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“And how many beatings are ye gaeing tae suffer while ye wait?” Isla asked, choking on her emotions.

“As many as I hae tae,” Emmel replied.

Isla lifted her gaze to meet him directly. Why did he have to care about her so much? Why did he have to feel this strong need to protect her so fiercely? It was maddening and frustrating, and it wasn’t something that she was used to at all. She trembled with emotion before she answered.

Emmel got there first. He softened his tone and spoke to her with imploring words. “All I want is tae know that ye are gaeing tae be well. If ye truly want tae be here, then I am nae gaeing tae try and convince ye otherwise, but ye are my friend. I care about ye and want tae know that ye and Andrew are gaeing tae be safe.”

It was difficult to hear the emotion in his voice and not be swayed by all they had shared. Emmel had gone to such lengths for her, and she was just about ready to dismiss him without a second thought, without realizing how deeply his feelings ran. He might have called her a friend. She suspected there was something more, not that it mattered. She wasn’t the kind of woman a man like him should have feelings for. But she owed him the truth at least. She owed someone an explanation.

“Rune Dolph is Andrew’s father,” she said in a quiet voice. It slipped out in the night, as innocuous as a scurrying mouse. She had held the secret within her heart for so long that she breathed a sigh of relief when she uttered the words, and it felt as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. But it came with a wave of shame too, and she turned her face away from him so that she did not have to witness his judging stare.

“What?” Emmel gasped. “What dae ye mean he’s Andrew’s da?”

Since Isla had told him the secret, she decided she might as well tell him the entire story.

“It happened a long time ago. I was a wee girl. A group of Vikings came from the mainland hoping tae trade. They came from a settlement here. Rune Dolph was one of them.” Viking traders from the mainland of Scotland visiting the island wasn’t a rare occurrence, so it wouldn’t have done anything to raise alarm bells in Emmel’s mind; this occasion was only notable because Rune Dolph had been one of the Vikings involved. “We welcomed them as we always welcomed guests. We offered them food and heard their stories, and we negotiated for trade. Rune Dolph came tae me in the evening. He sat with me by the shore, and he told me all kinds of stories from his homeland, about the gods and Valhalla and everything he held dear. He also told me stories about himself as well.

“At the time, I haed never met a man like him. I was in awe of everything about him. He spoke of the gods, but tae me he was as much of a god as anyone else haes ever been. I was driven mad with desire. We spent every waking moment taegether before he haed tae leave. I was almost ready tae tear my heart out at the prospect of having tae be apart from him. He told me that he hae tae speak tae his leader before he could return and take me away. He said that when he came back, he would bring Da an offering for my hand in marriage. But before he left, we lay taegether. I know it was foolish, but at the time, I thought he was gaeing tae be my husband. But then…”

“Then he never came back,” Emmel finished the story for her.

Isla sniffed back her tears and pressed her lips together.

“Nay, he didnae. I waited, gazing out at the shore night after night and day after day waiting for him. Whenever Vikings came, I asked about him, but none of them would tell me anything. I discovered that I was carrying his child soon after that. I bore the shame of it and decided that I would never gae tae the mainland again and I would never marry again. I devoted myself tae Andrew and tried tae give him the best life possible. Up until now, he never really wondered about his da.”

“And what about yer da? Did he never ask any questions?”

Isla shook her head. “When I told him what happened, I also told him that I didnae want tae talk about it. I’m sure that deep down, he knows what happened, but he respected my wishes. It’s something that is better left unspoken.”

Emmel’s frown deepened. “Now what? Haes the last ten years nae happened? Are ye willing tae give yerself tae him again even though he left ye?”

Isla stared at him for a moment and then laughed helplessly. “I’m nae in love with the man, Emmel. I thought ye knew me better than tae take me for a fool,” she said.

“Then why stay here?” he asked.

She shrugged. “For Andrew. The boy needs his da. There’s only sae much I can give him.”

“Sae ye are gaeing tae stay here for his sake and pretend that everything is well? Ye are gaeing tae abandon yer life on the island and forget everything ye held dear?”

“I hae no choice in the matter, Emmel,” Isla gasped, wishing that he wasn’t making this more difficult for her than it needed to be. “I cannae leave Andrew here by himself because I’m nae gaeing tae abandon my son. I cannae take him with me because Rune Dolph will nae allow it, and because I’m afraid that Andrew would never forgive me.”

“Then let me help. Let me take ye away from here,” Emmel said.

“I cannae. It would only lead tae ye getting hurt, and I dinnae want that, Emmel. I appreciate the fact that ye came here for me, but there’s nothing I can dae. I’m stuck here. I dinnae want ye tae be as well. Ye can leave. Gae back tae the island and dinnae fear for me. I will be fine, I swear it.”

Isla wished that she could believe the words she was saying. She wondered if Emmel could hear the doubt in her voice. Nothing more was going to be accomplished, so she spun on her heels and ran back to the safety of the house. Emmel did not bother to chase her. She hoped that when she awoke the following morning, the stables would be empty and Emmel would have gone. She had shared her secret with him. That was more than she had done with anyone else, and she hoped it would be enough to send him away.

Isla awoke the following morning resigned to her place in this settlement. By refusing Emmel’s offer of help, she had confirmed to herself that she was going to stay here. Her chances of a successful escape with Emmel’s help were already slim, and they were going to be slimmer without him. She sighed as she rose from bed and wondered if, for her own sanity, she might as well give into the past and recapture the flame of love that had burned for Rune Dolph. It was the beginning of a new day. The rest of her life wasn’t going to be as she imagined it, but perhaps it had been unavoidable. The die had been cast all those nights ago when she had given in to temptation and surrendered her innocence to the mysterious Viking, a man who had promised her everything and delivered nothing but misery.

She walked out into the settlement to where Andrew had been getting lessons. She thought she might as well see what was happening and take pride in her son’s achievements, even if it wasn’t in an area that she particularly wanted him to explore. She watched on as Andrew was taken through different steps and motions. The sword he wielded was a small wooden one, far less impressive than the ones she had seen other men wield. Fear curled in her heart at the thought that one day Andrew would ride into battle. She wasn’t opposed to the idea of him being able to defend himself, but to actually seek out combat and plunge himself into war was something she struggled with.

There came a moment when Andrew missed a step and fell on his back. Rune Dolph swung his sword around in an arc and brought it down, resting the point mere inches away from Andrew’s throat.

“You have to concentrate!” Rune Dolph yelled. “If you make one mistake, it’s going to cost you your life. This isn’t a game. If you lose, you die. If you’re not going to take this seriously, then leave this arena because I want nothing to do with you. A warrior has to take his craft seriously. Do you want to die?”

Andrew looked petrified. He was so scared that he couldn’t even answer.

“DO YOU WANT TO DIE?” Rune Dolph thundered, his words so terse they ran around the entire settlement.