He looked up, as though he had sensed her before he had heard her. She moved closer, but was still cautious, as if approaching a wounded animal.
“What happened?” she asked softly.
She expected him to deflect, to dismiss her concern with some measured reply, or to retreat behind the same controlled silence he wore before others.
But he did neither. For a moment, he did not speak at all, then he turned. There was no mask in his expression now, and none of that careful restraint.
“MacKenzie,” he revealed.
The name alone was enough to send a chill through her.
“He has men in the town and every day, they are getting closer,” Duncan continued.
Elaina felt her fingers tighten slightly at her sides.
“He will nae stop,” Duncan told her. “Nae until he has what he wants.”
There was a pause, heavier than the last.
“I have seen what he daes,” he went on more quietly now. “What he is capable of.” His gaze shifted, though not away from her, rather, as though he were looking through time itself. “He…slaughteredme parents… without mercy… without cause beyond his own ambition.”
The words settled heavily in the stillness of the chapel, like droplets of blood on a pristine, white sheet. She could see the pain in his eyes. She could hear the anguish in his voice. And she knew that she was the cause of it.
“I cannot allow him to harm anyone else I…” He stopped, his jaw tightening briefly before he forced the words through. “Anyone I care about.”
Elaina’s heart stilled. She stepped closer, and her trembling fingers lifted to his face. Gently, she caressed his cheek.
“Am I…” she whispered, “the person ye speak of?”
Duncan’s gaze was on her. She could still see the pain in his eyes, but there was so much more.
“Dae ye still doubt it?” he asked quietly.
The question lingered between them. Elaina held his gaze.
“I care fer ye,” she said, the words coming more easily than she had expected. “More than I ever meant tae.” A breath followed, steady but full. “And I think… I have fer some time.”
She hesitated only a fraction of a moment before continuing, feeling more certain, for it seemed that that day was the day for confessions.
“I… have fallen in love with ye, Duncan.”
The words lingered between them, soft yet undeniable, as though the very air had stilled to hold them in place. Every unspoken thought, every restrained glance, every quiet moment they had shared seemed to gather there, waiting no longer to be denied.
Duncan did not look away. He lifted his hand to hers where it rested against his cheek, pressing it there more firmly, as though he could anchor himself in her touch.
“I love ye, too, Elaina,” he replied in a voice that was filled with a depth he had never before allowed himself to show. “Ye are the only woman I have ever wished tae marry… and the only one I ever shall.” His thumb brushed faintly against her wrist in a small, reverent motion. “If ye will have me,” he added more softly.
Elaina did not hesitate.
“Aye,” she said almost breathlessly, feeling the answer rising from somewhere deep and certain within her. “Aye, of course I will.”
He reached for her, his hand finding hers before drawing her closer. For a moment, they simply stood there, the weight of all that had been unspoken settling at last into something real.
Then he kissed her. The warmth of his lips was grounded in all that had led them here, in every glance, every hesitation, every moment of restraint that had finally given way.
Elaina felt the world narrow to that single point of contact, with the quiet of the chapel wrapping around them as though bearing witness. And for the first time since she had fled her past, she did not feel as though she were running.
She felt as though she had arrived.
