Page 15

S he grabbed the shears and nudged Stella, and they made their way out of the Great Hall and through the large passageway that led directly to the courtyard.

The hot afternoon wind blew across their faces and made some of the firelight around them flicker. After Evander had cleared the stones from the passageway, they were able to properly hang sconces on the walls without worrying about them falling.

Not that she was ever going to thank him to his face. He had enough power over her. The last thing she wanted was to give him more.

“Me cousin became the Laird after me faither, and he was the complete opposite. Me faither was kind, gentle, and loving. He had always told me that if I intended to get married, it must be for love, nae duty. Me cousin, on the other hand, couldnae wait to marry me off to the first Laird who would show the slightest interest in me.”

Stella listened with rapt attention. Keira rarely spoke about her past except when she needed to curry favor with the councilmen or drive home a point.

“He came to me the night I was supposed to leave for Blythe Castle, me cousin. He said to me in nay ambiguous terms that I was to never set foot in me faither’s castle ever again. ‘ Ye’re nae useful to me here, Keira. I will have ye imprisoned the day ye decide to set foot in here again. ’”

“That is quite horrible.”

Keira pushed the door open, and the cool afternoon wind hit their faces, the scent of grass and fresh earth filling their nostrils.

“Ye dinnae ken the half of it.”

A heavy silence descended on them, and for the briefest moment, Keira felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Nay. Nae now.

She blinked them back almost as soon as they had come and then turned to her maid. “Me point, Stella, is that in the past few months we’ve been together, I believe I have grown to be a true lady of the clan, have I nae?”

“Aye, M’Lady. The villagers and councilmen all respect ye.”

“So ye realize how it will feel when I ask ye if something is going on under me…” she trailed off, realizing that was no longer the case. “Under this roof and ye refuse to tell me.”

Stella sighed as they rounded the corner of the castle, toward the western fields.

Keira’s garden was only a few yards ahead, but at the pace they were keeping, they may get there after the sun had completely sunk below the horizon.

“’Tis nae longer a matter. That is why I havenae brought it up. One of his men went after Claire.”

Keira frowned. “Claire?”

“Aye. She’s one of the maids who clean the stables.

One of the Laird’s men had been bothering her…

asking her to sleep with him. Of course, the first few times, Claire had refused.

But over the past few days, he had been asking more persistently and had even threatened to kill the man she is currently seeing. ”

“What? How was I nae informed when this was all happening?”

Of course, everything went back to him . Evander Sloan.

Ever since his farce of a takeover, he had made things even more difficult. Yet he always seemed to waste no time in calling her out and saying that she didn’t know how to control her men. Yet his men did this? In her castle, nonetheless?

She didn’t know how they did things back in his previous castle, but when she saw him next, she was going to give him an earful. If he couldn’t control his men, he might as well do her and everyone in the castle a huge favor and get them all out of there. If he liked, he may go with them as well.

“I also didnae ken this was all happening. Claire only informed me a few days ago, and the Laird happened to be listening in on our conversation.”

So he is an eavesdropper too?

“And how exactly did the Laird handle it?”

“He called the man to the courtyard and asked if what Claire had said was true. The man didnae deny it, and the Laird asked his men to give him a good beating.”

Keira swallowed, unsure if she had heard correctly. “What?”

“Aye. He stripped him right there in front of everyone and used his belt. Gave him twenty lashes and asked his men to give him the remaining thirty.”

Keira swallowed again. “He did that?”

“Aye. Then, he told the man that he was to never talk to Claire again. If he did, he shall be thrown out of the castle and the village.”

They reached the garden, and Keira immediately noticed some flowers growing out of place—the same ones Evander had trampled on the day he had arrived to show her the letter of surrender.

Normally, a wave of hot anger would have surged through her, but after what she had just heard, it was hard to stay angry with him for so long.

She hated the fact that every time she thought she had something to hold on to—something to properly discourage her from pursuing whatever was brewing between her and Evander—he managed to prove her wrong one way or another.

With each passing day, as much as she hated to admit it, he always managed to gain more control over her. But there was only so much she could take.

Channeling all her emotions into her work, she fixed the garden anyway, deciding to shelve any and every thought about Evander into a box in her mind.

She wouldn’t think of him. Not his perfect face or his body, which looked like it was sculpted by God himself. She would definitely not think about his virtuous act and how he didn’t hesitate to deal with one of his men once he was certain he had crossed the line.

No, she would not think about Evander Sloan at all.

The next day, she rose as early as possible and took a bath. The day seemed solid and ready for her, and as she sank into the water and let it lap at her skin, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was all too good to be true.

She didn’t question it, though. Instead, she walked out of her room and headed to the dining hall. As usual, there was no Evander, but she didn’t fret—at least not this time.

The day was way too bright for her to start doing any of that. Instead, she looked around after she finished her meal, and decided she had one place to visit today.

She walked out of the castle and past the courtyard, which was bathed in the golden rays of the rising sun. She found the home Evander had built for the goat.

“Thistle,” she whispered.

She almost chided herself for the mere mention of the name.

She pulled out some wild berries and leaves she had stuffed into her pocket and began to feed the goat. That was when she heard it.

The clip-clop of hooves and the rattle of wheels tore through the air like a nightmare. It was too early for a visitor, that she was certain of.

She rose to her feet and walked to the front of the castle. And sure enough, there was a carriage by the fence. A mild frown creased her brow. That was one of Evander’s carriages. Had he left the castle early in the morning to attend to something?

As if nature was telling her she was utterly wrong, a voice rang out from the other side. “Ye’re here.”

She turned in the direction of the voice—the entrance of the castle—and watched Evander walk out, a smile on his face as he approached the carriage.

She saw feet first, glistening like water in the early sun. A pair of sandals were strapped to them, and she swallowed as the owner of those feet climbed out of the carriage with the help of a footman. A woman.

She had the most luscious dark hair Keira had ever seen, curls hanging delicately around her face. She looked exquisite, and her skin shone like porcelain.

Keira’s eyes darted to Evander, who was now close to the carriage, and caught the smile on his face.

Nay. Nay. Could that be…?

A little boy—he must have alighted from the other side of the carriage—ran toward him, a wide smile on his face.

Keira watched in utter shock as the woman closed the gap between her and Evander and wrapped him in a hug. She watched the little boy hug Evander’s leg as well.

Could that truly be…?

She swallowed, her denial refusing to let her complete the thought.

Could those be his wife and son?

Her hands blindly sought the wall nearby, disbelief crashing into her like water against a cliff. She felt so disoriented, dizzy.

“That bastard,” she whispered, feeling her anger rise to the surface.

That bastard.