Free Seduced by the Laird (Conquered Brides Series Book 2) by Eliza Knight

bread and drink the wine. To some, missing supper might have seemed a punishment, but for her, it was a reprieve. And occasionally, an apple or pear would be placed on her pillow. Or, if Cook was in a pleasing mood, Kirstin could come and make a tart for dessert.
    As the ladle-wielding nuns grew closer, she could tell by the scent of the gruel that it was indeed mutton. She resigned herself, no matter how hungry she was, that she was not going to be eating more than bread this night.
    ’Twouldn’t be so bad, her stomach was already twisted up into knots from seeing Gregor, and eating was the last thing on her mind. The way she’d felt in his arms… Och, but if she’d not been afraid someone would come upon them, or that she’d be punished for being late to supper, she wouldn’t have raced off to the refectory. It had been like finding home after being lost for so many years. His warmth, his scent, the look in his eyes, the sound of his voice, all of it had been so welcoming and she’d wanted to grasp onto it forever, to hold tight and not let go. And yet, seeing him again brought back a host of painful memories she’d rather not traverse.
    What brief glimpse of happiness she’d had, disappeared from her life the moment she walked away from Castle Buchanan, and Gregor. What she’d come to have, and settle for, was a measure of quite peace and solitude. Devotion. A chance to rekindle her relationship with her sister, and to work on forgiving herself for her past transgressions.
    All of that was now being disrupted.
    By Gregor.
    This place. This mission.
    Why did Aunt Aileen have to send her here?
    Kirstin swallowed away her complaints and tried to find the good in it, tried to accept that she had a duty to the church, and that perhaps this was a test to her fortitude.
    The vat of mutton grew closer. Kirstin’s lower lip trembled—the kind of wobbling that happened right before the contents of one’s stomach reappeared.
    She put her hand over her bowl when the kitchen aid reached her part of the table, but received a hiss and an elbow from the nun beside her, “Remove your hand. We all eat the same thing here.”
    “She does not eat mutton,” Donna offered, trying to help.
    “We all eat what the good Lord has seen to feed us. We are his sheep, and he has provided for us.”
    Sheep … Did the woman mock her on purpose?
    “Nay—” Donna started, but Kirstin stilled her with a glance, and a soft touch to her forearm.
    “’Tis all right.” Kirstin obediently removed her hand and watched the grayish slop plop into her bowl, the smell, and sight, enough to make her throat constrict. She took a drink of her wine to keep from gagging aloud.
    Donna leaned close. “Ye dinna have to eat it, Kirstin.”
    Kirstin nodded. She didn’t plan on it.
    The meal was eaten in silence. She moved the mutton around her bowl, like men moved chess pieces on a board. The bread was dull, the wine duller, but her belly was full and her mind fuller.
    As the nuns finished eating in silence, each cleared their place, taking their bowls into the kitchen, and Kirstin followed suit with Donna beside her.
    “What does that warrior want with ye?” Donna whispered as they walked.
    “Nothing,” Kirstin said with a subtle shrug, hoping her nonchalance would bore Donna enough that she’d cease her questions.
    A hope that was misplaced given Donna’s extreme curiosity. “Ye know him. From the time ye came to the mainland?”
    Kirstin did not answer as memories assaulted her. Bonfires, laughter, dancing. Being in his arms.
    “Is he a relative?”
    “No relation.” Her voice had gotten hoarse. As much as she wanted to hide her emotion, Donna was tugging them free.
    “Hmm. He seems so familiar though, to call ye Kay. Surely only a relation—”
    “Stop reaching, Donna,” Kirstin snapped.
    Donna giggled. “But it’s the most intriguing thing I’ve encountered all year.”
    Her irritation evaporated. Donna meant no harm. She was