Page 70 of Highland Prince of Darkness

Chapter Twenty-Seven

May was standing in the courtyard when Iain finally found her. The wind was pulling at her hair and causing it to fly out at many different angles. She was staring out over the rolling hills while praying silently to the lord above to give her strength. May hoped that her father was resting easy in heaven, that he was looking down at her with pride and willing her to recover from this.

“There ye’re, I went to our chambers, but ye werenae there,” Iain spoke in a soft voice with her.

“Aye, I wanted to walk around a bit,” May brushed off the question, “Did ye go and see… him?”

She found that her voice simply wouldn’t form the man’s name anymore, and so she didn’t try to strain herself by saying it.

“Aye, I did,” Iain nodded grimly.

“What did he have to say?”

“Shall we walk?” Iain gestured to the path leading out into the castle gardens. May took his arm and followed his lead as they walked slowly. The bruise on her head had gone down in terms of swelling and size, it also only ached a little.

“Well?”

“He was trying to taunt me, trying to get to me in the worst of ways,” Iain shook his head, “Ye wouldnae have liked to ken what he was saying. I ken that he would do such things, they were easy jabs at us, and it seemed to be his last effort at hurting me. But he was out of his cell and attacked me."

"Are ye all right?" May asked with concern all over her face.

"Aye, he only managed to scratch me. I managed to overpower him in the end. It’s over."

"So that's it?" May asked, breathing heavily. "He's gone?"

"Aye, he’ll nae be able to hurt ye anymore." Iain’s words didn’t fill May with any more confidence than she already had.

“But I promise to always protect ye from now on, I will never let anything like that happen to ye again,” he reassured her.

May nodded and turned back to look out into the distance. Their lands were vast and were only getting bigger with each ally that they made. She knew that there would be more danger out there while she was the ruler of the clan, and she just had to be prepared for it. She thought about Iain being at her side throughout it all and knew that if he wasn’t there, she wouldn’t be able to carry on.

“I’m scared that I will nae be as good of a ruler as my father was,” May admitted, as a single tear rolled down her face.

“Now why would ye think that?” Iain asked while shaking his head, “These people love ye, they adore yer entire family and they always will. They look up to ye as a strong leader for them, and ye’ll fill that role with ease.”

May wanted to argue back that she didn’t think she would, but she decided that she would keep those thoughts to herself since she knew that Iain would only argue against her.

“I hope that ye’re right,” was all she responded to him.

* * *

The following days started to get a bit easier. May felt as though she could finally address her people and start on with her role in leading the clan. The servants were happy to see her and she felt as though the people around her were being incredibly supportive after everything that she went through.

“Ye’re looking well today, my lady,” Sarah said with a smile, as she started brushing through May’s hair. May managed a smile as she looked at her most trusted maid in the mirror.

“Aye, I feel better too,” she nodded, “I still feel as though there’s a part of me that’s missing, though.”

“Aye, but I feel that’s something that ye’ll have to deal with in the years to come, not to be too bleak, my lady,” Sarah spoke with sympathy in her expression, “I lost my mother when I was only a girl.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” May said with a light frown. She found it strange that the woman whom she called her friend had never mentioned this. May remembered hearing that Sarah had moved to their town when she was very young, but rarely spoke of her parents.

“It’s fine, I have had many years to heal from it. But it will never be the same. Grief becomes a part of ye, it’s nae something that ye learn to get rid of, it’s something ye learn to live with.”

May swallowed thickly at her maid’s words. She knew what it was going to be like since she had also lost her mother and brother years before. But this felt different. This was the last member of her immediate family who had always been there for her. May felt as though she was an entirely new person without him around to look out for her.

“Ye’re doing a great job so far,” Sarah praised her, “I wish that I could be as strong as ye and I ken that a lot of the other women around here feel the same.”

May lightened slightly at the compliment that she was receiving.