Page 13 of Highland Prince of Darkness

“Showed me the truth,” Iain brushed off the question and shrugged.

“Dae ye even remember me? It’s Doug, yer only friend around these parts now,” he held his arms out as though the extra space would jog his memory.

Iain knew exactly who he was, but again, he was just a face from his past that he had accepted he would never see again.

“I ken who ye’re Douglas, but I’ve grown up, that’s all.”

Douglas’ face dropped for a moment, but he seemed to build up hope to try again from a different angle.

“I cannae believe that ye managed to find a way to marry her in the end. I remember how much ye loved her,” Douglas started speaking about May, “I'm glad that the two of ye can be happy together.”

“She betrayed me,” Iain spoke harshly in response, “She betrayed me and left me for the world to chew up.”

“I ken that she couldn’t come with ye, but look at how things have worked out,” Douglas tried to reason. It was as though he already knew about the situation, Iain quickly came to the conclusion that May must have told him.

Iain simply huffed in response and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Douglas called from behind him, “What happened to ye, Iain? I mean, out there on yer travels, who made ye this way?”

“I was working as a mercenary, I killed people for a living. Believe me, Douglas, it’s nae a kind direction to go in life.”

He could see the shock that registered over Douglas’ face, and he used the moment to move away from him and stalked off. Douglas seemed to have gotten the message that he didn't wish to be followed.

Iain carried on walking until he found himself out in the glen that sat next to the clan’s land. It reminded him of when he was a boy, he would run up the hills around him, chasing after a transparent adventure. It would all be conjured up in his mind, derived from stories that the men in the town would tell him. He imagined being chased by a rival clan, running as fast as he could to rescue May from danger, and stalking animals with an imaginary hunting party. Iain scoffed as he thought about how naive he had been to the world, how ignorant he had been to how harsh such activities were in real life.

Iain found a tree and sunk down until he was sitting on the damp earth, and surveyed the castle that now stood proudly in front of him. It was a sight to behold, an image that he had almost completely forgotten after years of being away.

He was brought from his thoughts at the sudden sound of hooves pounding against the ground. Iain turned to the source of the sound, it was coming from his left and was increasing in volume as the rider got closer. Quickly, he rose from his spot against the tree and turned fully to great whoever it was.

“What a... pleasant surprise,” the very familiar voice spoke as she approached. Iain huffed in annoyance and leaned back against the tree as May dismounted from the horse. He should have known that it would be her, but she wore a dark hooded cloak that had concealed her appearance right up until the last minute.

Iain couldn’t deny her beauty, but he also couldn’t stop his anger that he always felt toward her.

“What are ye doin’ out here?”

“I wanted to ride this morning before I’m required for more wedding preparations,” May spoke clearly and precisely.

“It is chaos in the castle, is it nae?” Iain’s voice held no warmth.

“Well, that’s only because ye’re forcing the process to be as quick as possible,” May responded quickly.

“That is true,” he said, and turned back to the view of the castle ahead of him. The land around them was bursting with greenery in the wake of recent downpours, the earth appeared to be so fertile and fruitful. Iain marveled at the simple pleasure of the view and almost cracked a smile at how beautiful the landscape could be. However, he then remembered May’s eyes on him and didn’t let it happen. “Can I help ye with somethin’, my lady?”

“Nay,” May quickly looked to the floor. “I just... I was wondering if ye would like to walk with me sometime?”

Iain thought about this for a moment, it was evidently an attempt on her part to try and rebuild what they had once had. However, that wasn’t why he had come back and that wasn’t the impression that he wanted to give off. Although, Iain was still having a difficult time ignoring the thoughts deeper in his mind that were telling him to say yes.

“As ye said, the wedding preparations are quite... intense at the moment,” Iain spoke, while clearing his throat, “I would think that there are many things for ye to be getting done, as there are for me.”

He saw the way that May’s face changed, she almost flinched at the outcome of his words. She swallowed thickly and was trying to hide the hurt that slowly spread over her expression. Iain felt a small sense of guilt at the way that his words were clearly impacting her, however, he quickly pushed those thoughts away.

May was silent for much longer than felt right, but she did eventually stiffen and straighten up, just as she had done in the great hall the day before.

“My Laird,” she said, and bowed her head, “I shall see ye at our betrothal feast.”

He could see that she took some satisfaction in this. It was an official event, one where they would have to be seen together. There would be no getting out of it, and Iain was already waiting for the event to be over.

Iain merely nodded in response as he watched her mount her horse once more. May moved effortlessly, a natural rider as she had always been. She didn’t replace the hood of her cloak to its previous position, and instead rode away while allowing her long brown locks to bounce with the riding movement.

Iain moved back to his previous position against the tree and wondered how long it would be before a servant was sent out to fetch him and he himself would have to face his duties. He thought about marrying May and the requirements that would come with that; they would have to lie together. He shuddered as he thought about being close to her body again after so long. It felt like a distant echo in his mind when he tried to remember the last time that he had touched her in that way.

It was a dangerous path to lead his thoughts down, and spurred on a sensation of want that Iain hadn’t felt for a long time. He tried to keep his thoughts in check, but it was proving difficult. He swallowed thickly and instead thought of his friend Douglas, whom he had barely even thought of seeing again.

Iain realized that after years of living away from that land, he had thought he would never see those people again. His way of coping with that thought was to simply try and forget about everyone, the same way that he had tried to forget about his parents after their death. But now that he was faced with people who had simply been ghosts in his mind, Iain didn't know what to do.