He dismissed the guard and began to dress.
“Are you going to the cellars?” Beitris asked anxiously. “If so, I want to go with you.”
“You just swooned. You should lie down and rest.
“I have not eaten,” she protested quickly, standing up. “Myfaint was from hunger.” She took an apple from a nearby fruit bowl and took a bite. “See? I shall be fine. I will not be left behind, Donnald,” she said fiercely, and he knew that tone in her.
He should just give in now. Or continue to merely feel as if he were beating his head against a stone wall. In the end, he would give in. So he did not deny her.
Was not long before they were together near the base of the cellar stairs, and she stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Let me go first.”
“Why?”
“Because I ask it of you,” she said.
Wordlessly he stepped aside and watched her as she reached the bottom of the stairs and paused, then after a moment waved him down, her finger to lips.
Lyall and Glenna were asleep on a straw pallet in the corner, Lyall’s back against the wall, Glenna tucked under his arm, her head on his shoulder. Then he noticed her hand was on Lyall’s chest, resting above his heart.
Ramsey’s mind went back to another time and place, and he felt Beitris’ arm link through his.Did she remember?
Once, long ago, they lay in each other’s arms on a pile of warm hay, her head on his shoulder and asleep like Glenna. That day was everything, the kind of day where a man could believe that life did have its pure and tender moments, that love could heal a man’s soul, a day of revelation. In a moment of whimsy that day she had listened to his heartbeat, and made him listen to hers.
“They beat together as one,” she had said to him.
To this day he could remember the sound of every heartbeat. When she had looked up at him. He found himself staring into the color of the sky, on that happiest day of his life. But she did not have to tell him what he already knew. He understood how much he loved her, and yet barely a fortnight later, he chose what was best for her and walked away.
He could feel her gaze on him now, and he looked away fromher son and into her veiled face, her eye still the exact color of a cloudless sky. She placed her gloved hand over his heart and took his and placed it between her breasts. “They still beat as one.”
Her words stirred the dreams still in him, the memories of a love that was the single thing in his life he longed to relive, to relive the choice he’d made to let her go and then spent the rest of his life regretting that choice. Brushing aside part of her veil, he lowered his mouth to hers and she didn’t stop him. The kiss was theirs for a long time, and in that touch of their lips was a love that covered more than half a lifetime. When he pulled back, she straightened the veil back into place, looking down. She was still hiding.
But her hand over his heart, and her words…they were enough for now.
He glanced back into the cellars to find Lyall staring at him, his look unreadable. Ramsey’s gaze went to the key in the gates’ lock and turned a questioning eye to Beitris.
She knew his question before he could speak and said bluntly, “I chose to give them last night.”
“What is happening? “ Glenna said in a voice raspy with sleep. She was awake and frowning.
Ramsey saw her arms tighten around his stepson, who pulled her even closer to him as if he had to protect her from them. The chains that still bound him rattled, a telling moment, and Ramsey had the thought the two were as close as links on a chain, and trying to look as strong and unbreakable. Something in Ramsey changed as he watched them, and some doubt ran through his mind, adding to his confusion.
His wife opened the gates and held out her hand to Glenna. “The earl of Sutherland is but a short distance away. I shall help you change before he arrives.”
Glenna didn’t argue, but paused to look at Lyall.
What Ramsey saw pass between them was too familiar to not cause him pain, and produced a moment that was uncomfortableenough to make him wonder what was best, rather than what was right.
She got up, giving Lyall, a wan smile before she left with Beitris, and he and Lyall were alone.
Ramsey knelt down and unlocked the manacles, then tossed them aside. Lyall winced and rubbed his ankles, while Ramsey fought with himself over what to say and chose silence. He rose and moved away, holding the cell gates open. “You need to prepare for meeting with Sutherland.” He gave a quick nod. “You can go.”
Lyall walked out of the gates, but stopped when he was next to him. They were of the same height and could look each other in the eye, which was a curse more than a blessing when it came to reading each other. “I want you to understand something, Donnald. I know what I have done, and I know what I did after you strictly forbade me.” He paused after this honest admission, then placed a hand on Ramsey’s shoulder. “I could say no to you, but I could not say no to her.”
33
The earl of Sutherland and his contingent approached Castle Rossi to the sound of heralds trumpeting their arrival and with all the pageant possible, pennants flying from lines of mounted squires in the earl’s colors, and so many troops that in the distance they looked like ants flooding down from an anthill.
“How many men do they believe it will take to keep your brother and I apart?” Glenna asked sarcastically.
