Page 71 of The Scot

Chapter 29

“Roysa.”

She dreamed of Terric calling to her from beneath the ramparts. Roysa stood with her sister and Cait, looking down and trying to find him, but she could not see him anywhere.

“Roysa.”

His voice was getting louder, too loud for him to be below her. It tickled her ear, and surely that was his hand on her shoulder . . .

“Wake up.”

It was no dream.

Roysa’s eyes flew open, adjusting to the candlelight. Was she still asleep? Surely her eyes were deceiving her.

“Terric?”

She sat up as if she’d not been in a deep slumber just moments before.

“Terric!” Roysa threw her arms around him, squeezing to assure herself he was real. “You’re alive.”

She needed to understand how he had come to be here, how he had survived, but she wouldn’t let go to allow him to explain. He held her as tightly as she held him.

Afraid this really might be a dream, though it seemed very, very real, she asked, “Are you really here?”

“Aye,” he murmured into her ear, “I am here. I am alive.”

Her chest exploded and her hands began to shake. She clung to his tunic, tears coming quickly and freely. Cait had been right. Somehow, unbelievably, he had survived. And he was here. In her bed.

“Shhhh.” His voice was the most pleasant sound Roysa had ever heard in her life.

She pushed him back then, needing to see his face. It appeared . . . unharmed, although her tears had rendered it quite blurry. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. “You are alive.”

His thumb assisted in the task, tenderly brushing against her lashes as Roysa closed her eyes and let him brush away the remainder of her tears. “Very much so, it seems.”

Roysa didn’t understand what he meant at first. When she did, her eyes flew to his. She’d thought of their interlude so many times. Every time her mind wandered back to that dark place Idalia and Cait had pulled her from, she thought instead of Terric’s lips. His hands and fingers and what he’d done to her. She willed herself to believe it would happen again.

And now, he was here.

“Your sister and brother . . .”

“I just left them.”

Roysa cupped his face. His strong, handsome, noble face.

“Terric . . .”

She wanted to tell him she loved him, that she’d been worried sick. But when he put his hands over hers, something stopped her. Roysa saw relief in his eyes, and maybe even love, but something else flickered in his gaze. Could it be regret?

“What happened?” she said instead. “And how have you already seen Rory and Cait?”

“Gilbert spotted me and woke them before I even entered the hall.”

“And Lance?”

“Rory is telling him now. I will speak to him after I leave your chamber.”

Pulling her hands from his face, Roysa pushed away the coverlet and sat so close to Terric she was nearly on his lap. She needed to touch him still. To assure herself he was very much real.