Seeing her now, laughing at one of Ludo’s very unfunny jokes, her blue eyes twinkling in the candlelight, he knew one thing with certainty: he wasn’t the one with unwell eyes, Calder was as blind as a bat.

Raudrich already knew he thought her beautiful, but with his sight fully restored, Laurel truly did take his breath away.

She seemed to be having a similar effect on Maddock, and Raudrich didn’t care for it at all. The man stared at her with doe-like eyes as he laughed and smiled right along with her. For a group of men who were supposedly so weak from using their magic on him, not a one of them was having a problem conversing with her.

He and Marcus seemed to be the only one’s not enjoying dinner with the same joyous abandon as the rest of them. They sat awkwardly next to one another, neither of them saying a word until Marcus finally leaned over to speak halfway through dinner.

“Uh…I suppose it’s time that I introduce myself to you. I’m Marcus.”

Raudrich gladly took the man’s hand. He needed a distraction from watching the other men fawn all over Laurel.

“Raudrich. I am sorry I was not here to greet the two of ye when ye arrived.”

Marcus snorted and withdrew his hand.

“I’m sorry you weren’t here, too. If you had been, I wouldn’t have had reason to punch you in the nose. By the way, I really am sorry about that. I mean, if it had been how it appeared, I wouldn’t be sorry at all, but seeing that it wasn’t, I do regret breaking your nose.”

Raudrich pointed to his nose and smiled. “No worries, lad. As ye can see, ’tis fixed well enough now.”

Marcus nodded. “Good. I’m glad there are no hard feelings.”

“None at all. Ye were right to defend Laurel in such a way.” He looked across the table and glared as Maddock reached out to touch Laurel’s hand as he spoke to her. “I can assure ye, I would do the same if I saw anyone place an unwanted hand on her.”

He was tempted to smash Maddock’s nose in right this second.

Marcus followed his gaze and laughed.

“She’s oblivious to it, you know. She knows so much about love in her writing and so little about it in real life. I’ve watched grown men trip over themselves trying to get her attention, and she doesn’t notice.”

Marcus’ insight into Laurel was enough to pull his attention away from the soon-to-be-sorry Maddock.

“Love in her writing? Does she write poetry?”

“No. She writes romance novels.”

He’d never heard of such a thing.

“Romance novels?”

Understanding moved across Marcus’ face as he lowered his voice.

“Did Laurel tell you…do you know where or more precisely, when we are from?”

Raudrich responded in kind by leaning closer to Marcus. None of the other men knew.

“Aye, lad, I know all about Morna and her penchant for sending lassies through time.”

“Good. Anyway, I’m pretty certain romance novels don’t exist in this time. It will take quite a long time before women start really owning their sexuality.”

Raudrich liked the sound of that very much. He thought perhaps he would like the future.

When he said nothing, Marcus continued.

“She writes love stories. You know, stories about men and women falling in love.”

“But ye say that she knows little of this herself?”

The man snorted again. He wondered if perhaps it was a nervous habit, although nothing about the way the man held himself indicated that he was intimidated, and he’d certainly not behaved that way last night

“Laurel? God, no. She dates because her sister forces her to, but I’ve never known Laurel to be with a man for more than a few months. She’s very distrusting of men, and she’s a bit of a heartbreaker, but like I said, she doesn’t see it. I’d say nearly all of the men she’s ever dated have fallen for her by date three. But as soon as she sees them start to invest, she flees. I know her better than anyone, and I’ve never been able to determine exactly why.”

Each new thing he learned about her made him even more curious to get to know her. It was time for their dinner to come to an end.

Standing, he pushed back from the table and addressed the group.

“It has been a long day for us all. If everyone is finished, I believe it best we all find our way to bed.”

Even as riveted as the men seemed to be in their conversation, all of them agreed that they were indeed tired. As the men stood, he winked at Laurel to acknowledge their upcoming meeting.

Turning, he left to head for the castle’s highest tower where he could watch for Nicol’s nightly exit.

---

Try as I might to convince Maddock that it really would be fine for me to bunk with Marcus, my new friend wouldn’t hear of it. So, rather than wait on the stairs like I promised Raudrich I would do, I was forced to follow Maddock up to his bedchamber, while he chatted away about why this was the best solution for everyone.

“I promise ye, lass, ’tis no trouble at all. I willna place ye in Calder’s room on the off chance that he might return, but I’ve no problem confronting him if he does, so I will stay in there. Even more, my bedchamber is one of only two that has a lock that ye may bolt from the inside. I’ve been known to walk about in my sleep, ye see. So I lock it before bed to keep myself inside. Doona want to go tumbling down the stairs in the night, aye?”

While I appreciated his kindness, it was ridiculous for so many people to be unsettled due to our invasive arrival into their lives. Marcus and I had shared rooms on countless trips and sleepovers.

“Maddock, I truly do appreciate your thoughtfulness, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I woke to hear that you’d walked out of Calder’s room in the middle of the night and broken your leg by doing what you just told me you feared.”

Just as we turned the corner down the long corridor leading to Maddock’s bedchamber, Raudrich appeared from a set of stairs to my right. He stopped short when he saw us and slowly glanced back and forth between us.

“What are ye doing, Maddock?”

I couldn’t understand the frustrated glint in Raudrich’s eyes.

“I’m seeing Laurel to my bedchamber.”

Frustration turned to anger in a flash, and before I knew it, Raudrich had stepped between us as he shoved Maddock with one hand and grabbed my arm with another.

“Like hell ye are, Maddock.”

Raudrich turned his angry eyes on me, and I pulled out of his grasp as he spoke.

“Lass, I know Maddock can be verra convincing with his words, but ye doona want to do this. Ye barely know him. He is not the man for ye.”

Maddock burst into laughter.

“Careful, Raudrich, yer envy is showing. I wasna leading her to my bedchamber to bed her, ye daft fool. I thought mayhap since my room has a lock, she could stay there while I move to Calder’s. Laurel and I shall be bonny friends, I’m sure of it, but I doona think we shall ever be more. Right, lass?”

A blush blossomed underneath Raudrich’s rather tan and weathered skin, and I couldn’t help but grin at how boyish he looked when embarrassed. It made me feel better about the idiotic compliment I’d given him earlier.

I nodded emphatically. I liked Maddock immensely, but I wasn’t interested in him in the least.

“Right. All the same though, as I was saying to you before, I don’t need to stay in your room. I’ll stay with Marcus.”

“No.” Raudrich recovered quickly from his embarrassment and turned to look me straight on.

“Ye willna stay with Marcus, nor will ye stay in Maddock’s room, for Maddock will kill himself traipsing around in the night if he isna locked up inside. Ye will stay in my room for ’tis the nicest and is precisely where a lady like ye should be. I’ll put a bolt on it before bed. I shall move to Calder’s room.”

I had rather liked Raudrich’s room a lot.

“Okay, great. Thanks anyway, Maddock. Now, let me go and tell Marcus where I’ll be staying. I’ll meet up with you in a bit.”

I turned and left both men to finish their arguing alone.