Page 80 of Blood & Claw

“You are … unsettling, lass.”

Dale’s voice, low and guarded, shattered the hush.

Pulse lurching, Ailsa turned to face him.

Dale watched her from the furs. He had that penetrating look again, one that made her feel exposed. He also drummed his fingers impatiently on the wooden rim that surrounded the sleeping nook. Indeed, the man was on edge tonight.

“I know,” she whispered.

You’ve never been right.

“Aye, you’re a beauty.” The compliment was spoken without a trace of flattery in his tone. It unbalanced her, but he wasn’t finished yet. “Sometimes, I find it hard not to stare at you.” Ailsa stiffened at that, yet he pressed on. “But there’s an otherworldly quality about you … as if you were made from moonlight and Shee magic.”

She snorted, even as queasiness rose. “Now you’re talking nonsense.”

He favored her with a tight smile. “Aye … maybe.”

An awkward pause followed before Ailsa cut her attention to the flickering fire. Her chest started to ache then. A familiar pain. “All my life, I’ve just wanted to be like everyone else,” she admitted. “But I’m not. Even as a bairn, I was strange … different. I was bullied for it too. I’m as tall as a pine and as pale as a corpse. My eyes are dark pits, and my lips are redder than a bawd’s.” She flexed her fingers then. “And these … make me shudder.”

She paused. Gods. There was so much more to say, so much more that was wrong with her. But she swallowed all of it.

She glanced at him then, to find him still watching her. He wasn’t smiling now though. “You think I’m a freak, don’t you?”

He flinched, his big body stiffening. “I—”

“No,” she cut him off. “Eyes don’t lie, Dale.”

He stared back at her for a long moment. And then, to her surprise, he rolled out of the furs, rising to his full height and stepping up before her.

And even though Ailsa was tall, he was much taller, and she had to crane her neck to meet his gaze.

“You read things wrong,” he said quietly. “And if you thought that was what I was insinuating, I apologize.”

She tensed, searching for the lie in his voice. There was none. She took Kayla’s advice then, trusting her gut. It told her his words were sincere.

Ailsa cleared her throat. “There are folk in Braewall who whisper” —she hesitated, then forced the words out— “that I’m so strange I must be a changeling. Maybe I am.”

He pulled a face. “That’s just people being cruel.”

“But what if they’re right?”

What if Kayla looks at me and doesn’t know what I am either?

The urge to spill her guts to him barreled into her. She carried such a weight these days; it was starting to crush her.

But no, she couldn’t bring herself to.

Some things were just too awful to say out loud.

And it was Kayla she needed right now. Her mentor knew things. She’d be able to make sense of these changes. Somehow, she’d be able to put things right.

Unbidden, tears welled in her eyes.

Dale made a noise in the back of his throat. “Ach. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You haven’t,” she managed. “It’s me. It’s always been me.”

To her surprise, he stepped forward, bridging the remaining gap between them.