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

and the church, but we will get to that tomorrow. For now, please make yourselves at home. Ye will join the rest of the sisters for meals, prayers and our various charitable activities.”
    “How long do ye anticipate us staying?” Kirstin asked.
    “At least a fortnight, perhaps a month.”
    Kirstin nodded, wondering if Gregor, too, would be here that long. How could she face him? Or the memories he dredged up? From the expression on his face, she’d be naïve to believe he wasn’t going to search her out.
    What right did he have anyway? He’d pushed her away, not the other way around.
    Though she had run off without leaving word or an explanation, she didn’t really feel like she owed him that. At all.
    “Sister Kirstin? Are ye well?”
    Kirstin blinked, having been staring blankly at the abbess for who knew how long. Before she could answer, Donna interjected.
    “We traveled through the night. She’s not slept in quite some time. Perhaps I should get her to a chamber now?”
    “Aye, of course.” Mother Superior rang a bell and moments later two nuns entered who looked to be about Donna’s age. “Please take Sister Kirstin and Sister Donna to our guest nun quarters.”
    The nuns bowed their heads and beckoned them forward.
    Kirstin mumbled her thanks, her skin prickling. She needed to get out of here. And she didn’t want to wait a month.
    The two nuns before them, did not talk much. They smiled then faced forward as they led them down a darkened corridor, past several other nuns walking with their heads bowed, and a few scrubbing floors. She shivered despite the temperature not being cool. The virginals were being played somewhere, echoed by singing. The sounds would normally calm her, make her want to sing too, but now they only acted as an ominous backdrop for what the next several weeks held.
    “Here we are,” one of the nuns said, unlocking a door and pushing it open.
    The door creaked, thudding softly against the wall.
    “’Tis dark,” Donna mumbled.
    “There’s a candle and flint on the table. With it being warmer at night, we dinna light any fires in order to conserve. If ye get cold, there are extra blankets in the wooden chest below the window.”
    And then the two were gone, drifting soundlessly toward the music.
    “Hold the door open to let in some of the light from the corridor.” Kirstin shuffled inside, her eyes adjusting to the light and making out large, black lumps of furniture.
    She found the table with the candle and flint, and set sparks to flame on the wick, illuminating the room. The guest quarters were somber and sparse, not much unlike her room at Nèamh, except that she’d been able to add small touches over the years that made it hers.
    The chamber had four cots in a row, headboards against the wall, a foot or two of space between each where a small side table sat. Each cot looked to have a pillow and a blanket. There was a chest beneath a shuttered window, which Kirstin pushed open to let in some air.
    The rush of air caused the candle to flicker, and dust motes danced in the shafts of light filtering in. She wouldn’t be surprised to hear they were the first guests to stay in this chamber for some time. The best rooms would of course go to the king and his council.
    Gregor would have a room.
    Where would it be?
    “Suppose not many guest nuns come to Melrose,” Donna murmured.
    “Oh, aye, I’d forgotten she mentioned these were the guest nun’s quarters. Well, we’d best set to cleaning afore we rest, else either of us wakes up with an ague.”
    Too much dust often left Kirstin sneezing, stuffy and bleary eyed if she let it get to her. ’Twas one of the reasons she cleaned so much, besides the fact that it was one thing she could control. With a lifetime of events where power had been taken from her, and her destiny outside the grasp of her own control, she was glad for one thing in which she could calculate the outcome.
    “All right,” Donna agreed, knowing it