Because who would believe that a man who dedicated his life to the healing arts, to saving lives, would be willing to take lives so violently because of a delusion that he had allowed to blossom into full-blown jealousy and obsession with a woman who had trusted him. A woman to whom he had never attempted to make his amorous intentions clear.
Instead, he had thought it better to go through the men in her life, men he believed would give her to him. As if she were a piece of furniture forgotten in one corner of the house, to be given to anyone who showed interest in her.
That just went to show that the fool did not know her at all. It was laughable, because according to his own admission, he had been obsessed with her for nigh on a decade. Long enough forhim to have found out that no man on this earth could force her to do what she did not want to do.
The man was a toxic mix of cowardice, stupidity, and misogyny, who believed and saw women as property that were to be doled out to just anyone.
It was not surprising, considering that many men thought the same. After all, most marriages in their society did not in any way result from love. It was only confusing when that idea came from him, a man who claimed to love her more than life itself. It was almost ironic that in all his confession of endless adoration, he did not care about the most important part of her—her mind.
Even if he had not fallen in love with her and married her, Darragh was still thankful that she had not married this small-minded man. He would have definitely broken her mind if he had not broken her body first, because men who only viewed women as property usually got incensed if their possessions showed signs of having a mind of their own. They usually had no qualms about hurting their women until they bowed to whatever twisted, sick ideas their minds could conceive.
The thought of Talia being on the receiving end of such cruelty made his blood boil. She did not deserve to be with such a man. No woman did.
Darragh just had to convince the maniac standing in front of him of just how pointless it was to try to recover a bride that was so obviously not his.
When Turnbull had first made his desire known to marry Talia, Darragh had been filled with rage that he would dare to harbor such intentions for a girl he had practically raised.
It was even more worrisome when the woman in question was a woman like Talia wo surely deserved more than a shriveled bastard like him. So, he had refused him, his reasons lying in both his incredulity at the man’s stupid arrogance and his own growing feelings for Talia.
As fate would have it, he was soon proven right by how quickly the man transformed, his face mottled with rage as he insisted that Talia belonged to him and no other. He managed to send him away, but the cad was back now, and he had no choice but to try to convince him of his love, because loving Talia had become the air that gave his life meaning, and he could not afford to lose her, especially not to this poor excuse for a man.
“I love her, Turnbull,” he said, locking eyes with the man, letting his love for Talia bleed through every pore. “I asked her to marry me because I couldnae live without her, and she feels the same. If ye love her like ye claim, ye will want her to be happy. I have made a most solemn oath to love her as she deserves, and I am doing me absolute best. If ye care for her, ye will leave her be.”
He was hoping to appeal to whatever was left of the man’s reason. If there was any left.
“But she isnae truly happy,” Turnbull spat angrily, clearly refusing to see reason. “Ye have deceived her. Deceived her like ye deceived those fools ye call clansmen.”
Darragh ignored the insult. Forcing a smile, he replied, “I wish it were that easy to deceive Talia. It wasnae easy to get her to the castle in the first place. Do ye think she would allow herself to be easily deceived as ye say?”
“So ye are a kidnapper who took her from her home. That says it all. There is nay way Talia will want to marry someone so willing to force her out of her home. The Talia I ken always did things the proper way. She willnae just break off a betrothal to marry a man who sank to one knee and spouted words of deluded adoration,” Turnbull shot back, his face twisting with disgust, his hands shaking with righteous anger. “Ye have changed her, and nae for the better, and for that, ye must pay.”
He pulled back the bowstring further, ready to loose an arrow.
“Perhaps I would have changed for the better of me own volition, Ayaan,” Talia said quietly, stepping in front of Darragh.
Talia could feel him trying to pull her behind him, but she ignored him. She knew he would be furious with her since he had instructed her to stay hidden but she couldn’t. she had worried for him too much to stay hidden.
Besides if Ayaan loved her as he claimed, perhaps she could reason with him and he wouldn’t hurt Darragh.
“Nay, ye are just poisoned. He has poisoned ye,” Turnbull said, aiming the arrow at Darragh.
“Do I look poisoned to ye? Please stop this. This isnae like ye,” she cajoled, with a nervous smile.
“Signs of poisoning arenae always so visible,” he said derisively. “Ye should ken this as a healer. This man has been deceiving ye, taking ye out of yer very comfortable home and throwing ye in a castle that is falling apart around his ears. What sort of love is that?”
“Ayaan, I ken ye care for me, but do ye really think I was happy alone in me house?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. Anything to buy herself time to come up with a plan. Any plan at all.
“Of course. Ye were doing what ye loved best. Ye were tending to the people in the village. All this time, ye have left them without a healer. Ye abandoned yer craft for this man.”
So now he had resorted to guilt-tripping her.
“Aye, I was happy caring for them. I do confess that I miss them—me patients and neighbors,” she said carefully with a soft smile, watching as triumph flickered in his eyes.
He thought he had succeeded. She was almost sorry for how wrong he was.
“It is unfortunate that I was also lonely. Jonathan was the only family I had, and he was always away. I never understood what it felt like to have a full family that cared about me. Here, I am loved and have received care far different from anything I have ever experienced. I love it here, and if ye really care for me, ye will let me be.”
Her eyes pleaded for him to see reason, hoping that she could somehow appeal to the more sentimental part of him.
