Page 53 of Love Beyond Wanting
“She likes you, Paton.That’s the only reason she gives you such a hard time.It’s not like you don’t ask for it.You annoy her on purpose because you like getting a reaction from her.”
He shrugged as Maddock appeared in the doorway.“Mayhap so.It looks as if yer lover has returned.I’ll leave the two of ye alone.”
Maddock punched his arm as he walked by.“Why doona ye have a little more respect than that, Paton?Lover sounds as if we are doing something untoward.”
Paton laughed and blocked another swat from Maddock’s hand.“Some would say ye are.”
Maddock ground his teeth.“Get out, Paton.”
I could hear Paton’s laughter echoing down the hallway long after Maddock closed the door in his face.
I waited until Maddock was seated at the small table where I’d situated our food to ask him about his conversation with Nicol.“So…how did it go?”
Maddock sighed and looked down at the piece of cheese he held in his hand.“Nicol is beside himself.There is no doubt that the child is Machara’s.He has only ever been with her and Freya.While I’ve my own suspicions of Brachan, I’ve no desire to pass judgement before we’ve spoken to the lad.But if he plans to work with Machara, I shall have no qualms about killing him.Nicol, however, wishes to kill him on sight.”
“What?”Horror surged through my body.“Why?Why would he want to do that to his own son?”
“For years, Nicol told himself that his children with Machara were monsters.’Twas the only way he could keep from losing himself to guilt and despair at their murders.If he allows himself to believe that Brachan might be different, then he must accept that all the others were, as well.”
“Do you think he will feel that way once he meets him?”
“No.I think when Nicol sees his own eyes looking back at him, it will send him into a grief that will be hard to come out of—one that he will have to work through in his own time.”
Maddock still didn’t know that Brachan was already on the Isle.He needed to know so he could protect Brachan long enough for Nicol to truly see him, but I couldn’t bring myself to break my promise to the man who’d saved my life.
“What does Nicol wish to do?”
“He wishes to meet with everyone at dusk.He will tell the others what I have revealed to him.Together, we will decide how best to go and search for Nicol’s son.Until then, I would like to eat and mayhap take ye to my bed once more, for I suspect that after Nicol speaks with us, I will be sent away to look for Brachan since I’ve seen him before.I need all the memories of being with ye I can get to keep me sane while I’m away from ye.”
I needed to find Brachan.I needed to tell him that the men would go looking for him if he didn’t make himself known soon, but I couldn’t tell Maddock that, and I certainly wasn’t opposed to being taken to his bed one more time.
“Do you intend to keep me in your bed until dusk?If we keep it up at the rate we went last night, we are both going to be so sore, we won’t be able to move.”
He lifted one brow mischievously.“I like the thought of that, but alas, no.’Tis time for ye to meet Machara, but first…” He threw the cheese down, lifted me from the chair, and carried me to the bed.“I shall make love to ye once more.”
Chapter 34
The greenish light that filled Machara’s dungeon was enough to invoke fear in even the most courageous of people.The terror I felt while descending the stairs to the prison was so acute, I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to move if not for Maddock’s reassuring hand on my back, slowly pushing me downward.
As we neared the last step, he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Doona breathe through yer nose, lass.It makes it worse.And doona let her see how frightened ye are.”
I already knew that much.The last thing I would ever let Machara see was that I was frightened of her.That was exactly why I moved down so slowly—I needed every last step to gather my courage.
She spoke before she even saw us, and her tone was as frightening and filled with malice as one would expect.“Ah, the new one has finally gathered the courage to come and see me.”
At the end of the stairs, we stepped in front of her cell, and I saw her for the first time.
I’m not sure what I expected, but every part of her was just a little bitmorethan what I imagined.She was taller, thinner, and her nails came to creepy long points that made me want to gag.Her neck was long and gorgeous, and her eyes were a color entirely inhuman in nature.
Maddock spoke before I had the chance.“It had nothing to do with courage, Machara.She had no interest in seeing ye.”
“Bollocks.I can smell the fear on her.”
I could feel that Maddock meant to speak again, and I hurried to step in front of him.I didn’t appreciate either of them speaking about me as if I wasn’t there.
“Maybe you’re smelling your own stench, Machara.Fear wasn’t what kept me away, it was disinterest.We’ve all been rather busy with the wedding.You remember my sister, don’t you?She’s the one you tried to kill, but she outwitted you so, so easily.”
She hissed at the mention of my sister, and her face twisted into something that looked far more otherworldly than human, and it made me wonder just how capable she was of twisting her shape.
