Page 27 of Her Highland Destiny

“I know about why you need the stone and I know about your son.” Her eyes were large and sad with a heavy, empathetic sorrow. “You’ve never met him and worry he doesn’t even know you exist. You’ve tried to find him, but to no avail. The only way to reclaim him from where he is being held captive is to give King Edgar the stone. It’s why you will not let me have it, even as the world is falling into chaos.”

Fergus tried to swallow the sour bile rising in his throat. To hear all his deceit laid bare in such a manner left him feeling vulnerable in a way he never had before, completely exposed. And yet, what she had said was not the whole of it.

He should tell her the rest, to be honest. However, doing so might cause her to leave, and if she left, he would lose his son forever.

“And you have not told your mother,” she continued. “About your son.”

His cheeks burned with shame. “I couldna bring myself to tell her, for fear it might break her heart.”

“And yours,” Cassandra said softly. “To say it aloud.”

Fergus gritted his teeth against the pain welling in his chest and nodded.

“Please,” Cassandra implored. “Let me help you.”

There was such earnestness in her gaze, such beautiful hope emanating from her, that he could not bring himself to lie to her. Not again. Not anymore.

She had to know the truth.

Cassandra’s soul felt lighter for having confessed her knowledge of Fergus’ son to him. However, the gray pallor to his face at her admission made her grateful she had not mentioned she knew of the betrayal.

“Ye’re right,” he said gravely. “But that is no’ the worst of it.”

She stood several feet away from him, her arms crossed over her chest to keep from reaching out to him. It was not where she wanted to be. Nay - she wanted to be in his arms, kissing him, letting him strip off her layers of clothing to press the heat of his naked body against hers. But the distance was where she needed to be.

“I know,” Cassandra said through the ache in her heart.

He turned away, as though he needed the separation too. As though he could not stand to look at her, and when he spoke, she understood why. “The king doesna want only the stone. He wants ye too.”

Cassandra winced at the pain in his words. “I know,” she said again.

He turned to her, his brows furrowed low over his eyes as though he were in agony. “Ye knew? Ye knew and ye still traveled by my side the following day? Ye came to my mother’s home and ye stayed there, ye ventured on this new part of the journey with me and are sharing a room with me, and ye knew?”

She nodded.

He gave a hoarse cry and ran his hands partway through his hair before stopping and cradling his head in his palms. “Why?” he asked in a rasping voice. “Why would ye do that?” He slid his fingers from his hair and stared desperately at her. “Why would ye stay when ye knew I most likely lead ye to yer death?”

Cassandra blinked back unexpected tears. “I…I need the stone.” It was a flimsy excuse and he saw directly through it.

He shook his head.

“I couldn’t leave you without your son.” Cassandra looked down at the floor, unable to meet the intensity of his bright gaze. “I intended to try to find a way to get the stone back from you while still aiding you in getting your son returned.”

“And if ye failed in getting the stone?” he asked.

She lifted her head. “I won’t.” And it was true, she had it worked out perfectly to ensure if nothing else, the stone would remain hers.

He shook his head, as though none of it made sense to him.

But she knew exactly why she’d done it. She strode forward, reached up and cupped her hands to his face. The growth of whiskers on his jaw rasped against her palms, pleasant and intimate. The connection between them was immediate as always.

Cassandra let her wall crumple and allowed the exposure of her heart to him. She showed him what she’d learned from him, the shock of it all. She allowed him to see her desire to help him recover his son.

But there was more, so much more that she was too afraid to say. She was a coward to do it this way and yet she could not bring herself to speak such words aloud. She showed him her family and how difficult life had been growing up, and how he had made her feel accepted and cherished in a world where she was simply a pawn in the path to greatness. He celebrated her successes while others had constantly complained of her failures.

But most importantly, most pathetically, she let him understand the depth of her feelings for him. This man, who had shown her a world she had always wanted and never thought to possess, she would die for in the pursuit of getting him everything he was missing in life. Because she loved him.

Wholly, completely and most likely, foolishly.