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Across the room, Domhnall stood at the window. Upon her entrance, he turned and looked at her. But it was not his scowling glare that had her body now trembling, and her heart thumping in her chest. It was the fact that, as she gazed down to his hand, she knew the letter he held was one she had received from Reginald.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Domhnall remained completely silent as Katherine came to a sudden stop in her bedchamber. She remained there, standing perfectly still, her wide eyes glued to the letter Domhnall held in his hand. As hard as she tried, she could not hide her emotions, and horror now danced across her face.

He waited for a long moment, watching her body trembling. He wondered if she would speak, and when, after another minute, she still remained silent, he came to the realization that it was he who was going to have to begin the discussion.

“Magnus came tae speak tae me earlier,” he said, his tone perfectly calm.

He didn’t feel perfectly calm, but, in a twist of irony, these last few weeks spent with Katherine had opened a door to a new way of being, and, along with that had been a growing ability to control his raging emotions.

“He said ye and he had conversed in the corridor,” Domhnall continued. “As ye were speaking, he caught something in yer thoughts. Something about a letter.”

Domhnall paused, waiting for her to protest with anger that Magnus had read her mind without her knowledge. But when she remained silent, a pain now dancing in her eyes, Domhnall carried on.

“At first, I was worried. I thought that ye might be struggling with an issue that ye were too ashamed tae share. That perhaps, ye were in trouble. I wanted tae help ye, as I have tried tae dae during our time together.”

He sighed, feeling the weight of his next words.

“Ye cannae imagine my astonishment when I realized that wasnae true. That I was wrong. That ye didnae need me help at all. That, in fact, all this time, ye have been lying tae me.”

“Domhnall—” she began timidly, her voice barely a whisper.

He brought his hand up sharply to silence her.

“Fer the first time in my life, I have felt complete and content. I was convinced that I had finally found the perfect person tae spend the rest o’ me days with.”

“You have?—”

“Clearly nae,” he spat.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen. I?—”

“O’ course ye did,” he roared, making Katherine jump with fright. “I have the evidence right here.”

He shook the letter violently in his hand, feeling his control slipping, but worried at the same time, what he might do if he lost a grip on his emotions entirely.

Taking another deep breath, he clenched his fist and tried to calm himself. His heart pained him, while his stomach felt as though a knife had been plunged into it. Ordinarily, he suffered one emotion at a time. And, ordinarily, that was difficult enough for him to deal with. But now, it felt like every negative feeling he had ever experienced was desperately trying to burst into a torrent he could not hold back.

Pain, anger, grief, sadness, heartbreak, loss, despair, anguish… the list went on.

Had he discovered she did not love him only, his pain might have been less. Maybe. But the knowledge that everything that had happened between them had been a lie, a façade, a trick – that was just too much to take. She had betrayed him in the worst possible way.

“I’m so sorry, Domhnall,” she cried. “I wanted to tell you but?—”

“I dinnae want tae hear it,” he spat. “There is naething ye can possibly say that will mak’ me see this from yer point o’ view.”

“But, Domhnall?—”

“Nay!” he roared again.

Looking her directly in the eye, the pain in his chest growing by the second, he continued. “I must have been out o’ me mind tae believe I could trust ye. Ye’re English, after all. I should’ve kent better.”

“I love you, do you not understand that?” Katherine said, her voice trembling.

Domhnall glared at her and shook his head. “How can ye say such a thing? One doesnae betray the people they love, Katherine. Ye taught me how tae be vulnerable. I opened me heart tae ye. And even after I told ye the way me parents were slaughtered, what did ye dae? Ye used all that against me.”

“No. I… I didn’t want to do it. You have to know that.”