Page 64 of Kilted Seduction
Then she saw the guards converging on them, from all around the courtyard, and realized that they had far greater problems. “Aedan, we need tae leave.” He didn’t move. “Aedan!”
He looked lost, utterly destroyed by the truth that Lachlan had revealed, and her voice couldn’t reach him. Thora reached for him, intent on shaking him to his senses.
Then Mac was between them, delivering a harsh slap to Aedan’s back that made him blink in shock. “Me laird, there’s nay time! We need tae go!”
Awareness came back to Aedan’s features, and he swung up into the saddle of his horse, Mac not a second behind. Thora scrambled to follow suit.
Even as fast as Mac had roused them to action, it was late. The nearest of the guards lunged at them with a sword. Mac kicked his horse forward and hit the guard with the hilt of his own blade, then whipped around and cut another’s arm, deep enough to make him drop his weapon with a cry.
That cry was enough to shake Aedan out of the remains of his stupor. The laird of Clan Cameron drew his own sword, the blade snapping out like lightning to strike a man across the head with the flat, before he roared an order. “Tae the gate and down the road. Go!”
The men needed no urging, and neither did Thora. Almost as one, the horses surged forward, toward the open portal.
Two of the guards moved to shut it, while others barred their path. Thora caught a glimpse of young Keevan’s father among the interceptors. Their eyes met, and then the man’s step faltered sharply, stopping the warrior and several of his comrades, giving Thora and the others a chance to get away. It looked as if they stumbled, but over the head of another warrior who tripped, Thora saw him mouth the words‘Thank ye.’
Then they were gone, out the gate and down the road in a wild race for safety, heading back toward Castle Cameron. Thora rode blindly, her head down and her shoulders hunched against the wind and the stinging tears in her eyes. It hadn’t escaped her notice that not once had Aedan looked in her direction, nor had he called to see that she was safe. In fact, had it not been that the whole party was riding at near breakneck speed, she would have thought he was trying to outrun her.
The worst part of it was, she wasn’t sure she could fault him for it. She badly wanted to outrun her own conscience.
Why? Why hadn’t she heeded the warning of her gift? She’d known the danger of keeping secrets. And yet, she’d convinced herself that there would be time, once they were safe, to tell Aedan the truth. Now it was too late, and she was left hoping that she might at least have a chance to explain herself to him.
They finally stopped in a small town, some several candle-marks from Castle Ross, and a little over half a day’s ride from Cameron Castle. Mac got them permission to use a stable to sleep and rest their horses, but Thora was so lost in her thought she never realized how they went there and when they actually stopped riding. She cried during most of the road but now what she felt was numbness and fear that she’d never be able to fix her relationship with Aedan. She felt empty.
Inside the stable, Aedan studiously ignored her. It was Mac who helped her unsaddle her horse and she tried to read the man-at-arms expression, but he was impassive. “Mac…”
“I’m nae the one ye need tae speak tae.” With that, he turned away. His message was clear.
Heart heavy, Thora made her way to Aedan, where he sat apart from the rest of his clan. “Aedan…”
“Ye deceived me.” His voice was flat and harsh.
“I… I kent ye wouldnae listen if ye kent I was from Clan MacLeod.” She swallowed. “Aedan I swear…”
“Dinnae speak an oath tae me. Yer words are all lies. I’d sooner trust the word o’ Lachlan Ross than ye, and he stabbed me in the back.” Aedan finally turned to face her, and Thora flinched at the rage and devastation in his eyes. “Everything ye said was a lie.”
“Nae everything. Only me name…”
“And ye expect me tae believe that. Tae believe any words ye say, when I ken yer very identity was a falsehood.”
“My feelings were…”
“As much a falsehood as yer name, fer all I ken. Ye lied tae me, betrayed me.”
“Aedan I had tae…”
“Dinnae speak me name!” The words were a roar of anguish. “Dinnae dare tae speak me name as if ye were anything tae me but a liar who tricked me intae caring fer ye.”
Thora flinched back, unable to speak as he closed his eyes and regained his composure. When he opened them, the utter contempt and rage in them made Thora want to sink into a bog and never climb back out.But there was something else that stung even more: pain.
“Ye demanded a bond o’ me, afore we began this venture. A bond fer me aid in return fer yer promise tae heed me choice when all was done. Me side o’ the bond is fulfilled - I’ve given ye all the aid I can in discovering Laird Ross’s schemes. I’ve even helped ye escape. Now ‘tis yer side o’ the bond that needs honoring.”
His voice was colder than the wind outside as he continued. “Yer promise was that, when the task was ended, I could say whether ye were tae stay or go, and ye’d heed me. And so ye have me decision: When the dawn comes, ye’ll board the boat back tae yer island, return tae yer clan and never come near me again.”
Thora felt the weight of the geas, the magical obligation imposed upon each other, settle over her. Her heart sank underneath it and she felt tears prickling. “Aed– Laird Cameron. Please. If ye’d let me explain…”
“I dinnae wish tae hear any sort o’ explanations from ye. Ye have me decision. When dawn comes, I wish nay more than tae see ye gone from me life forever.”
The words settled on her heart like the tolling of a death-knell. Thora bowed her head beneath their weight, and the heaviness of Aedan’s scorn, and slowly turned away.
