Mathilda comes to my side. “Wait, how long have you two known each other?” she asks, her eyes bouncing between us.
Tane crosses his arms. “Good observation,” he whispers to her.
She rolls her eyes at him. “Let’s give them a minute.” Tane nods towards the water table.
My chest heaves. The anger continues to course through me as we stand facing each other.
I barely even register Tane and Mathilda slipping away as I study the stranger I thought was my closest friend. I thought I knew him, but the Lachlan I knew never could have done something like this to me.
“Lena,” he begs. “I never wanted to hurt ye or lie to ye in any way, but you had to come here, and I dinna think there was any way I could convince ye otherwise.”
“You never meant to hurt me? This whole time, you knew, you knew EVERYTHING, and you lied to me,” I shriek at him as tears begin cascading down my cheeks. “You knew what you meant to me, what I felt for you, and you led me on and into this.” I gesture around us. “I trusted you more than anyone. How could you do this to me?” My voice cracks under the weight of the emotion, quickly rising to the surface.
My fury has finally given way to the crippling grief it had held back. But it’s now plainly written on my face.
“Key, please, ye ha’ to believe me. I dinna want this to happen.” His eyes gutter at my last words, and he clutches his chest with both hands,pleading.
Deep down, I know that he means every word.
The man before me, the man that I’ve grown up with, is nothing but honorable and kind, but I can’t see past the utter betrayal looking me dead in the eye. I muster up my last dregs of dignity, willing myself not to break down any further in front of him.
“Does Gran know where I am? Does Torin?”
His head hangs between his shoulders for a moment, and my stomach ties into knots. His eyes sparkle, silver lining the green. “They ken, and she wanted me to tell you,” he pauses, taking a deep breath, “not to come back.”
My mind empties.
The rage, fear, and crippling grief slip away into uttersilence. Blood pounds in my ears. My bottom lip quivers, and I do my best to hold the rest of me together.
“She doesn’t want me to come home?”
His jaw flexes, and he scrubs a hand down his face. “Nae, she wants ye to stay here. This is where you were always meant to be.”
The dejection I feel outweighs everything else. I spin around and stalk towards the archway, leaving him behind.
He calls after me.
But I don’t look back.
17
MINA
My body is numb, the morning sun trying its best to warm me out of the anguish I’m trapped in. The birds chatter in the trees, their happiness annoying as I wait for the abuse Julius is sure to bring. I arrive earlier than usual, having not been able to sleep last night or eat this morning.
I’m angry, but beyond that, I grieve for the life I thought I had. The life I was so desperate to return to. It’s gone.
Julius’ low whistle has me turning around as he stalks through the archway.
“Being early isn’t going to score you any points with me, Helena.” He stalks over to the maple tree and slaps the hilt of the ax.
I hate him.
“Lena,” I murmur under my breath.
He doesn’t hear me, but I guess he caught my lips moving.
“What was that?” he sneers.
