Mairi studied him like she was weighing him. “Why?”
Because she asked.
Because she’s carrying my bairn and I need her under my roof.
Because the thought of her leaving makes me feel like I am losing my mind.
All those answers rose in him, loud and selfish.
He chose the one that mattered.
“Because she needs to ken she is nae trapped,” Maxwell said quietly. “And because I need to ken I can love her without trying to own her.”
Mairi’s eyes flashed, not softened, but sharpened with something like approval she would never call it.
“Aye,” she said at last. “That’s closer to the right of it.”
Maxwell exhaled slowly. “I’ll send a guard at a distance. Nae to watch her. To watch the road.”
Mairi’s brow lifted. “And will she ken?”
Maxwell nodded. “Aye. Nay secrets.”
Mairi’s lips pressed together, and for a moment she looked almost satisfied.
Then she said, “Ye broke her heart.”
Maxwell did not flinch. “Aye.”
“Ye frightened her,” Mairi continued. “Nae with yer fists. With yer silence.”
Maxwell’s jaw tightened, but he held himself still. “Aye.”
Mairi stepped closer, voice lower now. “Do ye ken what it was like, watching her these past weeks? Watching her try to be cheerful with a hollow look in her eyes. Watching her take her meals alone like she was punishing herself for wanting more.”
Maxwell’s throat tightened. “Aye.”
Mairi shook her head once, anger plain now. “She is nae a girl to be left outside the truth. Nae after all she’s endured.”
Maxwell’s eyes held hers. “I ken. And I am sorry.”
Mairi stared at him for a long beat. Then she turned back to her work. “An apology rarely mends what’s been torn.”
“Nay,” Maxwell said quietly. “But it’s where mending starts.”
He left the kitchens with the taste of humility in his mouth.
29
The first thing Ariella became aware of was warmth.
Not the coarse heat of a hearth or the heavy press of blankets, but something steadier. Something alive. A presence near enough that she could feel it even before she opened her eyes.
Her lashes fluttered.
Stone walls came into focus slowly. The familiar carved post of her bed. The faint smell of herbs and smoke lingering in the air. She shifted, and her body answered with a dull ache that reminded her she had fallen.
That she had frightened everyone.
