Page 21 of Utterly Dauntless (Return to Culloden Moor #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

T he car pulled up to Gran's cottage just as the afternoon sun broke through the clouds over Inverness. Aries hadn't spoken much on the plane, and the men hadn't pushed her. Maybe they sensed her raw edges after waking up alone. Maybe they just didn't know what to say to a woman who'd driven away the best man she could ever find.

While she climbed out of the car, Wyndham carried her bags to the door. She felt like her shoes were made of lead and moved slower than usual. The events of the past few days—her kidnapping, the trip to Glasgow, the pool, the kiss, and the goodbye—had drained her completely.

Wyndham dropped a kiss on Gran's cheek, then turned and did the same to her. "Ye have all our numbers. Call if ye need anythin'." His eyes held hers. "Anythin' at all."

She nodded, touched by the loyalty of a bunch of men who never judged her harshly, despite the fact that she'd been tormenting one of their own for so long.

The cars drove away and Gran ushered her inside. The smell of coal and peat suggested the old woman's fire had been working overtime, and Aries was glad for the embrace of a warm familiar house.

"Sit," Gran ordered. "I'll fix us something to eat."

"I can help?—"

"Ye can barely stand. Rest."

Aries sank onto a kitchen chair and let out a long breath.

"How long do I have ye for this time?"

"I don't know. Grey is done with me, so..."

That got her attention. "Done with ye? Did he say as much?"

"He did. Just before he...up and left. Packed a bag. Said he won't be back to Inverness. Said...I could have the house."

"Sounds like..."

"Like he finally saw the light?"

Gran chuckled. "I was goin' to suggest he's found someone else."

"I asked him. He said there was no one. But he's done chasing me. I'm free to do as I please."

The woman pulled out a pan and set it on the stove, then rifled in the fridge, so Aries couldn't see her face. After cracking a few eggs, she finally spoke. "So? What do ye please? Will ye go back to yer hidey hole then?"

Aries' chest deflated as she exhaled. What did it matter now if she kept her life secret? Grey wouldn't be tracking her down anymore. The thought should have brought relief, but instead it left her hollow.

"I honestly don't know."

She watched Gran move around the kitchen, pulling bread and cheese from the cupboard, finding plates and tending the eggs. Her movements were slow and stiff, but still graceful. "Before we eat," she said, "I think we both need a wee dram." She pulled a bottle from a low cupboard, set two glasses on the table, and poured a finger of amber liquid into each. "It's been a rough few days."

Aries wrapped her hands around the glass but didn't drink. "I've been living in the south of France," she said suddenly. "Never stayed in one place too long. Never got too close to anyone. Other than a few boxes of books and things, I don't really need to go back."

Gran hummed thoughtfully while she plated the eggs. "I suppose ye can go off and see the world too, then, can't ye? Now that there's nothin' to run from?"

"I don't know." Aries took a sip of whisky and felt it burn all the way down. "Too tired to think it through. Maybe."

They ate in comfortable silence for a while, but the whisky and the fact that she didn't have to keep looking out the window did something to loosen more than just her tongue.

"We were happy here," she said softly. "Grey and I. Those first two years."

"Aye, I remember." Gran pushed her plate aside and poured them each another dram. "I haven't seen those smiles for a long, long while now. What do ye suppose changed?"

"We were too happy. I was too happy." The words spilled out before she could stop them, so she took another drink to wash them back down again. But it didn't work. "One day I realized why—because my family was dead. They had to die so I could find my dragon. And suddenly I had him. And I was happy about it. "

"That's not how prophecy works, mo chridhe ."

"Isn't it?" The glass trembled in her hand. "You think it was coincidence that I found him right after Leo's funeral? The prophecy said I would find the dragon alone. So Fate made me alone." Her voice cracked. "If I still had my family, Grey and I would never have met. Don't you see? To stay with him was to celebrate their deaths!"

Gran reached for her hand, but Aries pulled away and stood. The whisky made her movements less steady than she'd like.

"I tried to put it out of my head for a while." She began to pace, slowly at first. "Tried to convince myself it wasn't true. That I could be happy with Grey and still honor their memory. Tried to pretend the loss of them had nothing to do with him." She pressed a hand to her chest where the pain lived. "But every time he made me laugh, every time I felt joy, this voice in my head would whisper, This is why they had to die. So you could have this. And one day, I couldn't bear to listen anymore."

Gran watched her with those knowing eyes. "So, what about Italy?"

"Italy." Aries laughed bitterly. "He found me on that beach and... Oh, heaven help me, I so wanted to be happy again. I was tired of hiding from him. Tired of being alone. I thought maybe I'd mourned them enough, you know? Maybe I'd paid the price I was meant to pay. I hoped I could have my dragon back without..." She shook her head. "But the voice came back. After two days, I was right back to celebrating, right back to being happy, right back to being a monster who danced on her family's graves!"

Her voice broke on a sob, and she pressed her hands to her face. "I couldn't stand to look in the mirror. Then, I thought, since Grey was used to living without me, the sooner I left, the sooner he could go back to that. And maybe, after a second betrayal, he would give up."

"Oh, mo chridhe ." Gran's voice was gentle but firm. "Come sit. Let me explain prophecy."

"It won't matter?—"

"Sit!"

Aries returned to her chair feeling like a spoiled, petulant child. When the old woman held out her hands, however, she willingly took them and allowed her gran to pull her closer and look deep into her eyes.

"Prophecy... does not dictate what will come to pass. I’ll say it again. Prophecy does not dictate what will come to pass. Rather, it tells what has happened as if looking back on it . Yer family didn't die so ye could be with Grey. They died because their time had come, just as it will for each of us. Prophecy, my dear child, is just a newspaper reporter from the future, telling us what has been . Blameless. Powerless to change a thing. Holding onto Grey—and cherishing that happiness—doesnae mean ye didn't love yer family and wouldn't give anythin’ and everythin’ to have them back again."

Aries leaned forward to press her stomach against her legs, to control the tornado of emotions spinning out of control inside her. Was her grandmother right? Dare she hope?

Gran released one of her hands to pat her head. "Listen well, and no mistake, Aries. That voice in yer head...is yers and yers alone."