‘We’re married, we’re...united. I can’t help, but...’ She just couldn’t say it.
‘Hope,’ he said. ‘I do, too, but outside this crypt, we can’t talk of it. It’s too dangerous.’
‘What do we do, then?’
‘In the meantime, we support both Lochmores and McCrieffs. When their purposes collide, we can intervene or remain silent. We can’t choose loyalties no matter how much we may agree or disagree.’
Else they’d tear their own marriage apart. ‘They won’t make us choose loyalties.’
‘There are many uncertainties ahead and I won’t make promises,’ Rory continued. ‘Yet I can promise you I’ll try to mend the divide between our families.’
That was what she saw that day in the courtyard. A man defying his enemies, his past, demanding a brighter future. That was who she fell in love with as he walked the village with her father, greeted and gave advice when needed.
Tears spiked her eyes, she swallowed hard and gripped her hand over his. ‘Even if this is only the beginning between us and even if it onlystaysthe beginning between our clans, I’m humbled it’s us. I’m overjoyed to be here now, with you, at this beginning of the clans uniting no matter how long it will take. I’m beside myself that by Fates or God, I was fortunate enough to share this time with you.’ She drew in a breath. ‘I love you, Rory. I have for a very long time.’
‘Though I’ve known you for mere weeks?’
‘I knew the story of your birth,’ she said. ‘All these last years since Rhona’s death and being subjected to Hamish’s taunts, you were my glimmer of hope. Late at night, I liked knowing there was a boy out there who survived that man’s bitterness. In my dreams, I dreamed of you, Rory, and how grateful I was that you, by your very birth, spited him. That you, a mere babe, were a victory against him and all men like him.
‘In my dreams, Rory, I loved you even then. I think this is how it was meant to be.’
‘What is?’
‘Our wedding night, when you touched me, you said for me to let go. Because that was how it was meant to be.’
‘I didn’t mean those words the way—’
‘I know how you meant them, but I will interpret them differently now.’
‘You are clever, but to bring up that wedding night now? I still haven’t recovered from not touching you.’
He exhaled roughly and adjusted his body on the narrow bench. She made sure they didn’t lose the blanket or his hold on her. ‘You wanted me?’
‘Very much. But not as much as I do now. My love for you is too large for this body, Ailsa,’ he said. ‘Too considerable for this room, for this country, for the stars above us. And far, far tooencompassing to merely be chained to my short life. I’m bursting with it and it only keeps expanding. I can only believe it’s larger than me and us. That it always existed across clans and time. It was here in the past and will be far beyond us in the future.’
She rested her head on his chest again and enjoyed that for every breath he took she felt it, too. Felt the strength of his body and of his heart. This man fought and won against his past. With her by his side, she was determined with the battles ahead he wouldn’t fight alone again.
‘You’ve gone quiet,’ he said. ‘Do you know what I’m saying? Am I saying enough?’
‘I didn’t know you could talk so directly,’ she said. He rubbed her back with his left hand. She felt his fingers as they started their drumming caress that she never wanted to end. ‘I rather like it. Are you seeing the benefits of my bluntness?’
‘Don’t be giving me a difficult time now. Not when I’m telling you I love you. If I could have known you existed like you did me, I would have loved you always, too.’
There wasn’t enough wonder in all the world. It was impossible that such fortune existed to bring this man into her life. How could she have guessed that this man would one day be hers? However, if he said one more word of love, she’dcry and wouldn’t stop. His love might be bursting out of him, but hers was as well and she had more words to say.
‘I like that you didn’t know I existed,’ she said. ‘I like that you know me now.’
‘Why?’
‘So I can keep surprising you.’ He huffed and she felt that laughter and surprise through her body as well. She loved the way he filled her world, her heart, simply by being alive.
‘You’re unexpected, my wife.’
‘That I am. Can we retire to our chambers now? I don’t mind our discussions, my husband, but I do mind where we keep having them.’
Another soft chuckle before he stood and she took his hand to help her rise. Slowly, he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders before tucking her within the cradle of his arm. As they ascended the stairs, he grabbed the lone torch which shone like a beacon.
‘Ailsa? I intend for us to keep surprising each other.’
