“Oh? And who might that be?”
Emeric grinned. “The wild outlander lass with no manners, of course.”
Anna snorted in amusement. “I’m not sure I’d call myself a good teacher.”
“Ye are too humble, lass. There’s much ye’ve taught me already, and not just about flirting.”
“Really?” she asked. “Like what?”
How to feel alive, he thought.How to feel things I’ve never felt before.
But he said nothing, only stared at her.
Anna cleared her throat and gestured to the bow lying on the grass. “Your father’s bow, huh?”
Emeric glanced at it, then at the grave marker, and all the pleasure he’d been feeling at Anna’s presence evaporated like smoke.
Perhaps picking up on his sudden change of mood, Anna touched his arm gently. “Sorry. It must be hard being given that, and then coming to your father’s grave.”
“It’s not his grave.”
Anna blinked at him, surprised. “It’s not?”
“It’s empty,” Emeric said, unable to keep the sudden anger out of his tone. “A marker only. My father isnae there.”
“But I thought he died in a boating accident.”
“Aye. But they never found his body.”
The memories of that day engulfed him. His father’s footsteps crunching on the loch shore as he threw his belongings into the boat. The glint of sunrise on the water. His father’s surprise as Emeric had stepped out behind him.
And everything that had followed.
His heart began to beat rapidly, anger and hurt and betrayal all churning inside his gut like acid. “He took the coward’s way out.” He was surprised by the vehemence in his words.
Anna’s brow furrowed. “What does that mean? Everyone talks about him as a hero.”
“Oh yes,” Emeric snapped. “The mighty Edric Mackintosh. The doting husband. The devoted father. The king’s elite. The pride of Clan Mackintosh. How could any of us hope to live up to that?” His words were hard and bitter, twisted by all the years of deceit.
Anna studied him for a long, quiet moment, her gaze unreadable. “You’re not supposed to live up to him, Emeric,” she said quietly. “You’re supposed to be you.”
Ha! If only that was true. If only his mother, his sister, his uncle didn’t see Edric Mackintosh every time they looked at him. If only they didn’t measure him against his father every time he breathed.
“I dinnawantto measure up to him,” Emeric hissed. “Why would I want to measure up to that bastard?” He gestured at the keep, encompassing the whole of the Mackintosh clan. “Why would I want to measure up to any of this? It’s all a lie!”
He was furious now, and some small part of him warned that he needed to shut his mouth or he’d say something he’d regret. But he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was sick of it. Sick of the lie. Sick of the charade.
“Emeric...” Anna’s voice was soft, a soothing contrast to his harsh words. “I know that what happened to your dad hurt you, but there’s no need to punish yourself like this.”
The compassion in her words stung him to anger. “Dinna speak of what ye dinna understand!” he snapped. “Ye know nothing about it!”
She pursed her lips. “No, you’re right. I don’t,” she said, her voice laced with anger. “But I do know one thing. I know that you have everything,everythingI’ve always dreamed about and yet you don’t give a damn about it! You have a home. A mother, sister, uncle who love you. Dear God, Emeric, do you know what I would give to have that? And yet you throw it all back in their faces! You push them away and act like you can’t wait to get out of here! Well, I’m sorryif you have daddy issues, but that doesn’t give you the right to behave like a spoiled brat!”
With that, she climbed to her feet and stormed off, slamming the metal gate behind her. Emeric watched her go. He knew he should go after her. He itched to tell her the truth. Yet he didn’t move. His secrets sat inside him like barbed hooks and if he dragged them to the surface, they would tear him up.
Coward, he told himself.Perhaps you are your father’s son after all.
The thought made him feel sick to his stomach.
