Page 53 of Highland Prince of Darkness

Iain was concerned that the healer would be wondering where he had gone to in the night, and so he woke and rose early. It wasn’t as early as it had been on the morning after the wedding, but it was early enough for the room to still be dark. He felt May’s arms still wrapped around him and sighed heavily as he knew exactly why she had done that.

If they were stood up, May would be hanging off of him like a branch to a tree. She was making sure that he stayed with her, and he didn’t blame her for doing so. Iain knew that there would be some confusion if the physician found his bed empty, he hadn’t announced to anyone that he would be leaving.

“May,” he whispered, as he started to move around to wake her up, “May.”

“Hm?” she grumbled groggily.

“I need to go.”

“Nay,” May muttered. He looked down to see that she was still half-asleep and clearly not completely aware of the situation.

“I need to go back to the physician’s room, otherwise he may think that I’ve run off,” Iain spoke with a light chuckle. His shoulder was throbbing, but it was clear that it was getting better still. Whatever he had been taking to numb the pain was wearing off and left a dull ache in its wake.

“Nay,” May said again, “Ye’re nae leaving me ever again.”

Her arms around him only got tighter as she pressed her lips to his chest sleepily.

“I ken, I will nae leave ye again,” Iain chuckled, as he moved to gently push her off of him. He smiled lightly as she groaned in protest but then finally started to get off of him.

“Do ye promise?”

“Aye,” Iain said without even hesitating, “Of course I do, I will always be here for ye. But right now, I need to go and see the healer.”

May finally let him go, and Iain quickly dressed and made his way back to the physician’s quarters. By the time that he arrived back there, the old man was already in the room and gave him a quizzical look.

“I’m sorry that I disappeared,” Iain spoke with a courteous nod, “My wife needed me.”

“Aye it’s fine, I was going to encourage ye to go for a walk today to see how yer shoulder is doing.”

“It still hurts a bit,” Iain spoke, while gently touching the flesh around the wound. He winced and instantly regretted it, as the skin was still incredibly sensitive.

“Let’s take a look at it,” the healer spoke, as Iain sat back on the bed.

Iain was glad to be walking out of the physician’s room only an hour later with fresh bandages over the wound and feeling a lot better for the first time in the last few days. He went straight to their chambers where he found May up and dressed already.

“Good morning,” he nodded to her, as her servants promptly left the room. May smiled up at him and bowed her head as he walked toward her. She looked radiant that morning, and Iain couldn’t help but feel as though their previous night had something to do with that.

“I thought that ye would stay with the healer for longer?” May asked with a frown.

“Aye, so did I, but he was content with how the wound is healing and said that I dinnae need to constantly rest anymore, I just need to take it easy.”

“That’s good to hear,” May sighed and smiled up at him. She moved in and pressed her lips tenderly to his and he couldn’t help but feel his lips twitch up in happiness at the gesture. Things were starting to feel like they had six years ago, and the old Iain, the Diabhal character that he had created, really was starting to feel like the past.

“I’ve had news from my father this morning,” May said with a heavy sigh.

“Is he all right?” Iain asked in concern.

“Aye, he just wants me to start doing more in terms of running the clan now that we’re married. I think he wants the both of us to get more involved.”

Iain nodded at his wife’s suggestion. It excited him to think of running a clan and making sure that their leadership was fair and just. Iain had led armies into battle, and so he thought that he would be a good leader of a clan.

“Aye, well, I think it will be good for us to start making some decisions.” Iain agreed, “I think that we will make a good team in this.”

“I hope so,” May smiled lightly. “I want to be a fair ruler to these people,” she said with a sigh, “I want to make sure that there is no reason for uprising or for people to be unhappy with the way that they live while on our lands.”

“Of course,” Iain nodded to her, “I want to help ye with that, I want ye to be respected like yer father is.”

“Thank ye,” May smiled. Relief was written over her face but the real stress of ruling was still to come.