Page 47 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

The sharp rap on her door sent a jolt through Ciara’s spine. She opened her eyes and was surprised to find how much it hurt to do so. The knock came again, this time more urgently.

She pulled herself upright and looked around her room, realizing that she had spent the entire night on the cold floor. Her body felt tender, sore to her bones.

Ciara groaned as she remembered all that had happened. Her lies had come full circle to blow up in her face.

The knock came again, and this time Ciara was sure someone was trying to break the blasted door down.

Ciara took a deep breath and opened the door to find Aidan.

He cleared his throat, giving a curt nod to Ciara, and she realized that she had been staring at him for too long. She stepped away from the doorway, giving him room to come in.

“Good morning, Lady Ciara,” Aidan said to her, using her proper title which stung her painfully. “I trust ye are well?”

“Morning to ye as well, my laird,” she replied timidly. “Please, come inside.”

“There will be nae need for that. I came here to inform ye that ye are to gather yer things and make preparations immediately. Ye are to leave the castle this morning. Dae make haste.”

Ciara was stunned by his words, and she couldn’t move an inch even if her life depended on it. He was sending her away? Where was he sending her?

Did he plan to return her to her father as his letter had explicitly demanded?

As scary as it was for her to go back to her father’s keep, the thing that terrified Ciara the most was the possibility that she would never see Aidan again. The thought immobilized her completely, and she stumbled over to the bed, sinking into it, distraught.

In the last few months, once her fear had subsided, she had come to love Aidan deeply. He had become her happy place. Her safe haven. She had always felt out of place and unwanted, but with him, she believed she had finally found her home.

Now she faced the possibility that she would never again experience happiness ever again.

“Where dae ye plan to send me, then? Home?”

“Nay,” Aidan responded coolly. “I have arranged passage for ye to Iona’s Nunnery. Ye will continue with yer escape as if this never happened.”

She nodded in response, searching for the right words.

“I am so sorry for everything,” she began. “I apologize for my lies and my deceit. I never expected it to go like this, Aidan. I promise. Ye are the most important thing in the world to me, and I didnae want to leave ye. Please, can ye forgive me and give me a second chance?”

Aidan stepped back and gave her a small bow before marching off down the hallway. He ignored her.

Ciara froze. Unprovoked, her tears returned.

There was no one to blame but herself. It occurred to her that Aidan probably felt several times worse than she did and was only putting up a wall to hide how broken he was inside.

Ciara decided that she would do the same. She had shed enough tears as it was. There was no point crying anymore or telling him that she loved him. Everything she did from this point on would just look like another one of her lies.

Having decided on the path of strength, Ciara had a bath and dressed moderately for sea travel. She looked around her room when she was done and realized with cruel irony how much of a prison the room had turned out to be anyway. She had no items to pack with her on her trip. She smiled bitterly as she noticed how easily she could be removed from Aidan’s home. She had really only been a prisoner there, never a friend, or family.

With one last deep breath, she stepped out of the room and walked to the courtyard to find a group of guards waiting for her departure. Lillie was drying her eyes with a handkerchief, and she looked as wretched as Ciara felt.

Ciara walked over to Lillie and hugged her friend earnestly. “I will miss ye so, so much,” Lillie said between sobs. “Dinnae ye worry. I will make sure Aidan comes to his senses and comes get ye from that nunnery.”

Next was Darragh, who said only a polite goodbye. Knowing him, Ciara was sure he was probably on the fence concerning her deception.

Ciara hugged Hannah and thanked Maria for all the help, and for saving her as many times as she had. Maria laughed, wiping a tear from her eyes. “I never did see someone who had a knack for hurting themselves like ye did. Take better care of yerself, bairn.”

Ciara looked to the side of the courtyard, where Aidan was talking to the few soldiers he had prepared for her to leave with. She felt her heart break again. He was clearly hurt. The pain of what could have been was going to live with her for a long time, she realized. Here was a man who had loved her. Yet she had ruined it with her lies.

Ciara finally met Aidan's eyes. He walked over and handed her a bag of supplies and wished her a good journey. With that, he turned to head back inside the keep, not staying to watch her leave.

different life awaited her now, it seemed. Nothing would ever be better than what she had just lost.

* * *

In time, Ciara and her escorts reached the docks and boarded the small boat.

She remembered the words she had heard as a child; how she was a cursed creature that had killed her own mother. That was why she should never find happiness. It must have been true, seeing how nothing good seemed to last in her life.

She was still deep in thought, staring out at the gulls flying overhead, when a sudden cry came from the crow’s nest.

“To arms! To arms! Black sail!”

Sailors scrambled up and down the ship and her escorts readied their weapons. Everyone was looking out at sea, and she ran to the side of the boat to see what all the commotion was about. Black sail? What daes that mean?

She did not need to look far. Two ships were chasing after their own and Ciara was pretty sure whose men they were.