Page 83 of The Splendor of Fire
Regret for getting tangled in him swamped her. Had she not been at the prison for Léo that night, Father would still be alive. His arms reached for her and she shoved him away again.
You have no right to keep his dying words from me. Why do you feel the need to control everything? I’m so tired of everyone assuming what I am, and who I am, what’s good for me, and what I need without bothering to listen to my words. And I don’t, Léo—I don’t need you. I don’t want you. And now I don’t trust you. I’ll figure this out on my own.
She made for the opening of the tunnel and he tried to stop her.Don’t follow me!
“Moira, please…”
Out of my way. I have a mission to complete.
“Moira!”
She rounded on him, rage exploding.Stop calling me Moira!
He took a giant step away from her, tears filling his eyes as he cocked his head to the side, trying to understand her meaning.
Grief clogging her chest, she turned and jumped into the tunnel opening.
Chapter 24
KYLEAKIN VILLAGE - SEPTEMBER 8, 1385
Léo’s head rested in his hand and he yawned, watching as the last of the harvest was gathered from the arable fields in Kyleakin. It would be a long ride back to Dun Ringill, and the brown rouncey he’d been given, an animal he dubbed Thorny due to his disposition, wasn’t much for long rides. Or being looked at. Or being talked to.
Yawning again, he touched the bridge of his nose and squeezed, trying to wake his vision up. For twenty-four days, in the predawn hours of the morning, he and Moira had worked on throws. Last night, they’d worked on throwing her to the branches of the trees, and his shoulders, back, and chest were more sore than they had ever been in his life.
The ice in her had not thawed in nearly a month. She’d been cordial, but instead of the flickers of affection she’d shown before, she’d given him only enough cooperation to complete the mission.
Wretched argument.Her rejection of his offer of care had wounded him, feeling like a rejection of him. True to the MacKinnon parts of himself, he lashed out and used her father’s dying words to contradict her, and it rebounded spectacularly.
Instead of feeling triumphant, he’d known in one second that he’d made an irreparable mistake. Father Allen’s words should have beendelivered with the utmost care and consideration, and instead he’d weaponized them against his own daughter.
He hadn’t thought far enough ahead to anticipate the pain in her eyes, the knife he’d driven into her heart. As she skewered him, pressing for the details, he could not bear to tell her that she was not his natural daughter. If she didn’t know, it would be salt in the wound he’d given her.
Whatever trust she’d placed in him was once more extinguished. Any hint that perhaps she’d loved him dissolved, and now they were little more than battle partners, preparing for the maneuver ahead of them. A maneuver he wanted to call off. All he wanted was to return to France and hold his son, the only thing in his life that made any sense. But he couldn’t.
He couldn’t abandon his duty to Gillie and Eoghan and Mowbray. He couldn’t look away as the people of his clan were mercilessly taxed and hunted by his brothers. He couldn’t ignore the truth God was revealing to him, breaking his will. With or without Moira beside him, the mission must continue.
Unable to stifle his fatigue, he yawned again.
Gordon looked over at him in the saddle. “You’ve been yawning all day.”
“Aye. Another sleepless night.”
A wicked grin crossed his face. “Ardis and her many charms. I’ve seen the way she fawns over you and waits for you in the corridors.” Léo grimaced. So had Moira.
Shame and regret took hold. It was his own fault. Ardis had pursued him in every quiet moment he had, encouraged by his own words at their initial meeting, and now his indebtedness to her for providing him cover for the night the siege engine was destroyed. Allowing her to take care of his needs and his room had been welcome, but her familiarity with her hands and words was beginning to become a problem. Unsure how to respond, he simply said, “No rest for me.”
Gordon looked jealous. “I’ve been trying to convince Moira all week to let me in her room. Stupid wench won’t budge. She doesn’t know I’ve got Malvina’s keys. In for a surprise tonight.”
At once all longing for a night of undisturbed sleep fell away and hesnapped to attention. His hands tightened around his reins and Thorny hobbled sideways and forward, unsettled by the tension in his body. He settled the sensitive horse next to Gordon’s dappled palfrey. “You don’t mean…”
Gordon shrugged. “I gave her a choice.”
No matter how Léo tried, he could not train his face into anything other than anger. “Aye, and she’s told you no. Stay away from her.”
He barked with laughter. “She hasn’t got the ability to tell me anything.”
Bloodlust came over him hard and fast—a flicker of beastly anger so primitive he could only think in short bursts.Threat. Predator. Kill.
