Page 97 of Highland Ruse

“I lost ye when ye left for Edirdovar. I thought I lost ye forever in the forest when ye were struck.” He swallowed. “I canna lose ye again, Delilah.”

Her heart squeezed around his words and the depth of meaning behind them.

The inn came into view on the edge of town, nondescript and unnamed from the missing sign outside. Exactly where Sylvi had told Delilah to meet her.

Delilah gave a resigned nod to Kaid against her better judgment. But she knew from his determined stare toward the building, he would not be dissuaded.

Within minutes, Leasa, Donnan, and Torra were all secreted into a room through an unseen entrance near the rear of the inn, thanks to a well-placed coin. Kaid and Delilah remained in the main area of the inn.

A woman with a sapphire blue scarf over her head sauntered down the stairs with such an air of seduction, Delilah could not help but stare. The woman’s dress was a vibrant blue, and tiny charms jingled at her wrists and throat.

It wasn’t until she stopped before their table and regarded them with sky blue eyes beneath a layer of slanted kohl that Delilah recognized her.

Isabel.

The excited flutter of recognition quelled when Delilah’s fellow spy fixed her focus on Kaid.

“Who is this?” Isabel spoke in an accent as exotic and foreign as the gem glittering between her brows and the heavy spicy scent hovering around her.

Delilah rose to embrace Isabel, who refused to take her gaze from Kaid.

“I’ll explain when I speak to Sylvi,” Delilah said.

Isabel walked around them like a cat eyeing her prey. “She’ll not let you take him with you.”

Kaid rose to protest when a door opened and Sylvi appeared, wearing her customary men’s trews and loose leine along with a hard expression. She flicked a gaze toward Kaid and grinned, obviously assuming Delilah victorious.

Delilah’s heart went heavy and slid into her stomach. Though she’d tried many times to come up with a way to tell Sylvi, it all sounded so insufficient in her head. And it all resonated with the exact words Delilah had so dreaded to say.

She had failed.

“It’s not what you think.” Delilah spoke as soon as the door sealed her inside the room alone with Sylvi.

Sylvi raised a brow.

“I didn’t bring him to be punished. I—” The words stuck in Delilah’s throat.

The enormity of what she’d done slammed into her. She’d gone against her orders. She put Elizabeth, Liv, and Leasa at risk and destroyed the discretion of their entire assignment.

Delilah suddenly wished to be anywhere but there.

“Delilah.” Sylvi’s voice was sharp enough to cut through the fog of self-pity, something Delilah desperately needed.

“I went to Edirdovar,” Delilah said.

The skin around Sylvi’s eyes tightened. The cramped room had one lone window, which let in a slant of morning sun. It sliced into the dingy chamber and glowed against the blonde braids twisted back on Sylvi’s head. “Why did you go there?”

“I had to help the MacLeod clan achieve peace to ensure there would be no more massacre—”

“That was not what you’d been told to do.” Sylvi’s tone was tipped with an ice so cold, it frosted down Delilah’s spine.

She steeled herself against the disappointment resonating in Sylvi’s hard stare. “I know. I deviated from the plan, but I don’t think I’ve ruined—”

“Is Elizabeth at Edirdovar?” Sylvi asked.

Delilah nodded.

“And what did Laird MacKenzie say to you when Elizabeth arrived? Or was it you who came after her?” Sylvi’s mouth thinned.