Page 65 of Highlander of Steel
“Can ye nae see?” she cried. “Imustleave. Aye, it’s what me faither wants, and he’s played a foul trick to get it, but I will return there. Tonight.”
Killian’s eyes flashed. “They’ll kill ye. They daenae want ye back; they just want to hurt ye.”
“I’m well aware,” she said, her voice cracking. “But it’s nae like ye wanted me here either. Aye, ye wouldnae hurt me, but I’d be in dire pain, every day that I stayed, kennin’ somethin’ bad had befallen me niece. This way, I can help her and help ye. I can stop the sufferin’—for me, for Skye, for Paisley. This isnae a discussion, Killian. I’m leavin’, and I willnae be comin’ back. This… this was such an awful mistake.”
With that tuft of hair gripped tight in her fist, the back of her dress still unlaced, she hurried out of the room before her husband could follow her father’s lead and lock her in.
Did ye ken that I was just startin’ to feel happy?
She cursed her father as she walked, her heart in her throat.
Did ye ken that I was fallin’ in love?
He had always known how to hurt her the most with the least amount of effort, but this might have been his finest act of torture yet: to make her leave the place where she could be happy of her own accord, to return to the dismal hell of her family home, back under his iron rule.
From the guard tower by the gates, gripping the stone of the battlement wall until it scraped the skin from his fingertips, Killian watched his wife leave the castle.
What are ye doin’? Ye ken what will happen if ye let her go back there,a voice whispered urgently in the back of his head.
Let her leave if that’s her choice. She’s right; ye cannae keep her here, and ye shouldnae. She’s doin’ what she must for her niece and Fraser,another voice countered.
He had misjudged Laird Ainsley. He had truly thought that this marriage could bring about a fragile peace, confident that two clans bound by marriage wouldn’t want to kill each other anymore. It went against every law of the land to shed the blood of one’s kin.
Laird Ainsley had only needed to sever a finger and cut a lock of hair to undo it all, so against peace that he would threaten his own granddaughter. Killian should have known that a man like that wouldn’t care about honor and the bonds of marriage.
“Paisley drank a tonic.” Peter’s voice intruded on his silent fury. “She’s sleepin’ now.”
Killian watched Ailis’s small, shadowy figure grow smaller as she hurried down the hill. She hadn’t paused to say farewell to anyone. She hadn’t even waited until it was light or thought to ask for a horse and some supplies. She had just taken off. Probably before Killian could stop her from leaving.
“I’m sorry, me Laird,” Peter said grimly. “I’m sorry I couldnae get to the lassie or yer braither. I did me best, but we’d have been massacred.”
Killian shook his head. “When there were nay Ainsley soldiers at the wedding, I should’ve guessed they’d all be surroundin’ the castle. Laird Ainsley likely thought we’dattack.”
“I’m sorry, regardless,” Peter insisted. “And I’m sorrier still that ye have to be parted from the lass. She was good for ye, and I daresay she liked ye a great deal.”
Those words stung like a wasp to the heart.
I cannae just let this happen. I cannae just let her walk off into the night, where anythin’ could befall her.
“Go after her,” Killian said thickly.
Peter raised an eyebrow. “Me Laird?”
“I cannae stop her from returnin’ to that wretched place, but I can stop anythin’ from happenin’ to her on the way,” Killian replied, his tone bitter. “Take two horses and go after her. Keep her safe.”
Peter bowed his head. “And when we get to the castle?”
“I’ll leave it up to ye,” Killian said. “Just… see to it that she’s safe for as long as ye can and then come back. If she imparts any words to ye, I’d like to hear them.”
His man-at-arms offered a reassuring smile. “I’ll do me duty to Her Ladyship. She’s one of us now; how could I nae?”
With that, he walked off to execute the order, leaving Killian alone on the guard tower, watching Ailis until he couldn’t see her anymore.
Even then, he didn’t move, hoping against all hope that she would change her mind and turn back.
“Tell me, what was it like, bein’ raised in a place like that?” Peter asked, munching cheerfully on an apple and sharing bites with the horse he rode.
Ailis, awkwardly swaying on a horse of her own, shot him a disapproving look. “I already told ye, we daenae have to talk. It’s better if we daenae.”
