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Elizabeth knew what she was getting herself into.
    â€œWhat do you mean you’re not coming with us?”
    â€œI’m going to court. Father and Uncle Walter made certain you and Ravenna both had the privilege. Now it’s my turn. I’m eighteen. You can’t deny me that. I’ve lived in Scotland for the past three years. I’ve done as you’ve asked. Ruairi will be my chaperone. I’ve had the entire journey to England to think about it.”
    Fagan leaned his arm on the table. “Elizabeth, court is nay place for a lady. There are dangers that—”
    â€œAnd that’s why I’ll have you along to protect me.” Elizabeth met Grace’s eyes without flinching. “You and Ravenna chose to live in Scotland, but I’m not sure living in the Scottish Highlands or on Sutherland lands for the rest of my days should be my fate. While we’re in England, I want to mingle with peers of the realm. Perhaps I’ll even find a suitor. How can you deny me a chance when you met Lord Casterbrook at court? If anyone would understand, I thought it would be you.”
    Ian exchanged a knowing look with Fagan. Casterbrook was dead, but Elizabeth knew nothing of her family’s history or their secrets of spy craft. What the lass was asking was nothing more than a foolish endeavor. He reminded himself that she was only eighteen and didn’t know any better. But Fagan was right. Court was no place for Elizabeth. He’d tried to tell her that before.
    As Ian waited for Grace to put an end to her sister’s madness, he dropped his spoon onto the table when he heard Grace’s surprising words.
    â€œI don’t necessarily agree, but yes, you should go to court.”

Four
    Elizabeth wasn’t proud to admit it, but she’d taken the coward’s way out and successfully avoided her family, lingering in the parlor for a few hours. When she grew tired of that, she ambled along the paths in the gardens. Of course, she’d counted on Grace telling Ravenna about the little declaration she’d made at the morning meal, but Elizabeth wasn’t ready to confront both her sisters so soon. She’d learned long ago that Ravenna and Grace were easier to address each individually.
    But now, Elizabeth was trapped.
    She sat behind the closed doors of her father’s study, but this time she wasn’t sleeping in his chair and didn’t have Ian’s “water of life” to dull her senses. To her dismay, she was facing Ravenna and was flanked by Grace. When the feeling that she was a small girl getting scolded in her father’s study washed over her, she reminded herself that she was no longer a child. She was a woman, and she had every right to speak her mind to her sisters, who also never minded their own tongues.
    Ravenna leaned back in the chair behind the desk and picked an imaginary piece of lint from her purple day dress. But when she cast Elizabeth the kind of smile that was surely to be the calm before the raging storm, Elizabeth knew better than to think she was safe from her sister’s wrath. Ravenna always had a way of showing her disapproval without even speaking a single word.
    â€œI know why I’m here. Can you stop delaying the inevitable and say what you need to say?”
    â€œThis decision was rather sudden. Wouldn’t you agree?” asked Ravenna.
    â€œI’ve thought about it the entire journey home.”
    â€œCourt can be a very dangerous place for a girl who knows nothing about it.”
    â€œAnd that’s why I’ll have your husband along as my chaperone.”
    Grace cleared her throat. “Fagan and Laird Munro will also be accompanying her, Ravenna. Fagan would never let anything happen to our sister because he knows he’d have to deal with me. Furthermore, you’ve seen Laird Munro. The beastly man would frighten away anyone who’d even think about causing her harm, not that