Page 114 of A Highland Bride Disciplined
He leaned back, folding his arms, though his eyes stayed sharp on her. “Go on, then.”
“I daenae wish to give Elise away.” The words tumbled out, bare and raw. “Every hour, I’ve thought on it. Every nap she’s takenin my arms, every time she’s gripped my finger like it’s her only tether. I daenae want to let her go.”
His brows rose, but he said nothing. She pushed on.
“But… I feel like we must. Roderick wants her badly enough to go to war. That can only mean he —”
“— It’s probably neither love nor duty,” Kian cut in, his voice hard.
Scarlett swallowed. “Maybe so. But if keepin’ her here costs us blood, costs this clan after all I’ve… after all we’ve done —”
He let out a rough, almost-laugh. “And ye cannae stop remindin’ me.”
Despite herself, her lips twitched. For a moment, they weren’t enemies, just a man and woman trying to puzzle out an impossible life together.
Her voice wavered, “I never wanted Elise growin’ up wi’ war over her head. She deserves peace. A family. If giving her to Roderick spares her that…”
The silence thickened. She could feel the tremor in her chest, in her hands. To cover it, she whispered, “Perhaps later we’ll have children of our own. Maybe that’ll soften the loss.”
Even as she said it, bile rose in her throat. Elise wasn’t replaceable. Not by any other bairn. The thought was sacrilege, but she forced it out because part of her wanted to soothe him and wanted to find footing where there was none.
Kian’s eyes darkened. His hand lifted, fingers brushing her jaw. Scarlett froze, then leaned into his touch like her body moved without her mind’s authority. He tilted her chin, his thumb grazing her lower lip, and kissed her.
This kiss was different. Not the angry, desperate clashing of before. It was slow at first, sweet, like he meant to drink her in one mouthful at a time. Then deeper, hungrier.
His hand slid to her nape, pulling her flush against him. She melted into it, her fingers gripping his shirtfront, her body betraying her heart. Heat unfurled low in her belly.
Her husband’s kiss. Her husband’s arms. For one fragile moment, she believed they might yet choose each other.
Then he tore back, breath ragged.
“When Roderick comes,” he said, voice iron, “we’ll give him the bairn.”
Her heart split wide open.
She barely managed a nod. “Aye.” The word rasped like broken glass in her throat, but it was what she wanted.
He took her hand, his tone soft but cruel as a blade pressed to skin. “And if it’s children ye want, I’ll give ye that. And this time, I’ll stay out o’ your way.”
Scarlett’s chest constricted. Elise. Her husband. Both slipping away in the same breath.
He kissed her again, sealing the wound he’d just carved. She let him, though her heart screamed. Because she loved him, and because he would never love her the same. And it was all she could do not to sob into his mouth.
“We should go to bed, while we still can,” he offered, and she offered him a tight smile in return before nodding with false emphasis.
“Ye go on ahead. I’m going to just stop by the nursery on me way up.”
Kian tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear before he left her with one last kiss. It was soft against her brow.
His boots struck the flagstones with that steady rhythm that always seemed to anchor the keep itself. And then he was gone, the latch clicking quietly behind him, as if he hadn’t just torn her world apart.
Scarlett stood frozen, lips still tingling from his touch, heart howling inside her ribs. She turned, slow as if moving through water, and stared at the supper tray between them — cold bread,half-chewed meat, crumbs scattered like the wreck of something once whole.
Her throat burned.
She started pacing, skirts whispering across the stone floor. One step, then another, her mind looping. He kissed her like he meant it. Kissed her like he wanted to build a life with her. And then in the same breath promised her children only as… compensation. A transaction. For Elise. For a marriage built on duty.
Not for love.
