Page 53 of Sinbound to the Highlander
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Slowly, she pried her hands from her face and sat up. Licking her lips quickly, Freya shook her head, “Isnae it? I did betray Elspeth.”
“Ye didnae such thing,” Lady Grace said stridently. “Freya, ye cannae dictate how love goes—if ye are in love, that is.”
Rubbing her forehead, Freya dropped her hand to look at her sister. Elspeth, however, was facing away, and her expression was blank as a cloudless sky. Freya dropped her hands to her lap and clenched her fingers so tightly that her nails bit into her palms.
Turning her face away from Elspeth, she met Evan’s eyes. “I ken it is, but I’ve never been in love before.”
“Regardless,” Laird Lobhdain said calmly, “With the masks off, I can see that ye two do care for each other, so ye do have me blessing for this marriage.”
Freya was listening with half an ear to her father’s words, and though comforting, a ball of trepidation still rested in her stomach. Elspeth had not uttered a word, and it was grating on Freya’s heart. Like a knife slicing unto unsuspecting flesh, her sister’s stony silence was cutting into her.
Bravely, she called out, “Elspeth?”
They watched as Elspeth turned to them, and her lips began to curl into a smile. Though it stopped halfway, Elspeth nodded, “I’m sorry, I just never expected this to happen. But after all, I understand. I’m happy for ye, Freya.”
Her lips slipped over in disbelief. She could hardly accept it as accurate, but the look on her sister's face was not wavering. Freya managed to tear her gaze away to look at her mother. The numbness that had come from Elspeth’s silence was fading away by the growing happiness that bled into elation.
Giving her parents a soft smile, she asked, “I’m engaged then?”
“Ye are,” Laird Aidan said, looking to Evan, who was trying to hold back his beaming grin. “And happily, I imagine.”
Wanting to reach out to Evan and take his hand and doing so were two different things. She felt it improper to show any affection, in the presence of her sister who, up until an hour ago, had been Evan’s intended. Thankfully, that decision was taken from her as Evan reached out and took her hand, gently pulling her up from her seat.
His arm wrapped around her waist, and he dropped a kiss on her forehead as he said, “Happily.”
* * *
When Freya was able to slip away from her family and her husband-to-be, she closed the door behind her and perched on the edge of the bed. Pressing a hand to her heart, she still doubted that all that happened in the past hour was real, and it was not something she had dreamed.
Nae me wildest fantasies would have gone that way.
It was true…she was formally engaged to Evan, and in a few weeks—days?—she would be his wife. But that came with some worries as well. She would be the new Lady of the Clan, but she had little idea what to do with that title. Moreover, she still feared that there was damage done to her relationship with Elspeth.
If what we have can be termed a relationship.
She knew Elspeth was not fond of her, and her new engagement would undoubtedly have made things worse—but Elspeth’s reaction was one Freya would have never expected. She hadn’t been overjoyed, but she had expressed happiness for her.
Still too much to stomach.
After a short knock, her mother pushed her door in, with a happy smile, “Dear, Laird Ruthven has just ordered a feast for yer engagement.”
Naturally, her instinct would be to smile meekly and shy away, but she remembered the conversation with Lady Lobhdain, and tilted her chin up. “Are ye sure Elspeth is nay angry?”
Lady Grace sat near her, “As far as I’ve seen.”
Privately, Freya held her reservations in. She still felt coldness coming from Elspeth, but it felt like her usual aloofness. Based on the many times Elspeth had expressed her happiness to be the Lady of the Ruthven Clan, Freya doubted that Elspeth had gotten over the broken engagement so quickly.
I suppose I can only trust her judgment. She kens Elspeth better than I do.
Her mother embraced her, “Ye dinnae look happy, Freya. Why?”
Shaking her head, Freya whispered, “It still doesnae feel real.”
“I remember when I was engaged to Aidan,” her mother laughed. “I hated him.”
“W…what?” Freya stuttered.
