Still breathing heavily, and with a trembling hand that was holding the blade, Raphael stood up. Gresham was still lying on the ground, his face a bloody mess. Gresham coughed violently, turning to the side. He spat on the ground, creating a dark puddle of blood.
Raphael took a step back. He was still trembling. Back in his pirate days, he wouldn’t have hesitated to take a life, a life that threatened his very own and the lives of those he held dear. But now, he didn’t want Keira to see him for who he had been. He wanted her to remember the man he was now, Laird MacCurtney. Not Raphael Anderson, a cruel pirate.
He took a step back, then his focus was on Keira. He started walking towards her, but a moment later, Keira’s eyes widened, looking somewhere behind him. He turned hastily, his reflexes taking over as his blade dived right into soft flesh, piercing it. Gresham had lunged at him angrily, and the blade that was still in Raphael’s hand had stabbed him.
Gresham locked eyes with Raphael as a thin trickle of blood ran down the corner of his mouth. Raphael didn’t look away even for a second. A dying man deserved to look the man who killed him in the eye. Gresham’s hands rested on Raphael’s shoulders, slowly losing balance. He was already dead, only his mind fought with the last morsels of strength it had left.
With his final breath, Gresham’s eyes turned empty and vacant, and he slumped down onto the ground. He was dead. The man who had wanted Raphael dead was no longer living himself. The man who was responsible for the death of Raphael’s wife and unborn child was no longer a threat to any of them. The man who had tried to snatch Keira away from him was gone.
But that didn’t make Raphael relieved, for Gresham was just one in a long line of enemies that he had. He would never be safe. Keira would never be safe with him. And there was only one way to protect her.
26
With the battle between Raphael and Gresham over and the threat to her safety extinguished, Keira anxiously waited for Raphael to untie her. The moonlight painted a serene backdrop to the pivotal moment, but as she observed his expression, she detected a sense of apprehension and withdrawal.
He rushed over to her quickly, freeing her from her bindings, and she couldn’t contain her relief and gratitude. Her heart swelled with emotion, and she gratefully fell into his arms.
“Raphael,” she whispered, her cheek pressed against his shoulder, her voice choked with emotion. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Of course,” he replied softly.
However, as she nestled against him, she sensed a lingering distance in his demeanor, as if something had shifted in their connection. Despite the dangers they had faced and her overwhelming gratitude, she couldn’t ignore the undercurrent of unease that seemed to separate them.
His arms around her were not the arms of a man who, a moment ago, had thought he would lose the one he loved. He held onto her loosely, ready to let go at any moment. So, she let go of him first, pulling away.
She made sure to look at him, and not the lifeless body of the man who had caused all this tragedy. She focused her gaze on Raphael, but even in his eyes, she didn’t like what she saw. It brought her little relief, little comfort. Then, she remembered everything he had said, and an avalanche of pain fell down on her once again.
“All those things you said,” she whispered, not trusting her voice enough to convey the message. “Did you really mean it?”
Raphael swallowed heavily as he hesitated to reply. Her heart clenched inside her chest. He didn’t need to say anything. Sometimes, silence spoke more than a thousand words ever could. But she still needed to hear him say it. Otherwise, hope would gnaw at her forever. Saying those words aloud, releasing them into the world, would mark the end of everything.
“Aye,” he said simply.
“I see.” She nodded, looking down at her feet.
She felt stupid for believing that there could ever be anything between them other than what he had already told her. Even his coming for her was him merely being a good laird. It had nothing to do with her.
He would have come for anyone from his clan because he was a good leader of his people. She couldn’t hold this against him. But she could feel her heart breaking into a million little pieces, and she knew that she would never be able to piece them together into a properly functional whole again.
“In that case, I will return to England with my parents,” she murmured. “As soon as tomorrow morning.”
She gazed at him longingly. She hated herself for still hoping, for silently screaming his name and pleading with him not to let her go, that they could be so happy together if he only gave her a chance. But his eyes refused to ignite that hope inside of her. His eyes were cold, standing by the words he had just said, the same words that destroyed her world.
At that moment, they heard Jasper and Dallas approach. Both men could see that something momentous was taking place, neither of the two wishing to interrupt. But there was nothing to interrupt. It was all already over.
“Can we go back to the castle, please?” Keira asked.
“Of course,” Raphael said, gesturing for Dallas to bring their horses.
A few minutes of silence passed, and then Dallas returned with the animals.
Raphael gestured for her to ride with him, but she shook her head. “I will ride with Jasper if you don’t mind. You must be very tired yourself. I don’t want to be a burden on the way back.”
She hated herself for saying this. It was the hurt and pain speaking on her behalf, but she couldn’t suppress these words even if she wanted to.
“Ye arenae a burden, Keira, ye ken that,” Raphael said in a broken manner, but she knew that he could not be nearly as broken as she was right now.
“Thank you for saying that, but I would like to ride back with Jasper, nonetheless.”
