Chapter 5
Leanna felt like singing—notthat she would, she had a horrible singing voice—as she led Kenneth to the entrance behind the hearth in the kitchens. But something was zipping through her veins much faster than she’d experienced before. As it was, she felt as if her entire body was vibrating with excitement, what with the hushed whispers and tiptoeing and the secret smiles.
Mayhap ‘twas just her heart which felt like singing.
Or perhaps this was what Aunt Marie had felt when her chest had gotten tight, and she’d had to lie down for so long, and the healer told her she had a weak heart. Oh well, if ‘twas an illness of some sort, at least Leanna would die happy, with Kenneth’s hand in hers.
She’d always believed in love, but the idea that you could look at someone and just know…that was a new sensation, and she decided she absolutely liked it.
Loved it.
Just as she loved him.
“Dinnae bother with the flint,” he murmured to her as she handed him the second candle. “I have one.”
Nodding to show she understood, Leanna ducked into the first of the hidden passageways, waiting for him to follow before she allowed the door to close. Some of the doors opened inward, some outward, and some were well-hidden, while others weren’t. A few were jammed shut, and some could be locked from one direction or the other.
Once he was in the passage, she grinned as they slowly straightened, him with his hand above his head in case the ceiling was low. It wasn’t, but she understood the concern.
“I ken ‘tis a bit cramped here, but ‘tis just this level.” She led him down the left passage. “The ancient masons built these narrow tunnels behind the walls, aye? But up above, some of the passages were added on during renovations, or are just forgotten spaces between walls.”
“Really? And ye’ve explored them all, have ye?”
Was he doubting her?
“Of course? Do ye think I could resist the allure of something as exciting as secret passages?”
He hummed as the light from his candle cast the shadow of her head onto the wall in front of her. “Kenning ye, ‘twas too much adventure to be found here for ye to ignore.”
Shooting a smile at him over her shoulder, she lifted her own candle higher. “I love that ye understand me. Here’s the steps leading up to the next level. ‘Tis where all the passages really begin to branch out.” As they climbed, she explained, “There’s several entrances from the great hall, and Da says in his da’s day, these stairs were used as a secondary route to the kitchens for the servants.”
“I can imagine that. In my home, the kitchen is on the same level as the great hall, thanks to the slope of the ground, and it’s less of an annoyance to serve the food. Here, there’s only the small staircase, and with the fruit dropping all over the place…”
Giggling, she made a note of the fact he apparently lived in a castle. Was he sworn to a powerful laird? Where was his home? Surely not on Bruce land, or Campbell or Stewart or—
Well, there wasn’t a clan called Smith, so that name was surely just as false.
They reached the larger space behind the wall of the great hall, and he was able to move up beside her, switching his candle to his other hand. “Judging from the amount of cobwebs, these passages arenae used any longer.”
“Occasionally they can be— Och, watch yer step.” She lowered her candle, so the light illuminated the pile of dung on the floor, which she carefully stepped around.
He sounded just a bit horrified when he asked, “What made that, and will we meet it?”
There was the sound of steel rattling as he dropped his hand to the hilt of his sword.
“Unlikely,” she chuckled. “’Twas so auld, it had ceased to smell. Did ye notice? Bill likely made that last winter when Mother allowed him to roam.”
He was silent for a long moment as they walked, and Leanna began to count.
She’d reached seventeen when he asked, in a voice entirely too nonchalant, “Bill?”
“Bill the Ass,” she replied immediately, grinning hugely as she turned right at an intersection.
“Bill the—”
“Ass!” She finished cheerfully. “Surely ye noticed the donkey wandering in the great hall.”
“I…did. I thought mayhap ‘twas a beast of burden.”