Page 95 of The Cruel Highlander's Bride
“I dinnae want this either. I tried,” Ewan stammered. “I tried to do this the easy way, to scare Ciara away with that threat. And then I tried to encourage ye to send her away. But it didnae work, ye kept her locked away still. And when they didnae come to save her, I kenned it had to do it!”
The threat, of course.
It made a harrowing kind of sense. In his mind, Ewan thought he was protecting Ciara from his Laird. It was a thought Magnus himself had often had since they got married, that his wife was better off without him. But no, he wouldneverhurt her, not like how his father hurt countless women.
He wasn’t like that. Magnus was choosing to trust Ciara’s words and her actions and in himself. There was goodness in him, his wife had shown him that. He just needed to believe it.
Ewan’s ticks were getting worse, and he seemed no longer content with circling each other. He upped his attacks, lunging at Magnus. His swings were aggressive and unpredictable. Magnus met each swing, even as the clang of metal against metal reverberated through his arm.
“I need to protect her,” Ewan muttered repeatedly. “I need to protect me maither.”
Ewan’s memories of the past and present were converging. Whatever had happened to his mother was at the forefront of his mind right now. In his skewed mind, he was protecting Ciara in the way he never could protect his mother. And the retribution he sought from the former Laird would be taken out on his son instead.
It was then that Magnus realized there was only one way he was going to get his wife back safely.
35
Ciara strained to see or hear what was happening outside the carriage. She knew it was Magnus out there and had heard Ewan’s crazed mumblings, but now all she could hear was the sound of swords clashing.
Between each clang of the metal, she held her breath, and when she heard the swords clash once more, she sucked in a sharp breath. As long as she was hearing the clanging of metal, Magnus was still alive.
For not the first time, she shook the carriage door, trying to do whatever she could to dislodge the stick there and get free. But it would not budge.
After what felt like hours, a pained grunt rang out in the night, followed shortly by the sound of a body hitting the ground.
“Oh God, please let him be all right,” she gasped, needing to see with her own eyes that Magnus was unharmed.
With her father’s condition unknown, she didn’t think she could stand another injury right now.
Heavy footsteps raced towards the carriage door, and Ciara pressed herself to the furthest corner, curling in on herself.
The door was ripped off its hinges, and she whimpered, closing her eyes, not wanting to see whether a savior or a captor had found her.
Strong arms pulled her out of the carriage.
“Ciara, look at me,” a pained voice urged. “Look at me!”
With slow recognition, she opened her eyes to find Magnus’s face in front of her. He let out a heavy exhale when their eyes met, some of the tension draining from his body.
“Are ye all right?” he asked.
She nodded jerkily, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
He kissed each one away tenderly.
“Ewan?” she asked in a soft voice.
“He willnae bother ye anymore,” Magnus said darkly, and she nodded again.
Her heart mourned for the friend she thought she had, but the man who kidnapped her tonight was not the same man who sat through her lessons and looked out for her in the castle. Maybe that person had been a façade the whole time, but she still mourned the man she thought she knew.
At the same time, she heaved a sigh of relief. This nightmare was over. She was safe, finally. Her limbs relaxed, and the tension drained from her shoulders.
Magnus brushed her hair back from her face, before resting his forehead against hers. They took a few breaths together, their foreheads pressed together and their eyes closed.
“Thank God ye’re all right, lass,” he breathed, his voice breaking.
When he pulled back, their eyes met again. All the anxiety and fear of the day faded into the background for just a moment when he looked at her. All she felt was relief andhim. She couldn’t think about anything else other than those soft green eyes staring back at her.
