Page 27 of Highland Prince of Darkness

* * *

“How was yer ride with Iain?” Bruce asked, as May sat with him in one of the castle’s many large rooms.

The fire was roaring to the side of them and cast orange slithers of light that danced around them both and made the room feel more alive. Bruce was sat upright in his chair, his hands were clasped in his lap and a small smile had settled over his expression. May couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous of his health, just for her father’s sake. She wished that it were her own father that were able to sit up like that without facing any kind of pain or discomfort. His condition wasn’t getting any better, and the amount of time that he could spend out of his bed seemed to decrease with each day that passed.

“It was pleasant. The weather wasnae too bad up on the glen.”

“That’s good to hear,” Bruce continued to smile, “I ken that he has a reputation for being something of a brute, but he also still appreciates the beauty of life. I suppose that’s why he’s come back to find ye and marry ye.”

May blushed at the older Laird’s words. She knew that Iain had his other agenda for coming back though, he wanted to make her pay for the way she had left him. She was sure that Bruce must have known about that too.

“I guess so.”

May thought about asking more; she wanted to know these things that Iain had done, the things that he refused to talk about. However, she didn’t want to be turned down again.

“The two of ye have had enough time to talk about the past, I assume?” Bruce spoke up.

“The past?”

“Aye, how ye two... left things.”

“Ah,” May frowned for a moment as she thought about the conversations they’d had about it. “It’s normally just Iain becoming rather angry at me and taking it out with hurtful words.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Bruce shifted in his seat and rested his elbows on the arms of the chair. “I ken that it must be difficult, but he isn’t the kind of person that lets things go so easily.”

“I ken that,” May nodded, “But I thought that he would have at least been a little softer with me.”

“Give him some time, I’m sure that he will come around.”

They spoke a while more about Iain’s achievements. May admired the way that Bruce spoke of his ward as though he really was his father, and the pride in his voice was clear.

“He’s won many battles and fought harder than anyone else in my army,” Bruce continued.

“Aye, I’ve heard a lot about his skill with a sword. But wasn’t he a... mercenary beforehand?”

Bruce paused a moment before nodding.

“He was,” he confirmed with a sigh, “I dinnae like to think of it, but that was how we met, he saved my life and I ken that I had to pull him away from the path that he was going down.”

Again, May felt responsible for that. She tried not to think about how her actions had led him so far down a path of complete destruction. It made her grimace just to think about it.

“Ah, we were just talking about ye,” Bruce smiled as he glanced at the door behind where May was sitting.

She turned in her seat to see that Iain was standing in the doorway, but he didn’t seem too pleased at the sight in front of him.

“Sorry to disturb ye,” he muttered, but stepped into the room, nonetheless.

“Not at all, please, join us. We were just... reminiscing.”

Iain scoffed at his guardian’s words as he sat in one of the seats close to the fire. May felt rather awkward about the situation, but hid it behind a polite smile.

“Reminiscing never sounds like a pleasant way to spend time,” Iain muttered.

“Nonsense, lad,” Bruce chuckled to try and lighten the atmosphere, “We were talking about yer achievements on the battlefield. I was just telling May about how great ye have always been, especially as a leader. Ye dae a better job than I ever did in my prime, and that’s saying something.”

May chuckled along with Bruce in an attempt to continue the conversation and hopefully steer it away from their current subject, who was now sat in the room with them.

“I dinnae want to talk about that,” Iain brushed it off and shook his head.

“Ach, fine, but I was just about to tell the story of when ye gave our men such great encouragement. Do ye remember?” Bruce asked, but after receiving no response from his ward, he turned to May, “We were fighting against the McDonaldson clan, and they’re a right nasty bunch, but Iain was shouting so much at our army and riled everyone up. I’ve never seen such passion on the battlefield.”

May nodded along as Bruce relayed some of the tamer stories to her, but she really couldn’t relate to any of the talk about being on the battlefield. It was something that she had never experienced and hoped that she never would either.

The thought of running at a sea of men that were determined to kill you filled May with a heavy sense of dread. The last thing that she ever wanted to do was to end up on a battlefield. It terrified her to see how numb the two men in front of her were to the idea of such violence, but she knew that was their job. May was much happier with her position on the inside of castle walls. Even to think about the atrocities Iain may have done caused her to shudder. May knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she knew the extent of his violent past.