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“And what if I confide in you? Will you keep the information private?”
“Have no doubt of it. I would breathe a word to no one.”
He moved away from her, though he grasped her hand for a moment before walking past her and bracing his hand on the mantel. He gazed at the fire, the flames casting a soft glow on his handsome features. His hesitation spoke louder than words. Did he trust her? Or did the secret remain his?
Reena watched him and saw the hurt in his eyes grow and spread, and she felt when anger took over and consumed him, followed by regret. Memories could prove powerful allies or horrific adversaries, and at the moment Magnus struggled with both. Reena wanted to rush over to him and hug and kiss him and tell him that everything was all right. She refrained; he was, after all, her lord, but then he was also the man she believed herself falling in love with.
“My mother kept journals from when she first learned to write.” He kept his gaze steady on the flames. “An uncle who was a cleric who fell from grace with the church taught her to read and write just before she wed my father. She told me often that she feared if she did not continue to read and write she would lose the skills.
“My father died when I was barely two years, an enemy’s arrow to his heart took his life quickly and left my mother heartbroken.”
Reena remained silent and listened, seeing reflected in his dark eyes the pain and hurt of those memories.
“Her family wasted not a moment in arranging another marriage for her. She pleaded with them to allow her to remain home and raise her son, but her father turned a deaf ear to her pleas. She would wed the man of his choice, and in so doing her father condemned her to a living hell.”
Reena shuddered and said a silent prayer for the woman.
Magnus raised his head. “My stepfather was a man of little feeling and even less morals. He wed my mother for the simple fact that he needed a wife to produce heirs, and of course my mother came with my father’s inheritance.”
“Dunhurnal land,” Reena said sadly.
“Aye, Brian Conor, earl of Dunhurnal, was my father and this is my home. Everything changed when my mother was forced to remarry. My stepfather brutalized her. At times I think I can hear the awful names he called her or hear the sound of his hand across her face or feel the sting of his hand upon me.”
He grew silent with his memories.
Reena walked over to him and took his hand in hers. It felt cold though he stood close to the hearth. She hugged it against her chest and held tightly.
“He would sit me in front of the secret room in the tower and make me watch as he chained my mother to the wall. My mother showed not an ounce of fear, and I knew her bravery was for me, for I knew she was terrified of the dark. He would force me to sit and watch as the door began to close, then suddenly it would close completely, and she was shut away from me, left alone in the dark to tremble with fear. If I made any attempt to help her, he would retaliate by beating her. I had often wondered how my mother endured her imprisonment, and today, with your discovery, I finally understood.”
“I also found writing on the lower part of the wall.”
Magnus nodded. “There were times he would simply throw her into the room and leave her there. I would sit outside the door for hours and wait for him to free her. Other times during her confinement he would torment me.”
“Her family knew nothing of her plight? Was there no one to help her?”
“Her husband owned her, and she gave him a son after several miscarriages. Her own father died, leaving my mother with no one to turn to, so there was no escape. She was wed to a beast until death.”
She hugged his hand tighter. “I fear to ask what happened to her.”
His wide smile suggested a happy ending, and she listened closely.
“My mother was strong and could endure much, but she could not bear seeing me suffer, the son of the man she loved with all her heart. She was patient and managed to hide coins from him and a few pieces of jewelry.
“One night when I was ten and the keep was asleep and the winter wind blew cold and hard, she came to my room, woke me, made me dress in most of my clothes so that I had several layers of garments to protect me from the frigid night, and then together we snuck out of the keep and away into the darkness.
“We came upon a band of people with less than we had, and we remained with them, traveling together until we found a place in the woods far from Dunhurnal land. There my mother raised me, and it is there she met a man who she came to love.”
“She is well, then?” Reena asked, feeling near tears for a woman much more brave than she could ever be.
“Aye, my mother is well, and her husband, James, is good to her. It was he who taught me my warrior skills. They live on my land now and are well protected.”
“Did your stepfather search for your mother and you?”
“His search proved useless. My mother was more intelligent than him and knew his ways too well. We heard talk of his furious search for her and his fury when she could not be found. But her wise ways and her strength kept us safe.”
Reena could not hold her tongue. “And your stepfather’s fate?”
Magnus hesitated, his eyes narrowed, and his jaw tensed. “He tasted his own dungeons and met his demise as he lived—a coward.”
