Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ceana rushed into her home with tears at the brink of her eyes. Even as she climbed up the stairs, she reminded herself not to cry. It wasn’t worth it. “I have said to meself,” she muttered as she ascended, “time and time again that it didn’t matter if Torcall fancied me--”
Aye, an internal voice said, cutting her off,but ye did not consider if he had a thousand and one women that he treated like ye.
That really was what hurt her more. She could handle not having his attentions, but it was awfully hard for her to hear him say that what happened between them meant absolutely nothing to him. She could imagine his hands on their bodies just as his hands had been on her body, and it wasn’t a soothing feel. It made her chest ache, and her hands shake slightly.
“Ceana, ye must nae let this get to ye so,” she reminded herself. “ye will do all ye need to do to see him free, but ye will have naught to do with him afterward.”
Ceana nodded to herself, taking solace because she had a plan that she would follow. It felt much better than being out there in the open.
Finally, at her door, Ceana pushed open the door to her chamber and opened it up to reveal her mother, father, and Alina waiting for her. Warily, she stepped in.
“Good morn, Ceana. ‘Tis pleasant to see ye up so early. Yer faither let me ken that he bade ye deliver a message for him.”
Ceana nodded. “Aye.”
“We have some news for ye,” her mother said. Ceana sat down warily.
“What news?”
“Since that young man, Torcall, was imprisoned, ye have taken it rather harshly. The laws of the land are birthed to protect us. A murderer must be punished.”
Ceana gritted her teeth but said nothing. She stole glances at her father, who wouldn’t meet her eyes and at Alina, whose eyes held a guilty look. Fear slipped into Ceana’s heart. What could have happened that would make even Alina feel guilt?
“As yer mither, ‘tis me duty to do what is right for ye—even when ye do nae want it. I believe that ye will thank me for the decision that I have made today when ye age a bit more.
They are going to send me away, Ceana realized.They plan to send me away.
She wouldn’t go, she decided. She wouldn’t go, and there was nothing that would make her go.
“Yer da and I have gotten ye betrothed.”
* * *
There was a clatter of chains signifying that the cell doors were about to be opened, and so Torcall sat in his bed, placing the blank expression he used on his face again. He wondered if it would be Francis. He knew that it was much too late to be Ceana. She had already come, and with the way things had gone, he wouldn’t blame her if she never came back.
Torcall endured the noise of the chains, and when the doors finally opened, his aunt rushed in and grabbed him so tightly that he was scared her hands would hurt.
“Torcall!” she screamed into his shoulders even as she hugged him tightly. Soon enough, he felt tears drop on his shoulders.
Overcoming his initial shock, he freed himself from her grasp and enveloped her in a hug of his own. Her hug reminded him of the terrible months after losing both of his parents. He would awaken to his own screams, and t the slightest sound from him, she would rush in and hug him while he cried. He remembered pushing her away once, and she had just sat on the side of his bed and cried with him. It had been the last time he had ever pushed her away.
“Do nae cry, ma,” he soothed, despite being the one in chains.
His aunt pushed away from him and wiped her eyes. “I thank the gods that ye are alive. When they wouldn’t let us see ye, I feared the worst.”
“We all did.”
Torcall turned to see his uncle as well as his two cousins. His aunt refused to let him go, so he smiled at his uncle until she let him go.
“Uncle,” Torcall said before getting up to clasp his hands. However, his uncle pulled him into a hug. “We are so glad that ye are safe.”
Rannoch nodded, and when Torcall was free. He held him by his shoulders and observed him well. “Ye have grown thin, brother,” he said with sadness in his eyes before hugging him. When he was free from that hug, he turned to Tam, who had a bored look on his face.
“Torcall,” he nodded.
“Tam,” Torcall responded and extended his hand for a clasp.
