Page 55 of The Cruel Highlander's Bride
Despite the late hour, James had let in his Laird immediately, and the two of them poured over the note, looking for any clues or signs of who might have left it. They ran through the guests at the wedding and narrowed down some suspects, but they didn’t reallyknowanything.
Their assumptions could be wrong, and Magnus felt powerless with all the possibilities. There were so many ways someone could strike at him, but Ciara had quickly become the biggest target. She was his beautiful weakness.
When she didn’t say anything, he readied himself for her disappointment and then forced his gaze back to hers. He didn’t sense fear from her necessarily. She was upset, almost angry, but she didn’t look timid or scared.
Her own hands threatened to rip the already tattered paper, the way she was holding it. Magnus gently pried it out of her hands, letting his fingers brush against hers. Her eyes held a challenge for whoever had left this note. She looked ready to stand her ground and fight.
His wife, the avenging warrior. Despite it all, pride soared in his chest. How had he gotten so lucky?
“We should have kenned that a feud so old and intense wouldnae be solved so easily,” she finally said. “Any idea who might have left the note?”
“A few possibilities, but we arenae sure of anythin’ right now.”
Ciara nodded absentmindedly. Her mind was somewhere else, likely working on the problem at hand already.
“Did ye let me faither ken? They may need to station more guards until we can sort this out.”
“Aye, I sent him a note right away,” Magnus promised, and she nodded again.
He knew his wife was capable of anything, but she was still under his protection, and no matter what happened, she needed to know she was safe here. That he wouldmakeher safe.
Magnus reached out for her hands, bringing her attention back to him. When their eyes met, he said, “I vowed to protect ye yesterday before our friends and family, and I’ll make the same vow again. I promise to protect ye, lass, whatever it takes.”
Ciara smiled sadly but nodded. “I ken. I trust ye, Magnus. But I hope we find who did this soon, because then our weddin’ would have been for nothin’. Not to mention all the work we’d started in the village…”
Then our weddin’ would have been for nothin’…
Magnus was stuck on those words and missed the rest of what Ciara was saying. Their wedding wasn’t for nothing… it couldn’t be. Not after the way he’d felt during the ceremony and everything that had happened after.
It didn’t feel like a wedding to bring about peace—not anymore, not to him. But if that’s still all it was to Ciara…
Magnus wanted to ask, his disappointment sitting heavy in his gut, but before he could get another word out, Ewan was knocking on the door.
Ciara flinched just the slightest bit, and Magnus smoothed a hand down her back reassuringly. “That’ll be me man-at-arms come with the daily reports,” he soothed.
She nodded and headed towards the door. She opened it to reveal Ewan, as expected.
As she stepped over the threshold, Ewan leaned in and asked quietly, “Can we continue our lesson today?”
“Of course,” Ciara muttered and then left them alone.
Ewan cast a quick glance at Magnus, who had heard the question but did not comment. Even though the thought of his wife alone with another man—any man—had him clenching his fists.
* * *
Ciara left Magnus’s study in a daze.
The threatening note was the last thing she had expected to find in Magnus’s study. She could hardly believe that just last night, they’d been celebrating their union, oblivious to any dangers, and the whole time someone who celebrated with them was wishing her and her family harm.
She could understand how the threat had distracted Magnus so thoroughly. Could he have had someone let her know? Of course. Was there still some lingering hurt in her chest? Yes. But that seemed inconsequential now in the face of an external threat.
More than ever, the two of them needed to be united to show whoever had sent that note that the feud was well and truly over. Protecting herself was a fleeting thought in the recesses of her mind, but she trusted Magnus to keep her safe.
Her real fear from the beginning was that despite her best efforts and all her sacrifices, the people weren’t ready to let go of old anger and hurt, that they would never accept the daughter of their enemy as part of their clan. She feared that the people here would choose the feud they knew over everything else, including a brighter future.
“There ye are!” Olivia called, jolting Ciara out of her thoughts.
“Here I am,” Ciara said back, injecting as much cheer as she could into her voice.
