Page 40 of The Dragon Laird’s Obsession

For several breaths, no one spoke.

Then a murmur rose through the yard. Someone clapped. Another called his name. Marion smiled from beside the hearth, and Beth shook her head as though she had known all along that he would surrender eventually.

Gordon barely heard any of it.

His gaze remained on the exit.

Ailis had fled. The moment she had risen, something inside him had tightened. He had watched the color drain from her face and her eyes fill before she turned away and hurried from the hall.

He had wanted to follow her, but instead, he finished the song. Now he stood, rising from the clarsach with a strange heaviness in his chest.

Why did she run?

The question followed him as he crossed the hall. He told himself it was nothing. She was probably tired from the day. Or perhaps she disliked the song.

Yet, deep down he knew that was not it. He had seen the tears in her eyes before she hurried away.

Gordon reached the corner, rounding toward the exit with quick strides as the celebrations continued. Before he could leave, voices drifted from the shadowed corner.

He stopped in his tracks.

Two of his guards were speaking quietly, unaware that their laird stood only a few paces away.

“She’s good fortune,” one man said.

“Aye,” the other answered. “Have ye seen the keep since she came? Folks are laughin’ again. Even Beth has stopped threatenin’ to murder the kitchen boys.”

A low chuckle followed then the first man sighed.

“Let us hope the Dragon doesnae burn her. If that happens, then we shall ken he is truly cursed.”

Gordon stood very still as he heard the words. It shouldnae have mattered to him. He had been called worse.

Monster, Dragon Laird… Cursed Laird.

He had heard those names from frightened villagers and men who had never taken the time to know him. Yet this one struck somewhere deeper. His gaze fell to his hands, and he saw them tremble before he walked away. He didn’t trust himself to respond to the gossip.

Because a bit of what they say is true.

Having Ailis in his keep was more than just the inconvenience he thought it was. It was bad luck for her. She would be married into a keep where the people feared their laird and believed him to be cursed.

And she will come to resent me just like them.

Gordon swallowed but did not falter in his strides.

The stone passage was colder than the yard outside, and he walked past the quiet halls before stepping out through another door to the gardens where he suspected Ailis might be. And he was not wrong. She stood there alone in the dark, her arms crossed in front of her body as she rocked herself.

Gordon faltered in his strides at the sight of the wind blowing over her hair and carrying strands around her.

The clouds had parted, revealing a scattering of stars above the hills. Moonlight rested upon the grass and silvered the edges of the stone walls. Her hair moved softly in the night breeze, loose from its pins now, and her hands were clasped before her.

Gordon’s chest ached as he watched her standing alone.

Go back.

He had found her, and he did not need to stay and watch her. Yet his eyes stayed on her.

We arenae even married yet, and I already make her cry. What will happen if this union forges ahead?