Page 12 of Highland Prince of Darkness

Chapter Five

Iain paced around his chambers with his jaw clenched tightly and his thoughts whirling faster than the recent storm had turned the weather. He sighed heavily and thought about his first interaction with his future wife.

May wasn’t any different to how he remembered, her beauty still shone and radiated as though she had been sent from the heavens for him. Sure, her hair had grown a bit and her brown eyes seemed a little less bright, but her skin was so fair and she had been radiant in the light of the great hall. Iain couldn’t deny that he slightly regretted the way he had gotten so angry. He didn’t mean some of the things he’d said deep down, no matter how much he tried to ignore those thoughts.

“How did yer meeting go?” Bruce’s voice spoke before he had entered the room.

“It was pleasant,” Iain nodded stiffly.

Bruce’s raised eyebrows said all that he felt about Iain’s response. However, Iain wasn’t in the mood to properly talk about this.

“She certainly looked shocked when she saw ye,” Bruce said with a slight chuckle.

“Yes, well, it has been a long time since I last saw her,” Iain sighed, and stared out of the window. The gray landscape was being pelted with thick droplets of rain that ran down the sloping hills around the castle.

“Are ye happy with the decision that ye have made?” Bruce’s questions were already vexing him.

“Aye, I thought for many years that I would never see her again. I processed how I felt about that and I managed to move on so that I could focus on my own life,” Iain spoke in a gruff voice, “My feelings for her are nae what they used to be, and now I can have her as a wife to show her that ye cannae betray me and get away with it.”

“Lad, ye need to stop with these thoughts of getting revenge on her. Ye have her now and we need to focus on the clans more than this, that’s why ye’re marrying her.”

“She had the nerve to say that this contract is her doin’ us a favor,” Iain scoffed as he spoke.

“Ye ken that’s nae true. Their debts are only getting bigger, and this marriage will help with that situation.”

Iain felt better hearing his guardian say that they were still the ones in control of the situation. He was still simmering after the conversation with May, however, he knew that he was going to have to let it go when in public. The thought of pretending to be happy around her sounded exhausting, but Iain knew that they were going to have to keep up appearances.

“It feels so strange to be back inside of these walls,” Iain muttered. He was speaking more to himself than to Bruce, but he didn’t care if the older man overhead him.

“Aye, I can imagine that it must be. This place was yer home once upon a yonder. It must feel so foreign now.”

“It does, but I left here as a fugitive, and I no longer feel that it is my home,” Iain said. He turned to look at Bruce who was looking at him with concern. “Something worries you.”

“Nay, I just dinnae want ye to lose sight of yer bigger goal of becoming Laird. If ye get too caught up with this girl, ye could lose all that ye have worked for,” Bruce warned.

“She doesn’t mean anything to me and I will nae distract myself with thoughts of her.”

Iain felt as though if he was to say it out loud, it would be enough to convince himself as much as Bruce.

* * *

The next day, Iain walked around the grounds of the castle on his own. He wanted some time to familiarize himself with the place that had once been his entire world. They were the same walls that had seen him grow up from a small boy to a soldier. They had watched him pine after the Laird’s daughter and seen her fall in love with him in return.

How easy things would have been if Alistair had just accepted him as worthy of his daughter’s love, but instead, that simple decision had led him down a very different path. He continued to walk until he was outside of the castle grounds and skirted around the main area of the town. The only protection Iain needed was his reputation; it acted like a barrier that stopped people from approaching him. He made sure to stalk around the place quickly, the last thing that Iain wanted was to speak with anyone.

“I dinnae believe it,” a sudden voice split through the silence that he had welcomed so much. Iain turned with a huff of annoyance to project his thoughts that he wanted to be alone. However, his eyes widened at the sight of the fiery red headed man that approached him.

“Douglas,” Iain spoke in a stunned mutter.

“Is that really ye, old friend?” Douglas asked, as he approached carefully.

“Aye it is,” Iain stood up a little taller. He hadn’t seen his friend since he’d left, but he was still careful about not letting his guard down.

“So the rumors are true? Ye’ll marry May after all?” Douglas moved in for an embrace, but Iain took a cautious step back.

Douglas suddenly looked at him with wide eyes that were filled with confusion. The man was only a year younger than him, yet the light dusting of maroon freckles across his pallid face brought out his youthfulness.

“What did the world dae to ye?” Douglas muttered, as he let his head drop for a moment.