Page 118 of Hollow Court

It took me several long moments before I finally did the same.

* * *

I hadto practically sprint from one appointment to the next for the rest of the day. Sleeping in had thrown off my schedule just enough that everything turned into a mad dash.

My father had made my excuses for being late to the morning hunt with the local lairds, but he didn’t seem concerned about my tardiness.

At least I finally garnered something useful at the hunt. For all Laird Campbell was pretending to be on our side, the information Galina had leaked to his wife was the first to make its way to Tavish.

But Laird Campbell had no discernible ties to the rebellion, either. Certainly not the Uprising. Not that I could link anyone definitively to the Uprising.

That was the problem. They were smoke and mirrors, a rebellion that was everywhere and nowhere with a leader that may or may not have been made up, for all the information I could find.

Even the barman who had warned me in Hagail had mysteriously disappeared, though rumors reported corpses with black veins being burned in the tunnels.

It made me wonder, briefly, if Tavish actually had ties to the rebels.

Had I misread him? Had he only been taunting me? Was I letting my reluctance to part with Lithlinglau and my general dislike of the Andersons cloud my judgment?

I pictured his face when he had come bursting into the healer’s house. There had to be something there.

And if he wasn’t spearheading this damned rebellion, who was?

Of course, in the spirit of information traveling, my father was already well aware that I had spent my night in Galina’s company, a fact he looked far too giddy about.

I didn’t have the heart to explain to him that… Well, I wasn’t sure what there was to explain. Nothing had happened. It felt like something had shifted, but I wasn’t sure what.

Certainly, none of our issues had magically disappeared.

I reminded myself of that fact no less than twenty times over the course of the hunt, when my mind drifted back to the way she fit so perfectly against me. How soundly I had been sleeping surrounded by her lavender and rosemary scent.

And again over scotch and cigars with the lairds before dinner.

I was grateful when the lairds finally filed out of the room, heading down to meet their wives for dinner. The forced grin fell from my face, and I massaged my cheeks, prepping to play these games all over again just as soon as we joined them downstairs.

Before I could leave, though, my father closed the door to the smoke room and poured us both another finger of whiskey.

“So…” He drew the word out. “About Galina.”

My eyebrows darted up to my hairline as I took a long inhale from my cigar, the taste of cinnamon and wood smoke filling my lungs before I blew it out into a ring in front of me.

“Da’, if you think now is a good time forthe talk, I hate to inform you that you’re several years late. But if you would like any pointers, as long as we pretend we’re not discussing Mamá, I’d be happy to—”

“No, you daft child.” He narrowed his eyes at me, but a grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I think by now we are both well aware of the experience you have in that particular area. The entire kingdom is fairly aware, in fact.”

I shrugged, wondering where in the hell he was headed with this.

“I was more wondering how things—outside of that area—are going,” he said, taking a sip from his glass.

I chuckled, the sound coming out more bitter than I meant it to. “I can assure you, Father, that they’re not going. Not in any area.”

He shook his head and took a long puff of his cigar, holding the smoke in his lungs before letting it billow out between us.

“Have you talked to her about it?” he pressed.

I was about to give him a glib answer, but his pointed glare told me that he was being serious. Sighing, I set down my cigar and leaned back in my chair.

“We have talked, yes,” I acknowledged. “And she made her feelings on the matter very clear.”