Page 11 of Highland Prince of Darkness

“Ye really thought that ye could just embrace me and that things would be able to go back to how they used to be?” Iain scoffed.

“What?” May asked with a frown. She suddenly felt foolish for letting her emotions control her actions, but this was the man that she had once loved with all of her heart. The man who she hadn’t forgotten about and thought she would think of for the rest of her days.

Iain continued to look at her as though he was conflicted, and May was starting to realize for the first time just how much time had passed. The boy that was frozen in her mind’s image of him was long gone, he had died when she had told him that she wasn’t going to run away with him. The man standing in front of her was much colder. He radiated almost nothing that she recognized. His expression showed no sign of recognition for her, only a cold indifference that made the entire encounter feel as though she was meeting a stranger.

“What is it?” May asked again.

“I’m nae the man that ye left six years ago,” Iain spoke sternly. It was as though he was the authority figure over her and was trying to scold her. May’s brows only furrowed more as she looked up at him in confusion.

“I ken that years have passed, but I’ve missed ye so much. I…” her voice shook with overwhelming emotion. “I’ve thought about ye every day and… well, I never gave up hope that I would see ye again,” May admitted. If the same Iain was still in there somewhere, she hoped that she was speaking to him and appealing to that side of him.

“Some years have passed,” Iain muttered, and chuckled bitterly to himself as he stepped away from her. “Do ye ken what kind of path ye set me on all those years ago? The things that I’ve seen... the things I’ve done,” Iain turned back to look at her as his voice raised, “Ye wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I told ye.”

“Iain, I’m sorry, I—”

“I’ve heard it all before, ye ken that,” he shook his head, “I haven’t seen ye for six years and after everything, ye want to embrace me as though a single day has nae gone by. Ye want to pretend that we can be the same as we used to be.” Iain was seething, he was angry at himself for feeling even the slightest bit of yearning for the woman in front of him.

“I dinnae see why we cannae? We’re going to be married. Finally, after all this time, it’s worked out in the end,” May spoke, with her arms wide in confusion. She couldn’t understand why it was so difficult for him to see how much of a happy moment it should be. “I still love ye, Iain. Things happened in the past that neither of us should be proud of, but I want to put those behind us so that we can be together happily.”

"I cannae just forget so easily, don’t ye see?” he asked, his voice only gaining in volume again.

May tried to pretend that his final comment didn’t feel like he was stabbing her heart with his sword. She swallowed down the lump that was quickly forming in her throat and held her breath to try and limit the way that the pain was spreading through her body.

“Ye dinnae mean that,” May whispered.

“Oh I dae, I mean it completely. I cannae love ye, I could nae love someone that could betray me like ye did.”

It was a fatal blow, one that made her heart feel as though it had just shattered into a million pieces. May didn’t focus on the tears that were slowly beginning to well up in her eyes, she knew that there would be no stopping the onslaught of emotions that were drawing nearer. She sniffled and glanced down at the floor as a heavy silence descended over the pair.

“I want our marriage ceremony completed as quickly as possible,” Iain continued. His booming voice split through the silence with no mercy, it was as sharp as a sword and slashed through the quiet. “It’s merely to create a better bond between our clans, I will be able to earn the title as Laird rightfully and nobody can object,” Iain spoke quieter, “So I hope that ye’ll have nae issue adjustin’ to the new situation.”

May was stunned by his words. It seemed that every time he opened his mouth, she was shocked by whatever came out of it.

“I dinnae believe that ye really feel that way,” May continued to deny that this was really happening.

“Ye’re goin’ to have to adjust to this, I dinnae what else to say,” Iain shrugged his shoulders.

Beneath the sadness and disbelief that May was trying to ignore, there was something else brewing. Hot spikes of anger were starting to churn up inside of her.

“Ye think that ye can bring misery to my life after all these years?” May questioned, daring to take a step forward, “Ye think that ye can just walk back into my life and try to control me? I’m nae scared of ye Iain, I ken who ye’re deep down.”

“Ye dinnae ken me anymore,” he narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

“All I have learned from this conversation is that I will be doing ye a favor by marrying ye, nae the other way around. I will be the one that is lowering myself to being with this... Diabhal, a man that it turns out I barely ken.” May spoke with venom in her voice that she didn’t even know she possessed. Even though she was disappointed with how the unexpected reunion had played out; she loved Iain still, even after not seeing him for years, she loved him and had thought that he would simply love her back. Instead, he was using his words to hurt her, and so she decided that she would do the same back.

Iain’s expression had darkened, and it was evident that anger was also about to fuel his retaliation.

“Ye’re doin’ me a favor? Do ye really want me to bring up the state of yer clan’s finances?”

May’s nostrils flared at his comment, it was a low blow, one that involved her father more than her. She didn’t want to think about the fact that he was truly being cruel.

“Ye may look like my Iain, the man who I once would have done anything for. I ken that I once made a mistake, and I have told ye how sorry I was that I could nae come with ye. But ye’re not that man that I fell in love with, as far as I ken, I watched him run off six years ago, and I’m yet to meet him again.”

“The man that yer looking for is dead, believe me,” Iain spoke bitterly, “There is nae point holding onto him, I am yer future now.”

May thought back to when she had broken Iain out of his cell on that last day, she remembered the way he had embraced her, how safe she had always felt in his arms. Even just to have a fraction of that contact with him would give her some reassurance, but embracing this Iain would be like embracing a stone castle wall.

“Well then would ye excuse me, I have to mourn the man who I wanted to see again. The man in front of me is nae someone that I want to be around.”

May turned on her heels and walked swiftly toward the doors at the end of the great hall. She could feel Iain’s gaze on her as she went and made sure to keep her shoulders down with her head up high. The last thing that she wanted to portray in front of him was any more weakness, and she wouldn’t crumble under his attempts at intimidation.