirror.
Elaina slowed her steps, taking care over the uneven ground. Her attention was focused on the quiet beauty of the loch. Then the water moved in a long, smooth sweep across the glassy surface.
She stilled. There, some distance from the shore, a figure cut through the water with steady strokes. Elaina blinked in mild surprise.
The swimmer moved easily and powerfully, his shoulders rising and falling with each stroke as he moved farther out into the loch. Whoever he was, he was clearly accustomed to the cold waters.
Curiosity tugged at her immediately. Elaina stepped closer to the edge, brushing past a cluster of reeds so she could see more clearly. The morning light struck the water, scattering silver reflections that made the figure difficult to discern at first.
Still, something about the shape of him felt…familiar.
She tilted her head slightly, watching the swimmer as he turned and began making his way back toward the shore, though still angled away from where she stood. The silhouette had broad shoulders, and its dark hair was slicked back by the water. There was a powerful, unhurried rhythm to his movements.
Her breath caught. Her heart, quite traitorously, skipped.
