Page 31 of Trapped By the Exiled Bastard

“For ye or for him?” Keir snapped. Then he sighed and took a breath. “I’m sorry. Let’s go, if that’s what ye want tae do. We’ll take Nightwind—”

“Nay. It cannae be Nightwind. He was well-kent in those parts. I cannae risk him bein’ recognized,” Elin said immediately. “Another horse.”

Keir ran a soothing finger down her arm. “Another horse, then. We’ll gather whatever things ye want tae bring with ye, and then…”

“Then?”

He kissed her lightly. “Then we’ll come home. Together.”

At Elin’s request, Keir stayed back at the Greyhorn Inn while Elin made her own way on foot the short distance between Aberholme and her struggling village.

When she arrived, she saw why Keir had thought it abandoned. Every one of the ten small buildings was run down, some with gaping holes in the roofs, others with missing doors. The only shop had closed long ago and now served as a home for two families, and everyone remained in their houses or spent the day fishing at the lake or peddling their wares in the town to make enough coin to survive.

She sighed as she made her way to her shabby little cottage. It was one of the least damaged in the area, not that that was saying much. Eamon had offered to buy her a house in the town many times, but it was the only thing she had ever refused him. Until such time as she was his wife, she had insisted she would pay for her own home. He’d laughed at what he deemed her silliness, but allowed her to do as she pleased for his amusement. She’d tried her best to make the place look nice, but even the few flowers she’d coaxed into growing in the garden had wilted in her absence, and her carefully cleaned windows were now thick with grime, forgotten as everything was in this village.

When she reached the front door, she stilled. It was slightly ajar. True, there was no fancy locking system on it; she could never have afforded such a thing, but in general her little house had been left alone. The people here were poor, but they weren’t thieves. Cautious, she pushed open the door and stepped inside into the single room that had been her home.

A man stood there, tall and broad-shouldered and handsome as the day she had last seen him. His chestnut brown hair was styled in the latest fashion, while his dark eyes, so different from Keir’s blue, shone with certainty and self-assurance. His chin was clean-shaven and his clothing was impeccable, the fine silks only serving to highlight the sorry state of the room in which he stood.

“There ye are, me bonny Ella,” he greeted her. She flinched. When he’d first called her that, years ago, she’d thought it a sweet nickname. Now, it seemed like a dismissal, as though she didn’t even deserve the courtesy of her own name. “It’s about time ye showed up. I’ve been here waitin’ for ye or had someone posted here every day since ye vanished. I was very upset that ye abandoned me that night, ye ken. I had tae hire a lass tae tend tae me needs. Ye’re lucky I’m nae demandin’ the fee from yer pocket.”

Elin shivered with disgust. “I didnae abandon ye. I was kidnapped. Taken. Did ye never look for me?”

He smiled a patronizing smile. “Ye took me horse and fled, Elin. Dinnae lie tae me. There are penalties when a woman lies, ye ken that.” He said it so casually that it would have been easy to miss the threat if she didn’t know him so well. “But nevertheless, I kent ye were alive. Word of ye poppin’ up here and there reached me ears, and I kent ye’d make yer way back tae me eventually. And here ye are. Tired of life with the bandits, are we?”

She stared at him. How had she ever been convinced she loved this man?

How had she ever believed that he was good beneath all of the callousness, the command, the lies?

Had she really been so desperate to be cared for?

Had she really been so desperate to be loved?

Without a word, she turned and started collecting her scant belongings into the pack she had brought with her. She took her spare dress but left all the others that had been fancy gifts from Eamon and other admirers. Her spare walking shoes came, but the delicate ladies’ slippers were left behind. The jewelry she took, but only with the intention of redistributing it to the village to help them through. She had no need for such things now.

Eamon watched her, and she could feel him getting more and more annoyed the longer she did not acknowledge him. Eventually, he spoke again. “Have ye heard the good news?”

“Of yer engagement, ye mean?” she asked, not even looking at him. “Aye, I heard.”

“It must have broken yer heart,” he said in a voice tinged with amusement. “But she is a wonderful woman. Daughter of a very rich man. Dedicated tae our cause.”

She did look up at him then. She felt no heartbreak, none at all, but a new kind of clarity as she stared at this pathetic man who hid behind his wealth and power. “And ye’ve told her ye love her, I suppose? Whispered the same sweet nothin’s in her ear as ye did mine? Made her believe ye value her for more than what’s in her father’s pockets and between her legs?” Her voice was measured, no anger in it.

He barked a laugh. “Ye reveal yerself as a common wench when ye speak in such a vulgar way. I ken ye’re bitter. But I never lied tae ye, Ella. I wanted ye. I coveted ye. But ye must ken it was always gonnae be this way. I never promised ye anythin’.”

She breathed out a laugh of her own, but didn’t reply.

Annoyed now, Eamon stepped toward her. “Is my love worth so little tae ye that a small thing like me marriage tae a woman of me own station would intervene? Nay, I dinnae love her, but what has love tae do with it? Ye could still have a place at me side.”

Elin scoffed, barely able to believe what she was hearing. “At yer side? Ye wish for me tae stand behind a family who betrayed the MacKenzies and sent two innocent boys intae exile? Ye wish for me tae support ye while ye lie tae the people as ye have done yer whole life?”

Eamon’s eyes narrowed. “Dinnae speak of things ye cannae possibly understand. These matters are far above yer station.” He closed the gap between them and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at her. “Listen closely. Here’s what will happen. Ye will return tae wherever ye’ve been hidin’, and ye will fetch me horse. Ye will return him tae me, and then I will take ye, right here in this cottage, tae remind ye where ye belong.” He released her chin and stroked a finger down her cheek. “Then I’ll take ye tae me castle, where we’ll install ye in a room in the servants’ wing. Ye’ll be the lady’s maid tae me new bride, and ye’ll be me mistress, always in me favor. How does that sound?”

She met his eyes, then laughed. “Ye’re mad,” she said. “Mad. And so was I, tae ever entertain the likes of ye.” She pulled away from him and turned her back. “Dinnae try tae stop me. We’re done.”

He didn’t follow as she stormed out of the cottage, her pack slung over her back, but his voice echoed as he shouted after her. “Ye’ll regret treatin’ me like this, ye whore! I’ll remind ye who ye belong tae before ye ken it!”

Elin ignored him, lost in a mixture of determination and elation. Her hands shook as she strode through the small village, stopping only to drop off the small, wrapped package of her jewellery through the broken window of the old store. She dusted off her hands, then headed back toward Aberholme, hurrying as she went, her excitement growing by the minute.