Ciaran saw it then. The mild desperation on his brother’s face and the need for reassurance. Hector was just as worried as he was, probably even more.
“I daenae think we have any reason to worry,” Ciaran responded, hoping his voice conveyed as much reassurance as he could.
“And what about her?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Her?”
“Yer wife.”
Ciaran kept his eyes narrowed. “What does she have to do with any of this?”
“Ye ken very well she has a lot to do with this.”
Ciaran folded his arms. “What?”
“I understand yearning for a woman one doesnae or cannae have better than anyone.”
There was no pretense on Hector’s face. He had always been great at teasing him, but he wasn’t doing that. Not now. And that alone felt more irritating than anything.
For a moment, Ciaran said nothing. Then, he cleared his throat and resumed speaking like his brother had not dropped a rather profound thing for him to ponder. “I will be honest, though. I didnae expect her to be like this.”
The confession came out rougher than he had intended. It sounded like an accusation against her and the world.
Hector’s eyebrows rose, but he did not speak.
Ciaran pushed on, irritated now at having begun and therefore driven farther than he wished. “I chose the woman least interested in me for a reason. A practical match. A quiet one.” He made a brief, sharp motion with one hand.“And nowsheis the one I get.”
“Ye chose her.”
He frowned. “What?”
“Yechoseher to be yer wife.”
He swallowed, letting the words settle in his mind. “Aye, I suppose I did.”
“And I can tell ye that she hasnae been a problem so far. Ye could have done worse, Brother. Much worse, I tell ye.”
Ciaran let those words settle in the room as his mind ran over how true the statement was in hindsight. There had been a lot of women at the auction. He could have easily chosen one desperate for his approval and would always follow him around like a pet. He could have ended up with a woman determined to use his status like anything else to gain influence.
But then he ended up with Ava. The one woman who didn’teven want to be here in the first place. How he could already feel drawn to a woman like that, he couldn’t tell. His mind went back to their kiss and the decision she had made the night of the attack.
“Ye ken she had leave to go,” he said more quietly. “Twice. She refused.”
“Perhaps she hopes to see if this might work?” Hector suggested.
Ciaran scoffed. “She hopes to see if she can get under me skin.”
Hector sighed. “Brother.”
“I cannae see any other reason why anyone would set the conditions she has, Hector. She asks for time as if an hour a day is nothing,” Ciaran said. “As if these small things are harmless. Supper, walks, company. She kens very well what she is doing.” He looked toward the cold fireplace. “Somehow, I got stuck with the one woman who has made a simple marriage quite impossible.”
That was the closest he had yet come to saying the whole truth.
Not that Ava was beautiful, though she was. Not that he thought of her too often, though he did. But that her choices had made her dangerous in a way beauty alone never could. Shestayed. She insisted on being human inside a structure he had meant to keep clean of humanity.
Hector listened to all of it and then nodded with maddening calm. “But she seems nice.”
Ciaran stared at him. “Are ye serious right now?”
