Ella’s face was flushed with exertion, and mutiny shone in her eyes as she shoved away from him. “Dawn came up faster than I anticipated,” she said, her words almost like a snarl, and she yanked her braided hair around to her shoulder. The front of her bodice moved, and the kitten’s head popped out the top.

Cain looked up at the open window above and then to her. “Ye wished to escape while it was still dark.”

Her hands perched onto the curves of her hips. “I wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble of climbing out if I knew everyone was going to see me. I might be a slow climber, and apparently unable to judge the sky, but I am not an idiot,” she murmured, her cheeks flushed from exertion or embarrassment. She glanced away. “Well, maybe I am,” she added under her breath.

The kitten, its small head popped out of the valley between Ella’s breasts, reached a paw out to bat at a stray curl that lay along the curve of her cheek. “I must have fallen asleep for much longer than I thought,” she said, not looking at him. “I swore it was closer to three in the morning when I first climbed out. The blasted clouds were blocking the start of the sunrise in the east.”

The woman was brave, clever, and strong. She was also used to berating herself. Cain glanced at the men who were still gathered, their expressions somewhere between amused and shocked.

Keenan looked…damn interested. “She is certainly not frightened of high climbs.”

“Go on,” Cain ordered, and they turned away reluctantly, walking toward the morning training session that Bàs would begin once he returned from the Sutherland chapel.

Cain ignored Gideon and Joshua, who stood at the keep doors, anger at her risk still strumming through his veins. “Ella,” he said and waited until she lifted her gaze to meet his. He wanted to curse at her for risking her life, to demand she promise to not try to escape by insane means, and to threaten that he’d tie her to her bed tonight. The look in her eyes said she expected all of that.

He glanced at the windows way up the tower and then back at her. “Ye are a clever and brave prisoner.” He scratched his bristled chin and slid his gaze along the height again. “Most of my men would not have even attempted that climb, let alone with Puss stuffed down their tunic.”

“Boudica,” she said.

“Boudica?” As dawn flooded the courtyard with misty light, he could see the darker flecks in Ella’s gray eyes.