Page 117 of Highland Spy

Percy’s brow furrowed for the briefest of moments. “You’ll be joining them then?”

He shook his head. “I’ll be going back to Urquhart and bringing the man Sylvi and Delilah found with me. I believe he’s from that area.” He offered no more information on it, and knew she would not question it. “I dinna know how long I’ll be gone.”

“Then I’ll ensure I get enough for Ariana as well.” She turned to go.

“Ariana willna be coming,” Connor said.

Percy spun back around. “She’s the only one of us strong enough to go. Liv is only just recovered and Isabel hasn’t had any training.”

He did not answer at first. He didn’t want to, not when he knew how she would take his answer.

But she already knew.

Her hands wrung together, and he regretted the words before he spoke them: “I’m going alone.”

She jerked back as if she’d been slapped. “You know how dangerous it is to go alone.” She shook her head. “You can’t. I won’t allow it.”

It wasn’t ferocity sparking in her words, but fear.

“Ye dinna have a say.” He spoke harsh enough to echo in the narrow hallway, but gentle Percy did not so much as flinch.

“No,” she said. “But I have experience.” Tears shone in her eyes, turning the soft blue brilliant. She pressed a hand over her chest where a blade had once barely missed her heart. The pale line of a silvery scar peeked over the neckline of her plain pink dress.

Percy, who had always been so acquiescent and understanding, now stood before him with her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “You swore we would never go out alone after that day.”

Guilt tore into him. “I dinna mean myself.”

“And what of us?” Percy said in a harsh whisper. “What if you go and you don’t come back? Where will this band of cast-aside women find refuge? We have no home but here. We have no skills but those you’ve given us. We have nothing to sustain a true life.”

She took a deep breath and placed a hand on his arm. Her touch was light and soothing, the way it always was. “We care for you too much to lose you, Connor. Please take Ariana with you.”

The words he needed to say stuck in his throat, but Percy was patient and waited with only her eyes imploring him to explain. “Ariana killed a man at Urquhart.”

Percy’s eyes softened and she breathed out a slow, painful exhalation. “Is she all right?”

“She wasna injured.”

“Then it’s all the more reason to bring her with you. Watch her, guide her as only you can.” Her head tilted and a lock of blonde hair fell over her shoulder. “I often wonder if I would have had the strength to continue as the other women have, if I’d gone out again soon after.”

Connor frowned. He’d been so sure giving in to Percy’s request to never go on another mission had been the right thing to do. Her doubt made him question his own long-ago decision.

“I don’t know for certain,” Percy said quickly, as if she knew how her words had twisted into his heart. “But there’s one way to find out. Take her with you.”

There was never any arguing with Percy. Her gentle insistence and large blue eyes were impossible to rage against.

Connor gave a heavy sigh and nodded. “Verra well. I’ll bring Ariana.”

And this time he swore to himself things would go differently.

• • •

Ariana made her way down the hall to Percy’s room for a few lockpicks to use in training Liv and Isabel. Instructing them had made Ariana realize how much she truly had learned since she’d arrived in Scotland.

How much she’d be able to use on her own when she was free.

The other women had listened with rapt attention to her instructions on preparing for a mission. What to expect, what to do when something bad happened. Certainly she knew too well how difficult it could be when bad things happened, but had avoided sharing the details of her last botched mission.

She tried not to think of the slow, sardonic smile Isabel had given at the mention of the round vial of poison.