He stood in front of the door to Agnes’s chamber for a long while, unmoving.Why did she return?Alistair had imagined Ember coming back to him too many times to count. Now that she was here, real, he was stricken with doubt. Tugging his hands through his dark curls, Alistair resisted the urge to unlock the door and take Ember from her sister so he could demand the answers he wanted.But Agnes was the reason Ember was here. It had to be. As much as Alistair coveted the thought that Ember came to him, it was the letter that had brought her to Tearmunn.And yet. And yet.Ember had gone to Château de Lusignan, as Alistair had asked. She’d returned to Tearmunn and had given testament to those gathered in the armory that her decision to leave had been misguided.And she’d come alone.Where are the others?To hope for even a moment that Ember had come back to him and not simply for Agnes’s sake seemed too great a risk. Forcing himself away from the door, though unconvinced he’d accomplish anything else of worth that day due to the distraction of his mind, Alistair returned to the manor’s ground floor.When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was surprised to find Bosque waiting for him.“Would you be inclined toward a hunt, Lord Hart?”
