Page 20 of The Dark Wolf's Deliverance

‘Why? It’s not your doing.'

‘But growing up without a mother must have been hard for a girl.’

‘I never knew her. As my father will tell anyone who will listen, I killed my mother a long time ago, so I do not know what it is to have one. I must go. They will be looking for me,’ she said briskly.

‘No, they won’t. They are all too scared to come at night. Stay Kenna, please, for I haven’t properly thanked you for trying to defend me in that hall.’

‘You should have said nothing when he taunted you and spared yourself a beating. If you retaliate, it just goes on longer and is much worse.’

‘That night, in the hall, you were trying to make yourself invisible. You seemed meek. But I don’t think you are like that at all.’

‘It is a sort of disguise I have used over the years, so they don’t see who I really am. I must hide myself to stay out of harm’s way.’

‘Like a suit of armour.’

‘Aye, if you like.’

‘There are weak spots in a suit of armour, Kenna.’

‘No, there’s not, and it was only very bad that time because he wanted to impress you with his cruelty.’

‘He almost cracked your head open like a soft boiled egg, Kenna.’

‘Oh, he wouldn’t do that. My father knows just how far he can go without killing me. He’s had lots of practice. Besides, if he did kill me, he would have no one to sell for a broodmare. And my father never likes to lose money.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I am to be wed soon, and my father wants a hefty bride price.’

Conall held his breath with the shock of it and tried to calm the sense of loss that overcame him at her words. Wed? He had not expected this. ‘When?’ he asked, keeping his voice as even as possible.

‘As soon as may be.’

Conall could not meet her eye, and so he looked down at his hands. ‘This is a chance to escape your father and this awful place. You can start a new life.’

‘You did not ask to whom?’

‘Do you not like him?’

‘I’ve only met him once, and he’s awful, so very awful.’ Kenna bit her lip and shut her eyes tight. ‘His name is Donald Menzies and I swear he is a hundred years old and dirty and foul, and he’s waiting for his ailing wife to die, and as soon as she does, he is coming for me. I can’t bear the thought of it, Conall.’

He was shocked to see tears fill Kenna’s eyes and run down her cheeks.

‘Could you not refuse this man?’

‘What do you think would happen if I did that?’ she sobbed.

‘So you’ll do as your father bids and marry a man you find loathsome.’

‘No, I would rather die, and I’ll open his throat before Donald Menzies lays another hand on me.’

‘Hand on you? What has he done?’ he asked, dreading the answer. If he’d touched her, this man, if he had…. Conall could barely breathe. His anger hit him with such force.

‘Nothing too terrible yet, but my father will insist on the marriage, whether I consent or not. I will be dragged off from here, and that will be it.’

‘Kenna, don’t defy your father into ending you.’

‘Why do you care?’ she frowned, her eyes desperate on his.

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