Page 81 of The Highlander's Auctioned Virgin
“Oh.” Elinor felt a pang of disappointment.
Her eyes returned to the path ahead of her, looking past the tall trees and gnarled branches that seemed to cover the terrain beyond. She could see glimpses of sunny fields on the horizon, but there was no telling just how long it would take for them to get there.
She turned back to Ciaran, who was gripping the reins tightly and rocking gently to the horse’s motion. When he saw the look on her face, he threw his head back and suppressed a groan.
“Look. I ken that must have sounded harsh, but I am preoccupied with protecting ye for now. Ye have never been to the village before, and I cannae let ye– ”
“Of course, I have been to the village before.” She sounded almost offended.
“When?” Ciaran asked, his tone daunting. Challenging.
Elinor swallowed. She had never left the castle. At least not for long anyway. Not even by accident. Murdock had always made certain of that. He had never chained her to the floor, at least not after the first few months, but he might as well have.
She could not leave. She had not dared to do that. A part of her wondered if Ciaran could see it in her eyes. Could he tell exactly what was going on in her head at that very moment? Could he see what she was feeling?
“Well, I am certain it cannae be as bad as ye’re making it out to be.”
Ciaran nodded. “I shall take yer response as a nay, then.”
Elinor said nothing after.
Silence ensued, only punctuated by the howling of the wind and the rustling of leaves. They must have been riding through the woods for an hour at this point. Elinor had seen dead deer, a rabbit, a possum, and even vultures in the distance, circling what she prayed was not a dead body.
It had all been very exciting and exhilarating.
“Ye ken, me maither used to tell me stories when we were children about how the goddess of fertility came down from Heaven to bless our family.”
“Did she, now?”
Elinor nodded. “Aye.”
She could detect a hint of annoyance in his voice, but at that moment, she was just too excited to care.
“Me grandmaither was barren. At least that was what me ma said. She had tried everything she could to conceive, but it just didnae work. She had gone to healers in other villages and even as far as Europe, but nay one was able to help her. She gave up afterward and resigned herself to her fate. Perhaps she was never destined to have children. She would live out the rest of her days barren but content. And she would do her best to take care of the people around her.”
“I sense there is a twist to this story,” Ciaran muttered.
The trees had begun to thin, indicating that they were finally leaving the woods. Ahead of them, shimmering in the golden afternoon sun, was a clearing that seemed to stretch out for miles. Elinor couldn’t see where the sky touched the other side, so she looked forward to this part of the ride.
The smell of leaves, damp earth, and the occasional corpse was beginning to dissipate as well. The air grew fresher, permeated by the scent of blooming lilies.
“One afternoon at the marketplace, she saw a woman getting beaten by several villagers for stealing bread. The woman insisted she never stole the bread, but ye ken, nay one believed her. Everyone was caught up in the excitement of catching a thief. Until me grandmaither came to the rescue. She was able to stop them because she was highly respected. People loved her, ye ken. So she rescued the woman and even bought her more loaves of bread.
“‘Tis important that ye keep in mind that at this point, me grandmaither was nearing the age of fifty. The woman who was accused of stealing bread thanked me grandmaither profusely that afternoon. Then, as me ma said, she placed her hand on me grandmaither’s belly. After that, she left and was never seen in the village again. Me grandmaither became with child a week later and tried to look for the woman, but she couldnae find her. So she believed till the day she died that the woman she had saved in the market was the goddess of fertility.”
Elinor paused and waited for him to say something, anything, but nothing came forth.
“Ye have nothing to say?”
Ciaran shrugged. “Only that it sounds very… mythological .”
“The point is, me grandmaither then told me ma that every other woman in our bloodline had also been blessed by this woman. So all of us, till the end of time, will remain fertile. That should be exciting for ye, should it nae?”
“Why should it be?” The frustration in his voice was obvious.
“Well, ye’re getting married to me. It means ye daenae have to worry whether I’ll be able to bear children or nae.”
“Because of the story yer ma told ye?”
