Page 93 of The Laird's Secret Bairn

Her dreams had been filled with Dougal holding her, telling her that he loved her and wanted to remain with her even after the month was up, but now things were different.

Everything was different.

She wasn’t sure what to think. She could try to tell herself that things would be all right, but they wouldn’t be.

The door had barely closed behind her before her knees gave out, and she sank against it, pressing both palms hard against her eyes as though she might hold back what was already breaking loose in her chest.

Freya found her like that only minutes later, dropping to the floor beside her without a single word, her skirts pooling around them.

“Skye.Skye, what happened? Ye’re white as a sheet.”

Skye wanted to tell her sister to leave her alone. She wanted to insist that she was fine and she would be able to handle this on her own. While she might be her younger sister, she wasnota child. She was a grown woman… who had just had her heart broken in a way she had never expected.

Then she remembered Freya’s words.

Her sister had warned her that Dougal was going to break her heart. Warned her that he was capable of breaking her heart and that she had to guard it carefully.

Skye wished she had heeded that warning. Perhaps it would have saved her the heartbreak she was currently experiencing.

“Ye were right.” The words came out broken, half-swallowed by a sob she couldn’t hold back any longer, no matter how hard she pressed her hand against her mouth to stifle it. “Ye told me, and I didnae listen, and now… now I am heartbroken because I didnae listen to ye. Why did ye nae insist I listen?”

It wasn’t Freya’s fault, but she felt the need to lash out, and the person around to receive that was her sister.

Freya did not react, simply running her hand down Skye’s back the way she used to do when they were children and Skye needed comfort.

“Did he hurt ye? Skye, look at me. Did that man hurt ye?”

“He kissed me.” Skye’s hand drifted to her lips, as though she could still feel the kiss. As though she could still feel Dougal pressed against her, his hands tangled in her hair.

“He kissed me, Freya. Truly kissed me. And then, nae a moment later, he told me that it couldnae mean anything. That I ought to leave sooner than we’d agreed. And now I’ve got all these feelings twisted up inside me that I daenae ken what to do with.We must leave. Tomorrow. At first light. I cannae stay another night in this castle, kenning what I ken now.”

Freya stiffened beside her. Skye saw something shift in her expression, a look of pure rage flashing across her face.

Her sister would not hesitate to give Dougal a piece of her mind if she had a chance. Skye almost wanted her to.

But then her anger faded. She sniffed, trying hard to hold back her tears. She didn’t want to cry because of Dougal. He did not deserve her tears after he had so cruelly discarded her.

No, she shouldn’t lie to herself.

Dougal wasn’t cruel. He had kissed her tenderly before breaking her heart in the most gentle way possible. At no point had he been cruel to her, and she couldn’t forget that.

Freya’s arms came around her at once, steady and familiar, smelling of lavender and home. It made her want to cry all over again.

“All right. All right, we’ll leave if that’s truly what ye want. But Skye?—”

“Daenae. Please, Freya, daenae try to talk me out of it. I couldnae bear it if ye tried, nae tonight. All I want is to leave in the morning and forget that any of this has ever happened. The sooner I am away from Dougal, the better.”

“I wasnae going to.” Freya’s voice was so soft, careful in a way that was rare, rarer still when Skye was in such a state. “I was only going to say that I think I was unfair to him before I ever kent him properly. I judged him the way the rest of the Highlands did, and I shouldnae have. But that’s a conversation for another night, once ye’re settled and nae shaking so badly ye can scarcely speak. Tonight, we pack, and tomorrow we go home, same as ye want.”

Skye nodded against her shoulder, grateful beyond words that she hadn’t pushed further, hadn’t asked the question that sat heaviest between them—whether leaving was truly what Skye wanted, or only what she could bear to survive.

“Thank ye,” she whispered. “Thank ye for being here for me. I ken I havenae been the easiest sister.”

“Ye neednae thank me for that. What are sisters for, if nae for holding ye together when a man breaks yer heart?”

Despite everything, Skye let out a wet, broken laugh. “Ye make it sound so simple.”

Freya continued to rub soothing circles on her back, doing her best to comfort her. Skye wanted to lean into her comfort. To fall into her arms and forget about everything that happened that night.