Dread settling in his gut at the angry expression on Sydney’s face, Raudrich carefully closed the door to the sitting room and approached his friend.

“I know ye are angry with me, but at least give me a hug. I’ve missed ye, lass.”

She stood with her arms crossed by the fire and stepped away as he reached for her.

“Don’t touch me. Why did you ignore my letters? Why didn’t you tell me about any of this? I’ve been worried about you for months, Raudrich. Do you know what I’m going to have to deal with when I get home? Callum is going to be furious with me. I knew he’d never let me leave to go looking for you if I told him. So I wrote to his brother and snuck off with him. I’ve made certain that Callum knew we were safe, but still…he won’t be pleased. I’ve put my life on hold for you, and you’re not even in danger, are you? You just…you just what? Decided to cut me out of your life? That’s not how this works, Raudrich. You don’t get to ghost me. We’re not dating, you bloody imbecile.”

Seeing that she needed to vent, Raudrich calmly took a seat by the fire and listened as she continued to scream at him.

“Is it that woman you were kissing? Is that it? You found yourself a girlfriend and decided you didn’t need friends anymore? Is she the one who made you stop responding to my letters? How did I not know you were one of The Eight? Why didn’t you tell me?”

The longer she screamed, the less angry she sounded. Slowly, her anger turned to tears. The moment she began to cry, Raudrich stood and moved to wrap his arms around her.

“Ach, Sydney, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I dinna mean to hurt or worry ye. ’Twas my pride that kept me from writing to ye. I dinna wish for ye to know the truth. I worried it would change how ye saw me, and there is none in the world that have such a high opinion of me as ye do.”

She sniffled, and he tried not to grimace as she shamelessly wiped her nose on his shirt.

“What are you talking about?”

“Sit down and let me explain everything to ye.”

With some coaxing, Sydney took her seat by the fire. Slowly, he told her everything—the reason he couldn’t risk writing to her about The Eight and why he stopped writing to her because of his eyesight. When he finished, he couldn’t help but ask her the one question on his mind.

“Why did ye come here, lass? Even if ye were worried, even if ye were mad, it still doesna explain why ye are here. Not when Silva must’ve told ye some of what she knew when ye arrived in Allen territory.”

“You’re right. I came here for Silva’s sake. Obviously, I understand why you left in such a hurry now that you’ve explained everything, but you left her with a mess to clean up–one she never asked for. She doesn’t want to be laird, Raudrich. She’s still grieving the death of her husband. Allen territory wasn’t even her home until a few years ago. She’s miserable, and you gave her no choice before you left. You’re going to fix this for her.”

Such news surprised him. Silva was so strong, so capable. Despite the fact that his decision had been made in haste, he’d truly believed it the right one. Had he truly not even asked the lass if she was willing to be laird? If not, he owed her a great apology.

“I dinna know.”

Sydney nodded and reached over to pat his hand.

“I know. So, that’s what I’m going to tell Callum about why I came all this way, but the real reason is that I just really missed you, Raudrich. I wanted to see you. I wanted to see your home and make sure that you were okay. Are you okay? Are you happy?”

Happy was something he’d never placed much importance on, but for the first time in a very long time, happy did at least seem possible.

“I believe that I could be.”

Sydney wiggled her eyebrows knowingly at him, and he laughed at how silly she looked.

“It’s the girl, huh? She’s very pretty. Although, she’s quite shy, isn’t she? I haven’t heard her say a word.”

He’d never seen anything in Laurel that made him believe she was shy.

“None of us gave her a chance to speak, did we? Ye’ll like her. She’s one of Morna’s lassies, same as ye.”

“Ah. I thought she looked, I don’t know, out of time somehow. So…do you love her?”

“In truth, she’s little more than a stranger to me still, but I do think that I could.”

Sydney smiled and looked at him knowingly.

“If Morna sent her, you know you don’t really have much of a choice right? Her matches always work out. I should know. Might as well not fight it or try to slow it down for manners’ sake. If you feel it—which, from that slaphappy smile on your face, you do—just give in. You’ll wind up in the same place either way. You may as well make the journey a little easier on yourself.”

He suspected that Sydney was right, but he’d not say anything like that to Laurel just yet. The last thing he wanted to do was push her away by coming on too strongly.

“I doona doubt any of that, lass.”

“Where’s she at now?”

He could scarcely breathe each time he thought of it.

“In my bed.”

Sydney’s mouth fell open as she jumped up from the chair and moved to pull him to his feet.

“Then, what are you doing sitting around talking to me? We’ve got the daytime for that mess. Go and tend to your woman. Bed her well. Help her touch the heavens. Rock her world. Make her toes curl. You can totally do it.”

Raudrich laughed at Sydney’s bawdy remarks.

“Ach, lass, I’m sure that Pinkie dinna know what to do with ye. Ye do say the strangest things.”

“It’s what we out-of-time lassies do, Raudrich. If I were you, I’d get used to it. I suspect you’ll be hearing it for a very long time.”