Page 107 of Laird of Steel
They both knew that.
Still, it was up to him to say the words she could not.
“We have to say farewell,” he murmured. “We have to end this.”
Her eyes teared.
He felt a choking lump in his throat.
“Don’t you see?” he said. “’Twill destroy me, having you so near…and ne’er being able to…to touch you.” He shook his head. “God knows I’ll ne’er have a…a friend,” he choked out, giving her a shaky smile, “quite like you.”
She caught her lip under her teeth and lowered her gaze.
He blew out a sharp breath then, dammed his tears, and straightened. “But I’ve made a vow to my clan. To my king. To my country. To my wife. I won’t break that vow. Not even for you, Merraid.”
As miserable as he felt, having to make that statement, at least he had closure. He may have broken Merraid’s heart. But in life, as in battle, it was always best to make a clean break. To take swift, decisive strikes rather than dragging out a man’s death unnecessarily.
In the end, there was always less suffering. Less guilt. Less torment.
He reached up to give Merraid’s hand one last fond squeeze, congratulating himself for handling the matter in such a forthright manner, when he felt the icy clasp of iron around his wrist.
“What the…?”
It took an instant to realize it was a shackle.
Another instant to see its twin enclosed Merraid’s wrist.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. That was what Merraid told herself as she braced for his anger.
To be honest, she’d acted completely on impulse. It was a simple fact that as long as she was shackled to Gellir, there could be no consummation of his marriage. And that meant Carenza wouldn’t need to tell him the truth about her condition. At least not tonight.
What would happen after that, she didn’t know. But if she could stave off the confrontation until they got to Rivenloch, she felt like she might at least have more time for diplomacy.
She wasn’t prepared for the depth of Gellir’s fury.
When he realized what she’d done, his eyes widened. His brows lowered like angry thunderclouds. His nostrils flared. His chest heaved. He ground his teeth. Stabbed her with his eyes. Took a great breath, as if preparing to lash her with a ferocious gale of fury.
Now she knew why they called him Grim Gellir.
Before he could roar out his wrath, there was a rapid knocking at the door.
He exhaled sharply, the wind knocked out of his angry sails. Then he thrust their shackled hands down, hiding them in the folds of her skirt.
“Come,” he bit out between clenched teeth.
Lady Feiyan rushed into the solar, frantically glancing around the chamber. “Where is Lady Carenza?”
Merraid’s heart leaped into her throat. “Is she not in her chamber?” When Merraid had last seen her, the lady had been alternately weeping and pacing before the hearth.
Lady Feiyan shook her head.
“Have ye tried the chapel?”
“Aye.”
“The garden?”
“Aye.”
