Lisa rose swiftly.
He held out the flask.
“You brought it,” she whispered.
“I told you I would. I should have done so before now. I knew you wanted it. I saw the look on your face when we were riding from Dunnottar and you glimpsed it in my pack.”
“You can read me so easily?”
“Not always. Sometimes I can’t read you at all, but that night I could. You’d been crying—”
“I was not. I almost never cry. I only cried now because I’m so frustrated.”
“My apologies—it had been raining,” he corrected swiftly, protecting her pride. His heart was touched: She was embarrassed by her tears. There was no shame in weeping. He’d seen her cheeks wet with tears several nights on their journey, but they’d been quiet tears, and he’d assumed it was part of her acceptance of her transition, never suspecting she was grieving over her mother. He was amazed that she hadn’t wept openly before now But she was resilient and tough, and that gave him hope that she would recover in time.
“That night it was raining,” she agreed. “Go on.”
“You glimpsed the flask as I removed an extra plaid. To protect you from the rain,” he teased, hoping to lighten her grim mood.
She arched a brow, but her eyes were sad, filled with unshed tears.
He sighed and continued. “And I saw the hope in your eyes—a hope that centered upon my flask. I knew it couldn’t return you, so I dismissed the thought, but I should have realized that you would need to prove to yourself that it wouldn’t work,” he said gently.
“Give it to me,” she demanded.
He dreaded this, dreaded the moment when he would see in her lovely green eyes stark certainty that she could never return. He proffered the shimmering silver flask in silence.
She reached for it. “How does it work?” she whispered.
“It doesn’t,” he whispered back. “You only think it does.”
Her fingers closed on the flask. He watched as she wrapped her hand reverently around it. Wrapped both hands around it, did something funny with her feet, and closed her eyes. She muttered softly.
“What are you saying?”
“There’s no place like home.” The words were half mumbled but painfully clear to his ears. He winced. Aye, there was no place like home, he agreed silently, and he would do his best to make this feel like home to her, since he was the one who’d uprooted her with his thoughtless curse. “I am verra sorry, lass,” he said softly, his brogue thickened by emotion.
She didn’t open her eyes, refused to move. Finally she crossed to the bed and lowered herself on it, tightly holding the flask. She looked as if she was mentally reciting every prayer or rhyme she’d ever learned. After a long time, she rose and stood by the fire.
She stood like that, frozen, clutching the flask, for so long he finally sank into a chair beside her. How much time passed, he had no idea, but he would not move an inch until she accepted it, and then he would be there to wrap her in the shelter of his body.
Full night had descended when she finally stirred, the dinner hour long past. Her hair shimmered in the firelight, her face was ashen, and her lashes were dark fans against her pale skin. He cursed when a tear slipped down her cheek.
When she finally opened her eyes he saw pain in the brilliant green depths. Denial and acceptance warred on her expressive features—acceptance the brutal victor. She had held the flask, she had performed whatever ritual she believed in, and she had experienced incontestable defeat.
“It didn’t work,” she said in a small voice.
“Och, lass,” he said with a sigh, helpless to alleviate her suffering.
She began to fiddle with the stopper on the flask.
“What are you doing?” he thundered, half rising from the chair, ready to rip the flask from her hand.
“Perhaps if I drink this?” she said hesitantly.
“Never, lass,” he said, his olive complexion paling. “Trust me, you doona wish to do something so foolish.”
“What’s in it?” she gasped, clearly stricken by his reaction.
“Lisa, what is in that flask would not only fail to return you to your home, it would be the purest glimpse of hell for you. I would not lie to you. It is a poison of the vilest origin.”
He didn’t need to say more to convince her. He could see her acceptance that not only wouldn’t it take her home, it might kill her—or make her wish she were dead. He understood that Lisa, as sensible as she was, had now acknowledged that she’d been clinging to an impossible hope and would not do so again. If he said it wouldn’t work, that was enough. By trusting her, he had gained her trust.