Page 68 of The Runaway Bride and the Highlander
“It’s all right,” Lana then said quietly. “The pain is there whether we talk about the thing or we dinnae.”
Skylar could not really agree with her sister, for that is not how she felt at all. She had learned over the years to tuck the horrors far away from her mind and remember only the good things. That being said, she was not Lana. She could hardly dismiss her sister’s opinion simply because she did not see or feel things in the same way as she did. The idea, however, that Lana had relived what she had suffered over and over suddenly pained Skylar. If that was indeed the case, she simply could not imagine how dreadful her life must have been for all these years.
“Laird Johnson was a dreadful man,” Lana began. “If he was even a man at all, for I do believe he was the devil himself. There were many things that happened while I was Johnson's prisoner.” She sighed heavily. “Many o’ them I dinnae ever want tae remember.”
Skylar heard her words but wondered if Lana did not remember them in any case. It now appeared that her sister had lived with far deeper wounds than she—wounds that could not be seen by the naked eye.
“It sounds awful, Lana,” Thea said.
“It was,” Lana replied. “But when I discovered what they were planning tae do tae Skylar, I had nae choice but tae put myself in danger tae warn her.”
“Did they ken ye could hear their thoughts? How did ye hide it from them?” Thea asked again.
“Sure, ye ken I always kept my hair long and down around my face, Thea.” Lana pulled her hair back, showing her deformed ear. “Mother always told us tae protect our secrets at all costs. I couldnae let them see this in case they worked out my power. If they’d have kent I could hear their thoughts, I dinnae think they’d have kept me alive, if that’s what ye could call the conditions I was left tae live in.”
“Ye have suffered so much, Lana,” Skylar said sadly, feeling the pain in the heaviness of her tone.
“We have all suffered so much, Skylar. It has been our burden tae bear the gifts we were blessed with. Though I hate tae say it, sometimes they have felt more like a curse.”
“Och, I can agree tae that.” Skylar nodded. Thea and Rowan nodded fervently too.
“At least I’m still here tae tell the tale, which is more than can be said for Mother or Father. We all had our missions tae complete.”
“But how did ye get the letter tae Skylar tae warn her that Laird Johnson’s men were coming for her?” Thea pressed.
“It wasnae easy, I can tell ye that.”
“But at least Skylar managed tae get tae ye in time, or ye wouldnae be here with us,” Rowan concluded.
Lana looked at Skylar then, and Skylar looked back knowingly.
“We did get there,” Skylar said. “But in the end, Lana didnae need my help.”