Page 37 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Elle glanced up at Beiste, regret shining in the depths of her face. “We’ll soon be on our way, my laird. I thank ye from the bottom of my heart for your help. I hope one day, I can repay ye.”
Beiste shook his head, deciding then and there he wasn’t going to ask about the sword. Perhaps that was a mystery that he’d never get solved. He’d recovered the sword from Bjork’s dead body, who must have taken it from Elle. She would return it to Erik. His father had gifted the weapon to him in the first place. “There is no need to repay me. Ye have no debt with me. Ye owe me nothing. ’Tis my duty,” he murmured, sensing how utterly distant and heartless he sounded considering her earlier admission of love.
Elle’s eyes burned into his and he could only imagine the many things she was saying in her mind.Coward,being one of them.
He couldn’t look at her. For that was what he was. But wasn’t her life worth it? How could he push on her the curse that seemed to rule him from the day he was born? Beiste bowed his head and, once more, turned his back on her.
His feet were heavy as he walked away. His body rigid. It felt like every single inch of him was trying to remain rooted in place as he pulled away. Separating his body from his soul. His soul remaining with her. He knew he’d never be the same again. Lost, cold, soulless.
Damn, but he’d not realized how much he loved her. Needed her. Wanted her.
The two dozen steps to the keep stairs were the longest he’d ever taken in his life.
This couldn’t be right. It couldn’t.
He paused. One foot on the stair. He ran a hand through his hair and then he felt her hand on his arm.
“Beiste. Before ye walk away,” she said. “There is something ye need to know.”
Pulling in a shuddering breath, he turned to look at her. “Aye.”
Elle was beautiful, devastatingly so. Her arm was slung protectively over her brother’s shoulders.
“Erik, he is not my brother by blood.”
Beiste glanced between the two of them, seeing very little resemblance, but not grasping just what she meant. “I dinna understand.”
“Erik isyourbrother.”
Beiste’s throat tightened. When he looked at the lad and thought him familiar, now he knew why. His eyes were the same blue as their father’s. The stubborn tilt of his chin was the same as his own.
“How?”
Elle tugged Erik forward a step. “Can we talk inside?”
Beiste glanced at the men around the courtyard, taking care of the horses, their weapons, drinking from the well. No one seemed to take note at all that such life-altering news had been laid upon him. “Aye.”
“Erik,” she said. “Go and get something to eat from the kitchens. Lord knows ye need it.”
Dutifully, the lad nodded and trotted away.
Elle slid her hand in Beiste’s, the delicate skin of her palms rubbing against his rougher hand. “Shall we?”
*
Though she wasstill feeling devastated that her love was shoved aside by Beiste, at least Elle could give him this parting gift. A sibling. Something he’d been saying since they met that he desperately wanted. Not to be alone. Not to be the last.
He looked so lost just now, a fragile shell that might just crack. His fingers threaded with hers and he squeezed. She clutched back, trying to offer him comfort and strength and love, even if he wouldn’t accept it. And then she’d leave.
She’d return to Castle Gloom and try to put it back together, until Beiste MacDougall sent Erik there to rule. She assumed he’d want his brother here, to get to know one another to make up for the time they’d lost. So he could train his brother, protect him. Lord, but she’d miss having Erik around. She’d been just a lass when he was born and so many years she’d spent helping to raise him.
Beiste seemed to shake himself from his shock and led her inside to his library, shutting the door behind them both.
He moved to the sidebar and poured himself a healthy bit of whisky, offering her a glass.
Elle shook her head. She needed all her wits about her.
He sipped slowly, instead of throwing it back like she thought he might. In fact, given how intoxicated he’d been the night she first met him, she expected him to simply drink from the bottle.
