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It didn’t make sense. None of this made sense.

At least the babies were alive and looked healthy. They had been taken care of, which she supposed was better than the alternative. But it didn’t change the fact that they had been abandoned out here by someone.

“A good question I daenae have the answer to, wife,” Evander muttered, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of someone who could’ve left the babies here, but there was none.

Everyone had been so distracted with celebrating the Laird’s new wife that it was a perfect chance for someone to slip in with two little ones, leave them there, and slip off into the night, hopefully with some regret. These were two babies, after all.

“Husband.” Freya looked up, something cold settling under her ribs. It was a question she didn’t want to ask, but she felt like she had to ask in order to understand the situation she had found herself in. “If a former lover of yers has left ye a⁠—”

“Ye think me a lad who cannae control himself, wife?” he snapped.

The question wasn’t entirely unreasonable. Evander was a stranger to her. He seemed to be experienced enough to woo women and leave them. Freya would not be surprised to learn that he had broken many hearts in his time. But this was something different. Two bairns were here, weak and defenseless.

But the question came out sharper than anything he’d said to her, and the baby in his arms flinched at the sound, face crumpling toward a wail.

Evander’s expression softened instantly, the anger gone from it as quickly as it had come. Freya didn’t want to make a note of it, but it seemed a good thing to tuck away in the back of her mind.

“I think we havenae been married for long. Who’s to say ye daenae have a lover out there?” she pushed back.

She would not be shamed into taking back her words. It was a perfectly reasonable thing to assume, given everything she didn’t know about him.

Perhaps she should not have married somebody while under the influence of so much whisky.

Callum touched Evander’s arm, his face grim. “Ye’ll want to come with me. I found something else.”

“Go on, husband. I’ll watch the bairns,” Freya offered.

Evander looked like he wanted to push back, but Callum clearly wanted to talk to him in private.

“Me Laird, we must speak,” Callum insisted firmly.

One baby’s brow creased.

Daenae cry, laddie. I have enough on me mind as it is!

Freya held out her left arm after shifting the girl to the crook of her right one. “I’ll take them to our tent, husband. Daenae worry about us.”

“Are ye sure?”

She smiled at the twins. “Aye. I have experience with children, or do ye nae remember bursting into me sister’s castle while I was holding me nephew?”

Gently, Evander slipped the baby boy into the crook of her free arm. She didn’t look back, walking into their tent and setting the babies onto the bed she would be sharing with him.

“Come now,” she cooed.

She knelt in front of them, holding out a hand to each of them. The baby girl narrowed her eyes and turned her head, refusing to give her the time of day. However, the baby boy was different. He reached out to grasp her index finger, giving it a squeeze.

“Well, look at that! Ye’re a strong boy, are ye nae?” Freya laughed.

The baby girl looked at her brother as if to ask, Why are ye talking to the enemy? But he wasn’t going to be deterred. He babbled happily.

It seemed to convince his sister to at least give Freya a chance. She grasped at Freya’s other index finger but held it loosely, as if she weren’t sure whether to trust her or not.

“I think if ye tried, ye would be just as strong as yer braither,” Freya teased.

The babies were precious, but something didn’t sit right with her. Who would even think to abandon them out here, where the wind could knock a grown man off his feet and there was nothing for miles but rock and sky?

It wasn’t just the wrongness of it either. It was also the state of them. Their clothes, plain but not ragged. Their cheeks, round but not hollowed with hunger.