Page 113 of Laird of Steel
She didn’t realize he would never kill his own clansman. She only saw that having Hew’s blood on his hands would irreparably damage him.
She didn’t realize that Hew absconding with Carenza was tantamount to treason. She only saw that his cousin was rescuing a lovelorn lass.
She didn’t realize that her delay in giving him the key, letting him go after Hew, and allowing him to retrieve Carenza changed his future forever.
It was too late now.
What was done was done.
And it was futile to blame Merraid for what she couldn’t understand.
His anger dissolved, and he lifted a brow at her. “Are you going to give me the key now?”
“Ye vow he won’t do anythin’ rash?”
“Aye,” he lied.
She picked up the key and handed it to him. He unlocked the cuff around his wrist and freed himself from the shackles.
“So what are we goin’ to do?” she repeated.
“You’renot going to do anything,” he said.
“Ye can’t go anywhere without me.”
“Ah, but I know something you do not.” He held up the key. “This works on all Darragh’s shackles.”
Before she could decide whether that news was good or bad, he inserted the key into the cuff around his wrist.
“You’re going to stay out of trouble,” he murmured, turning the key to open the cuff, “and look after Feiyan.” Lowering his gaze to her mouth, remembering the taste of her kiss, he slipped his hand free. “Forget me,” he said, memorizing the innocent blue of her eyes as he linked the two unlocked shackles. “Find a good man to marry.” He closed the distance between them to brush her brow with a kiss. “And have a dozen children.”
“Wait. Where are ye—”
The cuffs connected with a decisive click.
He was free.
And she was chained to the armory wall.
“Nay!” Merraid cried.
Panic and fury warred in her breast as Gellir shot her a look of apology.
Before she could fully understand what he’d done, he tucked the key into his belt and whirled away.
“Damn ye, Gellir!” she yelled after him, thrashing against her constraints and prying at the interlocked cuffs with her free hand. The chain jangling against the wall echoed the jangling of her nerves.
What was he doing?
Where was he going?
Did he mean to track down his cousin?
Would he return with Hew—bloody and battered and hanging his head in shame—and a sobbing Carenza?
Merraid didn’t think so. What he’d said to her…Look after Feiyan. Forget me. Find a good man…Those were not the words of a man planning to return.
So what did he intend?
